Fort Smith residents show LGBTQ pride at rally – Times Record
They came dressed in all shades of the rainbow. One woman donned a rainbow corset. A drag queen sashayed about in a floor-length rainbow gown. People draped Pride flags across their bodies like capes. Parents stood in support of their children. Siblings stood in support of their brothers and sisters.
At its height, the group spanned a city block and included about 50 people. On the sweltering Sunday in downtown Fort Smith, people braved the heat to show support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) community.
Nearly everyone waved a flag or held a sign.
The words “This proud mama loves you just the way you are,” were plastered across one trans flag.
Another sign read, “Out of the closet into the streets,” and a pride flag read “Make America Gay Again.”
On Sunday, the River Valley Equality Center came together with the Committee for Social Advancement Fort Smith for a Pride rally that championed the rights of the LGBTQ community.
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The crowd was filled with smiles and laughter. Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way,” blared from a speaker. The people stood on the edge of the always-busy Garrison Avenue, cheering and waving as cars drove past.
Many who passed the scene, honked their horns in support. They waved. They leaned out their windows with fists raised in solidarity.
But some did not. And a couple made sure that the group knew it was not welcome in Fort Smith, yelling slurs out the window at the colorful ensemble.
That is the kind of thing the rally stood against, said Michael Robinson, with the Committee for Social Advancement Fort Smith.
Robinson wants to create a safe space for queer people in the city, a place where people can be free to be themselves.
For Jordan Ruud, the River Valley Equality Center president, events like the rally work toward a better tomorrow where people are not afraid to be gay.
“Visibility is important,” Ruud said.
Rallies like this one show people that they are not alone, Ruud said.
Much of the rally focused on rights for transgender people.
Joanna Brandt attended the rally with her two sons Dylan, 15, and Luke, 13. The Brandts are one of four families involved in the American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit against the state of Arkansas.
The suit challenges the recently passed Arkansas law that prevents trans youth from receiving gender-affirming medical care, including mental health care.
Dylan is transgender, and Joanna said that the family wants to be one of the voices supporting the trans community.
Phoenix Blair, who is transgender, participated in the rally with her gay sister Ariel.
“Trans rights are human rights,” Phoenix said.
Phoenix wanted to stand against the bills the state legislature passed concerning transgender children.
Phoenix said she “just wanted to show that we won’t just lie down and take it.”
Megan Blakey passed around a petition against the law banning gender-affirming care to trans kids as well as petitions against the stand your ground act and a law that she said suppressed voting rights.
“They’re hate bills,” Blakey said.
Rachel Bishop, who is also transgender, attended to protest the law concerning trans medical care, which she called “discriminatory.”
“We’re just people like everybody else,” Bishop said about her trans community.