‘Queer all year’ | Arts & Entertainment | telluridenews.com – The Daily Planet
When it comes to celebrating Pride, Telluride’s LGBQT+ community doesn’t care what month the calendar says it is. Though June is designated Pride Month, local activists have scheduled a series of events this weekend that include a drag brunch, pool party, dances, a concert and yoga, many of which are free.
One of the weekend’s organizers, Laura Idema Shaunette, said that pride is a perpetual state of mind for the LGBTQ+ community.
“When I think of pride it’s multi-faceted,” she said. “It’s a way to honor all the work that’s gone before this. It’s a way to intentionally claim safe space, space that is not necessarily available to queer people. It’s a celebration of self. Queer people live every single day needing to feel safe being who we are and to be seen. That’s more than one month of the year.”
The organizers worked to be sure that younger members of the gay community felt included in the weekend’s activities. Saturday’s yoga session with Hollie Sue and the Transfer Warehouse DJ dance party are both free and open to all ages.
“We tried to make sure we had something available for the younger folks,” Shaunette said. “It’s important that young people can see folks to look to. We’re here to show them that queerness is beautiful and that we see you. It’s important for young people to feel safe and seen.”
Megan Honea serves on the Telluride Pride board. She, like others in the local gay community, acknowledge the importance of Pride Month, but said there is no reason to limit pride to just 30 days.
“Our motto for this celebration is ‘Queer All Year,’” Honea said. “Pride Month is such a wonderful milestone for the queer community, but it is often co-opted by corporations who use the month of June for their own hollow promotion. We’re proud to be members of the queer community year-round, and on a lesser note, it’s great weather in July for a pool party.”
For Honea, pride is the opposite of shame.
“It is a celebration of the best parts of us … community, perseverance, vulnerability,” she said. “For so many of us, we come from families who accept and tolerate who we are, but there is no celebration of the love we’ve found not only with others, but within ourselves. We continue to celebrate Pride as a way to honor everyone who did such difficult work before us, for our generation — we are the fruits of their efforts. And we celebrate as a way to continuously clear the path for the generation after us.”
For young people just beginning to embrace their identity, there is a world beyond Telluride that grapples with far less tolerant mindsets. It makes Telluride a welcoming and safe place.
“Telluride is a wonderfully tolerant place, but we have moved beyond the word ‘tolerant,’” Honea said. “Pride is about celebration, equity and embracing everyone with equal amounts of joy. There will always be work to be done for the queer community, as oppression and bias are so deeply woven into our cultural outlook. But the beautiful thing about the queer community, is that we will always find a way to move forward and we will always do the work.”
And the work of putting together a series of Pride events is a labor of love.
“If I’ve found anything to be true of the queer community in Telluride, it’s that we love to organize,” Honea said. “We love to make things happen, and as we continue to create these spaces where we meet people where they’re at, the full spectrum of humanity unfolds. I don’t think there are more queer people than ever before, we’ve always been here. Telluride just creates a prism through which they can see themselves, reflecting every color imaginable.”
The fun begins Friday at 7 p.m. at the Transfer Warehouse. The free dance party (donations will be welcomed) features Telluride Divas from 7- 9 p.m., and from 9-10:30 p.m. DJ Lina Vibes will steer the celebration.
On Saturday, join Hollie Sue for Yoga in the Park. Gather in Telluride Town Park near the Fred Shellman Memorial Stage. This is another free, all ages event. Donations, again, are welcome.
Saturday at 5 p.m. at the newly opened Ride Lounge, LGBQT+ ally Danielle Ponder will take the stage in Telluride’s newest, and very intimate, live music venue. Ponder is a perfect act for the coincidental overlap of Pride Celebration and the annual Ride Festival. Influenced by blues and gospel, Ponder left a career in law to pursue music. Her voice wraps around songs of both love and social consciousness with warmth and bottomless emotion.
“I hope there are songs that make them feel encouraged, songs that make them feel brave, songs that help them feel seen and even songs that they can just cry to,” Ponder said of her latest EP, “Some of Us Are Brave.”
Doors for this free, 21 and older show are at 4 p.m., and the show is at 5 p.m. First come, first served.
Sunday at The View at Mountain Lodge in Mountain Village is the always-raucous Drag Brunch with Aria Pettibone and Friends from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. with a pool party from 2-5 p.m. to follow. Reservations are strongly recommended for this 18 and older affair. You, too, can glam it up with Telluride Theatre’s Lash and Glitter Bar. Makeup artist Colleen Thompson will be on hand to ensure your fabulousness.
Bottom line for Telluride Pride organizers, is that you attend any of the weekend’s events in the spirit of fun, and yes, pride.
“The Telluride Pride Board wants you to come as you are,” Honea said. “We want you to know that we see you, we celebrate you, we validate you. And we always want you to come dance with us.”
“Pride,” agreed Shaunette, “is really meaningful. We need it, we want it.”
Find Telluride Pride on Facebook and on Instagram @tellu.pride. To make reservations for Drag Brunch, go to opentable.com/the-view-mountain-village.
Sponsors include Telluride Yoga Center, Telluride Arts, Telluride Theatre, The Ride Festival and Telluride AIDS Benefit.