AURORA KEEPS THE SPIRIT OF PRIDE ALIVE: ONE-ON-ONE WITH ZANDEROKLAR

Aurora Keeps the Spirit of Pride Alive ONE-ON-ONE WITH ZANDER OKLAR

Thanks to the unfortunate COVID-19 pandemic, we will not be able to party together this year at Aurora Pride. However, even though we can’t hit the beach and soak up some sun, event organizers are doing whatever they can to ensure that the spirit of Pride stays alive for Aurora’s diverse community. OUT FRONT had the opportunity to chat with Zander Oklar, Aurora Pride’s executive director. No stranger to coordinating and hosting events, he talked with us about what Aurora Pride has in store for the future, the challenges of organizing an event during these times, how Aurora Pride is responding to troubling allegations against the police, and more on their Out in Aurora initiative that will be held throughout September.

Hi, Zander! Thank you for taking Hi, Zander! Thank you for taking some time to chat with me. How some time to chat with me. How are you coping during these are you coping during these unprecedented times? unprecedented times?

It has definitely been a struggle trying to adapt to these situations. I have always worked from home, so that hasn’t been a big change, but just kind of dealing with the circumstances around the crisis has been a challenge. From having to forego our normal, festival-style event into trying to plan new, smaller events that fit into the whole health department regulations so that we can ensure that we have safe events for people, that has been challenging, especially because the information that we are receiving from the city and health department is changing constantly.

by Denny Patterson

I think we are on the ninth revised edition of the Safer at Home order here in Colorado, and that order didn’t even come out until near the end of May. So, it’s like every week or two. The second we think we found safe solutions, we have to adapt to another change. Just figuring out how to adapt to new situations constantly has been our biggest struggle, but also, because we are event organizers, we’re used to kind of rolling with the punches. So, I think we are a little bit better equipped to deal with this than maybe some other industries.

Even though this year’s Aurora Even though this year’s Aurora Pride has been canceled due to the Pride has been canceled due to the COVID pandemic, how can we still COVID pandemic, how can we still celebrate? celebrate?

We like to say that Aurora Pride didn’t get canceled, just our festival did. We are still staying proud. We are still trying to support the LGBTQ community in whatever ways that we can. We know that our community especially has additional challenges that other communities may not deal with, so we are still actively brainstorming ways that we can involve the community. One of our ideas, and something that has come to fruition: we are going to be hosting an initiative throughout the month of September called the Out in Aurora program. Basically, we are partnering with a bunch of inclusive and accepting local businesses in Aurora, and we are working on a social mediainspired scavenger hunt of sorts. We are giving you a list of different businesses that you can visit. Then, you pick the business you want to visit, and the business offers some sort of deal. Buy one, get one drink 20 percent off, something like that. When you visit the business, you take a picture of the business, tag the business and our Aurora Pride Colorado hashtagand social media channels ; then you will be entered to win all sorts of different prizes. There will be prizes for people who visit the most businesses, the people who have the best Pride gear on in their photos, the best Prideful kids; we are working on doing a bunch of really creative prizes and competitions so that we can not only engage the LGBTQ community of Aurora and get them out and about socializing in a safe manner, but also to show these people in the Aurora community that there are businesses out there that are open, supportive, and accepting. We think it’s those kinds of businesses that really need some extra support right now during COVID, so this is our way to support queer- or ally-owned businesses and also to help all the people all throughout Aurora who are feeling cooped up at home. This is a way for them to get out and support a good cause.

I know other future plans aren’t set I know other future plans aren’t set in stone, but what other hints can in stone, but what other hints can you give us? you give us?

We are working alongside the drag community in Denver, and we are working on a way to bring their beauty and glory to a larger audience, hopefully

in person. We are finalizing the last details. There might also be some LGBTQ movie fun coming up in the near future and potentially even some water- and sun-related events coming.

Several Pride festivals this year Several Pride festivals this year went virtual because of the went virtual because of the pandemic. Do you think we will see pandemic. Do you think we will see more of that in the future? more of that in the future?

I think that we will, but I think it’s going to be important for event organizers to think of a way to make that more successful to engage people more and to bring those things that normal Pride brought to our community. More engagement from nonprofits, bringing messaging, access to healthcare like mental health, sexual health—whatever that might be. I think it’s important that those virtual Prides remember that Pride is about more than just entertainment. It’s about bringing people together, and it’s about giving these people access to resources they don’t normally have access to.

What do you enjoy the most about What do you enjoy the most about Aurora Pride and being involved Aurora Pride and being involved with this organization? with this organization?

I love the City of Aurora. I think it is a wonderful, unique place that is so diverse in so many different ways. It’s just a great mixing pot of so many different people. Because there’s such a diverse population of people religiously, ethnically, politically, it is an important place where were need to recognize the LGBTQ community. When we are in areas that have a higher conservative population or first-generation immigrant population, it is really important that we share these messages and bring light to the LGBTQ community because there’s a lot of people in our community struggling. We need to provide an outlet for them to see other people like them. They need to know that they are accepted; they belong to something, and they have a community who has their back.

How would you say Aurora Pride is How would you say Aurora Pride is unique and stands out from other unique and stands out from other Denver-area Prides? Denver-area Prides?

I think the things that make our Pride unique is that we go about hosting a Pride event in a way that is very different than a lot of other Prides around. You know, we are the only beachfront Pride in the Rocky Mountain area. Pride isn’t just an avenue for people to get together, but it’s also a way for Coloradans to enjoy our natural environment. Bringing in the LGBTQ community and this gorgeous body of water and beach setting makes it for a really unique event unlike any of the other Prides in probably the surrounding states, even.

Besides the obvious, what are Besides the obvious, what are some other major challenges in some other major challenges in putting together an event in times putting together an event in times of COVID? of COVID?

The obvious ones are keeping people separate and the number of people we can have in a certain space, but some other things that people don’t always think about are having isolation areas to treat someone who might be showing symptoms or ensuring that we have extra medical staff on site providing the medical equipment that’s important in these times like face masks, hand sanitizer stations, and temperaturereading stations. The city’s regulations get pretty specific, so it is very important for us to keep all of our attendees safe. Going through all of these regulations line-by-line, there’s always unusual little things popping up like that.

How is Aurora Pride responding to How is Aurora Pride responding to the allegations against the police, the allegations against the police, and what future actions will be and what future actions will be taken? taken?

That can always be a challenging question because we have had some pretty amazing experiences with the Aurora police and their LGBTQ group, but at the same time, in a community as diverse as this, we deal with a lot of racism issues, not only from the police and from the city, but from other people in the community. So, racism has long been an issue in the area, and that has moved into our police force. We are working not necessarily to condemn the police department but working to push for them to have the proper training and education that these police officers need to know in order to properly interact with such a diverse community.

Some Pride festivals have pushed Some Pride festivals have pushed to not have the police be involved to not have the police be involved at all. What is your opinion on at all. What is your opinion on that? that?

I think something that is important about Pride is that it’s inclusive. I think there should not be a person that we don’t allow in. So many people in our community have felt a lack of inclusivity in their lives, and I think the last thing we want to do as a community is to make any group of people feel like they are not welcome. I think that it is important to us that when we do work with the police, we are working with people within the police department that have their ears open. When we hire off-duty police officers for an event, that just boils down to the law. We have to include them in order to get our liquor permit. So, we ensure that when we are required to have those off-duty police officers there, we are working with officers who volunteered to be at our event and are inclusive of our community. I would say that a lot of the police officers that work at our events are often members of our community, or they have a kid, sibling, or someone who is a part of the LGBTQ community. So, we have actually had really good luck with the officers who work directly with Aurora Pride.

Is there anything else you would Is there anything else you would like to mention before we wrap like to mention before we wrap up? up?

Our Pride has been thinking about all of our community members. Not only across Aurora, but people who come from a lot further to visit our events. We are struggling with not being able to provide our usual meeting space for this community, but we are working as hard as we can to provide new opportunities for our community to come together and provide resources for people who need them. We are working as hard as we can to get something on the calendar so that we can all come together in a safe way. Safety for our community comes first. To stay up-to-date, follow Aurora Pride on Facebook at facebook. com/AuroraPrideColorado, or visit aurorapride.com and sign up for their newsletter.