With a focus on fun and inclusivity, the committee members of the first-ever West Plains LGBTQ+ Pride event are putting on the finishing touches. It will take place June 15 and 16 at Galloway Park and include musical entertainment, food trucks and activities.
Members of the local LGBTQ+ community want everyone to come out and meet them with the goal of facilitating a better understanding, and to hopefully see that they, like most everyone else, just want to live, work, raise their families and contribute without the threat of backlash over who they are overshadowing their daily lives.
They also want all to know Pride is about everyone being able to live their most genuine selves, not just the LGBTQ+ community. Pride events are typically held during Pride Month, designated as June in the United States.
Locally, the Folx community support group was established by Licensed Professional Counselor Erin Rigdon as a weekly group session for LGBTQ+ community members and their spouses, friends and family members who are allies, or anyone who wants to learn how to support their loved one or navigate the reactions of those who may not be supportive.
That feeling of belonging, a basic human need, is emphasized as a component of better mental health. The community and LGBTQ+ outreach has grown as a necessity for that reason, for those who may have been rejected by their families of origin for their sexual orientation and didn't know where to turn for support.
West Plains Pride Chair Cammie Storm said the West Plains Pride event sprang from a local Trans Walk of Visibility event held right before Easter that had about a dozen participants. The event was held ahead of the internationally-recognized Transgender Day of Visibility, an awareness-raising celebration of transgender people, their lives, and their contributions, as well as a recognition of the struggles they face with regard to poverty, discrimination and violence.
Storm is also a member of the Folx support group and said it felt like a meeting of individuals who just hadn't found their "safety net" yet, and realized the LGBTQ+ community "is so hungry for this."
Having a Pride event was discussed, a committee was formed and she went to city hall to get the proper permits and find out what was needed to follow official procedure. Expecting to meet some resistance, she was instead pleasantly surprised by the professional response and support she got from city officials.
Now there's an entire committee formed from members of the support group. "Seventy-four days before Pride, now there's a whole team," she noted during a recent interview with the Quill.
It has been a short turnaround, but Storm said she hopes it's just the beginning of a more visible, permanent presence in the West Plains community as a whole, one that will last beyond the Pride event.
There have been some negative responses to the West Plains Pride event on social media, Storm acknowledged, but mainly from a small group of individuals, and some who have commented that LGBTQ+ community members have moved here from larger urban areas like Springfield.
That particular misconception is another component of the need for visibility and inclusivity in rural, more socially-conservative areas like West Plains, she said. Most in the support group have lived in West Plains since childhood and grew up feeling they were "other," without a voice and in fear of being "out" in public.
Storm also said she realizes protesters might show up, acknowledging they have a right to voice their opinions, but also that she welcomes it as a chance to have a conversation leading to a better understanding.
"It's hard to hate someone you know,” she pointed out.
West Plains Pride Vice Chair Stevie Miller agreed that in the past people did leave to find that community, but said they shouldn't have to.
"We've always been here," Storm added, saying they have become more vocal and public, not to control, but to celebrate diversity and the inclusion of everybody. During the Trans Walk of Visibility, Storm shared, a man approached her and said 25 years ago he and some friends did leave the area "in fear for their lives" as members of the LGBTQ+ community, and said he was amazed how far West Plains has come during that time.
Storm's experience as a trans woman included participation in conversion therapy, a technique aimed at LGBTQ+ people based on the belief their sexual orientation, gender identity and/or gender expression are a choice that can be changed through techniques often not only ineffective, but harmful, increasing anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. The practice, intended to be a "cure" for what was at one time viewed as a mental disorder, has been opposed by the American Psychiatric Association since 1998 based in part on anecdotal reports from individuals. The practice continues, however, though it has been banned for use on minors in 20 states and about 100 cities since 2022, according to the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).
"If all that worked, I would be a cis gender male," she said, pointing out she eventually fully transitioned while living in the West Plains area. The term cisgender, or cis for short, refers to those people whose internal sense of gender aligns with the gender assigned at birth.
A transgender person may be more recognizable in the physical sense, but it's also important to the "passable" members of LGBTQ+ communities to be seen, even when it would be easier to stay silent about their identities to keep the peace.
That kind of silence can cause self-hatred to manifest itself in a very real way, said committee member Jamie, who asked to be identified by first name only. Jamie, who uses she/they pronouns and passes for cis and heterosexual, described their own battle with self-hatred. She said the feelings began to subside with help of therapy, and with being around others who are bold and unapologetic for who they are.
The West Plains Pride event will include information on mental health resources and side sessions for people who want to tell their stories. And it's not just for those who identify themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or nonbinary, intersex, asexual or any other identity under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella — it’s also for anyone who wants to know how to support their loved ones, even when their personal beliefs may be different.
"If we can speak up for ourselves, others can speak up for us, and we can all celebrate together," Storm reminded.
To find out more about the event, or to sign up as a performer, volunteer or vendor, visit the “West Plains Pride” Facebook page or email westplainspridecommittee@gmail.com.
Fundraising for the event is being done through the Community Foundation of the Ozarks and GoFundMe. To give via CFO, visit cfozarks.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=13111. To support West Plains Pride on the GoFundMe platform, visit gofund.me/9ff0421d.
