LIFESTYLE
Pride Will Overcome
Recent Pride
Presidents
on the Challenges and Triumphs of Nashville Pride
COVID-19 has defined 2020 and has reshaped our social landscape, altering what had seemed so certain and unchangeable. Financial trouble, social disapproval, and fear of violence, as well as other difficulties, have all threatened to derail Nashville Pride in the past. But through it all, the local LGBTQ+ community and the Nashville Pride Board, along with innumerable volunteers, have overcome to facilitate our community’s show of Pride. This year is no different. Though Pride has been postponed, plans are underway to allow the community to celebrate in June and to hold safe and fun events at a date in fall that has yet to be determined. We asked our recent Pride Presidents to share their thoughts about past difficulties Pride has overcome and some of their proudest Pride moments. Here’s what they had to say!
Pam Wheeler (2002, 2003, 2009) I was on the festival committee in 2000 and 2001…I think I have about 8 years in volunteering with Pride. And I look back at it as a wonderful time. My fondest memories involve the people and the friendships formed while volunteering for Nashville Pride. Never underestimate the bonding experience, from deadlines, drama, money challenges and common goals. We spent countless hours together—meetings, fundraisers, community events, calls, socials after meetings—and it makes for strong relationships. It would have probably made for strong reality TV as well. The biggest challenges? This is an easy one. Money. The biggest challenge was always money. In 2000, a group of people wondered when pride would happen and soon learned the Pride organization had dissolved. A community meeting was called to figure out what to do. At that meeting, OPEN (Our Pride Encompasses Nashville) was formed.
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June 2020
o u t a n d a b o u t n a s hv i l l e .c o m
It was already June, so the festival was planned for September that year (90 days after that first meeting). We raised funds by begging for money (“Dollar for Pride?”) at bar entrances—the Chute on Fridays, Connection on Saturdays. The event was at Bicentennial Mall and by all accounts it was a success. Compared to today’s standard, it would look like a hometown carnival. From the pet drag show (my nephew put a rainbow wrap on his turtle) to the Roller Skating Pride Week event, it had a charm to it. This was my first experience with Nashville Pride – as a volunteer. One of the first pride meetings after the 2000 festival brought out new faces. I remember it well—new volunteers demanding new standards—why weren’t there Pride TV ads? Why didn’t the
