Pat and I went to the Colorado Springs Gay Pride Fest this afternoon. We missed the parade (too bad, because judging from my friends' pictures it looked like a lot of fun!) but we did make it to the tail end of the festival later in the day. Colorado Springs has a reputation of being filled with extremely conservative Christians, but the fact of the matter is that our metro area is just as diverse as any other large city. There is a large and thriving gay community here, and our city is not nearly as "right wing" as people like to think.
For the first time in years, the Pride Festival had vocal support from one of our city leaders, Vice Mayor Larry Small (our mayor, Lionel Rivera, continues to withhold his support as he has done every year since taking office). Vice Mayor Small said last week, "These are citizens of the community who are having an event, and they need to be appreciated like any other group. They pay taxes, own businesses, and volunteer their time for community organizations. I'm not going to treat people differently just because other people might like or dislike them. I wasn't elected to judge any of them." Yay for Vice Mayor Small!
There was a great turnout today. Let's hear it for acceptance and tolerance! Vive la difference!
2 comments:
I like your vice mayor a lot! Just as I like the rainbow colors that they used :)
Well good for Vice Mayor Small. We all need to take his words to heart. As you say, we are not put on this earth to judge - only to love.
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