Phoenix LGBTQ+ community chooses resilience

After a socially distant, pandemic-rattled year, the Phoenix LGBTQ+ community had lost its touch. Now, the community is reviving and ready to act. Nonprofit organizations and local figures are happy to see people return.

COVID aside, Arizona is a unique state when it comes to Pride. In the interest of public health, the state could not put on a Pride parade or gathering during the summer months, as the heat proves too big a risk to public health. The city instead opted to host Pride the first week of November, with a smaller block party event hosted in late October to promote the two-day parade and raise money for local businesses, nonprofits and organizations.

“I think it is an act of resistance and revolutionary just to exist and be yourself as a queer person. In America, in Arizona, in the world. And that deserves to be celebrated,” said Casey Clowes, who is running for Tempe City Council.

While Pride is a festival —a celebration of pride in one’s identity— it has always been political. Today, members of the queer community nationwide are frustrated with public officials and figures in power over their lack of public, substantive and sustained support for queer communities.

Eyes turn toward Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) in particular, and whether she will support the bid to pass the Equality Act, a bill that, if passed, would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include gender and sexuality under the umbrella of indiscriminative factors of one’s identity.

“I think passing the Equality Act is incredibly important. It's past time to do so. It's shameful that Kyrsten Sinema is holding it up by refusing to either end or reform the filibuster… It's important that we celebrate ourselves and the progress we've made while continuing to push for a better future for all of us,” Clowes said.

Phoenix City Councilwoman Yassamin Ansari organized Pride on the Block —a block party at Portland Parkway Park in downtown Phoenix— which primarily supported one·n·ten, an organization in Phoenix dedicated to providing queer youth with resources and community in places lacking support.

Once a week, one·n·ten hosts events at its respective chapters —including its many satellites— allowing queer youth to gather in safe spaces and request support from a place they normally would be droughted of resources and advice.

“It’s more important than ever, as we’re trying to come back from COVID, to make sure these organizations are supported and can really hold on to the momentum that they’ve built. I hope that [these events] will just show that Phoenix as a city supports these initiatives, these programs and organizations, and that hopefully, we can raise some money for one·n·ten so they can keep up the great work that they’re doing,” Ansari said.

Like many organizations and businesses during the pandemic, one·n·ten had to close its in-person operations. It adapted by opening virtual programming over Zoom, and plan to continue the virtual operations even as one·n·ten reopens.

“If more youth can come, and, you know, they can’t get to the satellites, to be in person with people, they can do it virtually,” one·n·ten spokeswoman Janna Gallaher said. “It’s a big difference from what I used to see in the 80s and 90s, you know, the 70s. This is marvelous.”

Gallaher has been involved in the queer community for a long time, “in the periphery,” as she describes it. While the queer community has an agenda, she identifies the work being done today as fostering community rather than building a movement.

The Phoenix LGBTQ+ Employee Alliance is an organization dedicated to making spaces for queer people —and queer advocacy— for LGBTQ+ employees of the City of Phoenix and their friends, families and allies. Paul Yount is the community outreach & networking chair. He’s excited to get the Phoenix community involved with the Employee Alliance in the future by hosting wine and paint nights, trivia nights, and more.

“Our Employee Alliance brings resources to any of our employees. I work in the Police Department, and the Employee Alliance is a really great place to go to get some great resources. They teach you your laws, how you can be a member of this community and still be professional and work within the city,” Yount said.

According to Yount, a lot of the resources the alliance provides are educational and conversational, with an emphasis on learning new terminology and labels used by the community. The Alliance has also put on events at the City Hall Atrium, with the goal of fostering a continuing conversation within the City of Phoenix.

“It feels amazing, [even] with the pandemic still happening, I’m really surprised and happy with the turnout we’re seeing,” Yount said.

Even without a gathering or a parade last year, Clowes said she feels like there’s still room to grow.

“Whether we have a celebration or not has still been like, a moment of activism, where folks are, you know, like paying attention politically… So whether we have a festival or not, I don't think sort of like hinders people's attention on the, like, political process,” Clowes said.

The kind of visual representation people like Clowes and Yount bring to the table in their respective fields of work cannot be understated. Showing that queer people exist in every career field and every system can make a world of difference for someone else.

“It's important to show that there are many ways that queer people exist. You know, we don't exist in one little box. And so, to show that that's one of my identities and one of the things they bring to the table, but it's not the only identity I bring with me when I walk into spaces,” Clowes said.

Arizona’s firm purple stance on politics only emboldens Clowes to fight harder for the LGBTQ+ community. She recognizes that a lot of people don’t have the privilege to just pack up and move to a more democratic state.

“For the people who feel like they're stuck here, it's important to fight for this place to be a welcoming and open place for them to live… Every place should feel like home for someone, especially like someone's hometown,” Clowes said.

Marissa, Phoenix and Angelica Rivera are new Scottsdale residents, having just moved to Arizona during the start of the pandemic. They were connected to Pride On The Block by one·n·ten, and were attracted to Phoenix by the promise of community.

“I feel like over in East New York, where they do the LGBT parade, it’s definitely a huge difference, and I’m glad that I’m experiencing that here,” Marissa Rivera said.

“It’s more open here, harmony,” Angelica Rivera echoed. “And I don’t mean like open gay, I mean its more open where we don’t have to fear you know, what’s been happening around the world."

“Any distraction from the 2020 to 2021 is a welcome distraction,” Phoenix Rivera said.

To the Riveras, there was a sense of liberation in being at the block party in those moments. It’s what people like Clowes are fighting so hard to protect.

“There is so much joy and love in the queer community. And I hope people who aren't out yet, you know, get to experience and that people who are not in the community see the joy and love that we have for one another,” Clowes said.