Wind River Pride hosted a week-long celebration for Pride Month in support of Fremont County LGBTQ+ Two-Spirit community members and allies. The group usually participates in Lander’s July 4th celebrations, but is choosing to opt out this year due to recent events.
Wind River Pride has built LGBTQ+ community across Lander, Riverton, and the Wind River Reservation for the last ten years. The all-volunteer grassroots organization also has an intersectional framework centering youth and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) individuals.
While most of this year’s Pride Month celebration events went smoothly, members from a white nationalist group called the Patriot Front attended the Wind River Pride drag show at Jaycee Park on June 17th. According to reports, the group wore white face masks, brought large anti-drag banners and yelled offensive slogans and left about thirty minutes later.
“It's so disheartening to think that, us simply trying to display our creativity or display beauty is sometimes seen as a threat,” Layha Spoonhunter said, an Indigenous queer community member who is part of Wind River Pride and performed at the drag show. “And here we are being protested and being antagonized because we just simply want to entertain, be there to provide our talents and to provide a space for people to gather, and to show love and creativity.”
The Patriot Front attended a Pride event in Idaho last year. The group’s leader and 30 other members were arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and charged with conspiracy to riot. There have been reports of members of the group protesting Pride events across the country this year.
A separate small group of local protestors stayed throughout the performance. Wind River Pride reported that event attendees were also verbally harassed by local parents near the public restrooms at the 10th annual Pride picnic event at the Lander City Park the next day.
Members from Wind River Pride said the presence of the white nationalist group, combined with other recent instances of harassment, are why they will not attend the upcoming parade. The group also cited the fact that youth on their float during last year’s Fourth of July Parade had been harassed by individuals on other floats.
Wind River Pride member Taylor Pajunen said they hope the decision inspires community action.
“This isn't just a backing-down-because-we're-scared type thing that I think people could interpret it as,” said Pajunen. “This is a strategic move by us to one, protect our people and two, make sure that the city knows that they have work to do.”
The group also expressed concern over the school board’s recent decision on how to handle controversial books and this year’s passage of an anti-discrimination proclamation from the City Council in place of the usual Pride proclamation, which has been passed the last four years.
The anti-discrimination proclamation passed this year recognizes that June has been “historically designated as a month which celebrates everyone’s right to live without fear of prejudice, discrimination, violence, or hatred based on their ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, class, religious beliefs, disability, or other lived experiences.” But unlike the Pride proclamations of the past four years, it does not specifically mention Pride month.
The City Council meeting on June 13th about Pride events and the anti-discrimination proclamation was attended by nearly 150 locals. Two community members who opposed the proclamation expressed concerns about upholding their Christian values, public decency, and the impact that witnessing LGBTQ+ events in public spaces could have on children.
To Wind River Pride member Pajunen, the recent decisions of local school board members are connected to the increase of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric on a national scale.
“The whole community was invited to [the drag show] and so many people showed up – there were so many allies there and we were all put in danger,” said Pajunen. “And that is in direct response from school board members encouraging and normalizing violence towards trans and LGBTQ+ Two-Spirit people.”
Wind River Pride hopes their absence will serve as a reminder that local governments and individuals must take more action to protect members of the Fremont County LGBTQ+ Two-Spirit community.
