Proud Parade

On Sept. 29, Duke's East Campus will once again be the place to be out and proud when thousands of people converge on Durham for the annual North Carolina Pride Parade and Festival.

Marchers will wind up Main Street, down Ninth Street and back around to campus; booths will dot the grounds and the lawns will fill up with as many as 8,000 people celebrating gay pride.

Since 2001, East Campus has been home to the Pride Parade, the centerpiece of the three-day festival that draws participants from North Carolina and beyond.

The festival has been held at different locations around the state in its 23-year history, but this is the longest it has been held in one place, says Keith Hayes, spokesperson for the Pride Committee of North Carolina.

"I think we really have hit on a winning formula," Hayes says. "To me, it's a marker of success to have found the sweet spot that works for the university, works for the city, works for the merchants and works for the gay community."

Janie Long, director of Duke's Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Life, said the university is proud to provide a space for the gay community to gather and celebrate.

"Duke has done a great job with LGBT policies and resources, but there is a difference between having policies in place and lived life," Long says. "Living it out, to me, is having the pride parade."

The one-day event is illustrative of the university's larger commitment, Long says.

"The bigger question is how do we as a campus really support and affirm our LGBT students, faculty and employees. One important show of support and affirmation has been hosting the pride parade. It also is a way for Duke to engage and support the LGBT community in the Durham area," Long says.

The parade has its roots in a rally organized 26 years ago after a gay-bashing death on the banks of the Little River near Durham. Since then, it has grown into a more positive expression of gay pride, Hayes says.

"I think people come now because they know what to expect," Hayes says. "They know it's going to be uplifting, positive, joyful and a really unifying event."

Visitors are likely to see everything from men dressed in glittery evening gowns to marching bands, rainbow flags and speeches by gay advocates and local politicians. Church groups, businesses and advocacy organizations will set up booths on East Campus with information about support and services.

The event begins at noon with a rally, and the parade begins on East Campus at 1 p.m., circling around Main Street and Ninth Street and back to campus about an hour and 15 minutes later. The afternoon continues with speeches, music and other activities.

The event is likely to be less flamboyant than some gay pride parades in other cities, Hayes said, in part because organizers have as one of their central missions building relationships with straight people.

"That means operating within respect for the community," he says. "It is a conscious choice of ours to focus on the positive and not to hold up for the community examples of gay life that some people find offensive."

Last year's event drew a handful of protesters for the first time, but Hayes says he has not heard about any protests this year.

"It was sort of a shame and we're hoping it doesn't happen again this year," he says. "But it is a free country and there wouldn't be the freedom to advocate for gay rights if there weren't also the freedom to advocate for the views that oppose us."

Hayes says that even though times have changed since the first rally, for some people in North Carolina it's still not safe to be openly gay. He said he spoke last year to a lesbian couple who were both schoolteachers in a small town where they felt they would have jeopardized their jobs and their safety if they were open about their sexual orientation.

The festival "was the place and the day in North Carolina where they could be open," Hayes said. "It's a remarkable testament to Durham and to Duke University that year after year you host us."