Sandpoint Pride celebrates love, community

SANDPOINT — They are, Adrian Morello told those gathered for the Sandpoint Pride festival Saturday, making a difference in the world.

"I want to thank you for making history," the Sandpoint Pride speaker told those gathered for the fourth annual event. "Just by showing up, you are affirming and celebrating the importance and beauty of queer and trans visibility, acceptance, and freedom. You are making this a historic moment, not just in the history of Sandpoint but in the history of the LGBTQ civil rights movement in the state of Idaho."

In the very near future, Morello said that young queer and trans couples will be able to walk around, holding hands, and and no one will think anything of it.

"No one will bat an eye, no one will do a double-take, or make a rude or disrespectful comment designed to scare or shame them because it's just love and friendship, after all," he said.

Those gathered in support, those showing love to all, are the elders helping to make difference — and making it possible for the LGBTQ community to live their lives like everyone else, Morello said.

"You are those neighbors; you are those elders; you are ancestors in the making," he added as the Nights of Neon provided a funky jazz backbeat to his speech. "How do you want to be remembered when future generations look back at these times? And they ask, what did you do to help build a scaffold for a multiracial, multi-gender people's democracy? What will you say about what you did to help LGBTQ people live their authentic lives without fear?"

He called on the "queering of democracy" — a politics of respect and empathy for all people, including those of the LGBTQ. The country and the world are on the threshold of change, a new millennium where "business as usual" will no longer be acceptable, Morello said. 

"The 21st century will be a century of human rights, a better world we co-create with human rights as the value system and queering democracy is how we help transform this world."

Those marginalized are uniquely suited to teach others about the meaning and value of democracy, Morello said.

"Democracy is not just something that you do on Election Day," he told those gathered. "It's how we live in a pluralistic, multicultural society."

Morello was introduced by Andrea Marcaccio, Sandpoint Pride chair, who kicked off the event by thanking the Kalispel Tribe, noting the region is part of their ancestral homeland. Euro Americans' immigration into the region puts stress on the tribe, its people and its culture.

While the Kalispel worked toward an agreement that would keep its people in its homeland, it wasn't until 1914 when the U.S. government finally established a reservation for the Kalispel, a small portion of what its homeland had been, Marcaccio said.

"The tribe shares determination, resiliency, and community cohesiveness that have allowed the tribe to overcome difficult circumstances, flourish, and emerge as a regional leader," she told those gathered for Sandpoint Pride. "Through this incredible journey, the tribe has remained true to its values connected to the lands and waters that indigenous people have known for centuries."

Noting the Kalispel and the LGBTQI2S communities have much to offer, Marcaccio told the crowd to carry both in their hearts, to honor the tribe and its people, and to affirm the dignity of the LGBTQI2S community.

"The purpose of the Sandpoint Pride festival is to affirm the dignity and equality of the LGBTQI2S community, to welcome and celebrate their contributions to society and support the ongoing movement to secure their rights, freedom and safety," the Sandpoint Pride chair said before thanking everyone who took part in organizing it, volunteering for it and supporting it. 

She noted the event attracted more than 90 volunteers and had developed partnerships with everyone, from community members and local businesses to Sandpoint Police.

"This year, Sandpoint Pride has the largest, deepest bench of sponsors we've ever had," she added, thanking them for showing support to local members of the LGBTQI2S community and encouraging them to take part in the festival's final event Sunday, Operation Rainbow. As part of the event, community members, supporters and businesses are encouraged to place one of 250 inclusive Pride flags handed out at the event at their homes and businesses.

"We ask everyone who leaves with one of these free flags to hang that flag in solidarity with the LGBT community across this town," she added. "We're going to (when you can see what we can do) in solidarity. We can do things in numbers and show how bright and vibrant and caring and kind this community is and will create a safer, higher level of visibility and awareness in our town year round."

This year's Pride festival featured an expanded list of events — from a community conversation Friday to a family-friendly downtown bike ride Saturday to the main Sandpoint Pride event — offers something for everyone, Marcoccio said.

Since its 2021 start, the event has attracted several thousand people each year to the various events, which aim to affirm the dignity and quality of all in the LGBTQI2S community.

Held between Matchwood Brewing and Evans Brothers Coffee, the event plays host to a growing number of visitors and vendors, businesses and organizations. Major sponsors this year include Emily French, Ting, Matchwood Brewing, Bonner County Human Rights Task Force, Applegate Healthcare, Bluebird Bakery, and Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington & Northern Idaho. 

Now in its fourth year, Marcoccio said the event affirms the equality and dignity of the LGBTQI2S community and gives all in the community a place where their voice can be heard without judgment or anger. Sandpoint Pride also aims to inspire engagement with and support for the ongoing movement to secure the rights, freedom, and safety of queer and trans individuals, she said.

Information: sandpointpride.com

    A band plays before the start of Saturday's Sandpoint Pride event. It's the fourth year for the event which aims to affirm the equality and dignity of the LGBTQI2S community and give everyone a place where their voice can be heard without judgment or anger.