R A I N B O W R E S I S TA N C E
Spencer Pride volunteers show off their pride at a volunteer appreciation event after the 2017 Spencer Pride Festival. Credit: Spencer Pride.
Projecting a Rural Rainbow How Spencer Pride Helped Transform Its Rural Hoosier Community By By Jonathan A. Balash Spencer, Indiana – located in a red county in a red state, on the cusp of the Bible Belt – has a population under 3,000 people. Historically, the town has not been known as a welcoming place for minorities. As recently as the mid-1980s, Ku Klux Klan members could be seen collecting donations at downtown intersections. Yet, for the past decade, Spencer Pride has been operating and thriving in this conservative community. We have accomplished this through a strategic approach within the community and among our dedicated volunteers. We recognize that we live in a place where it seems that everyone knows everything about each other, yet are often very indirect in the way they communicate concerns. This is not a place where picketing and riots are effective. These methods are seen as foreign intrusions into the local way of life. Spencer Pride, therefore, has to employ alternative methods to provoke progress. We build relationships, educate, and work through our differences by engaging with one another in a respectful manner. From the outside, this could look 140 | Boston Pride 2018
like a very passive form of resistance. In reality, it’s the most effective way to cultivate real change in our community.
A Brief History of Spencer Pride Spencer Pride began as an offshoot of the local PFLAG chapter. We held our first Pride Festival in 2007, to increase public engagement with issues relevant to the LGBTQ+ community. While there was low attendance at the first event (72 people, to be exact), we considered it a success. The following year, the Festival was relocated to the lawn of the county courthouse. Over the years, the event has grown into a full-fledged summer festival and the second most attended event in downtown Spencer. Over the past two years, however, we have become much more widely known for establishing the Spencer Pride commUnity center. The September 2016 opening of the center made Spencer, Indiana the smallest community in the United States with a dedicated LGBTQ+ center.
