GRAND RAPIDS — For queer people living in Itasca County, harassment and hate are part of everyday life.
This is what Karter Starling and close to 50 others sought to convey to the Grand Rapids Human Rights Commission on Wednesday, April 24, as planning continues for the upcoming Itasca Pride Fest in June on the grounds of Old Central School.
Social media posts have accused the event of not aligning with family values or shared petitions pushing for the event to be more private. A Facebook event is seeking to organize a “straight pride” march on the same day.
Starling said that reaction is not only unsurprising, it’s expected.
“I think as a queer person, hate, hateful speech, hateful actions are something that you can never escape,” Starling said after Wednesday’s presentation. “ ... We live in a reality where that’s just how it is. You live, you breathe, you exist. I go into my workplace, I put the pride flag out in the morning and I wonder if a car is going to drive by and shoot me. And that’s my life. That’s our lives.”
But this is exactly why events like Itasca Pride Fest are important for everyone, not only the queer community, he added.
“There’s a lot of rhetoric about, ‘Why do they have to throw it in our face?’ But I think that the fact that we’ve had all of this hateful stuff spewed back at us is exactly why,” Starling said. “There’s a difference between ‘pride’ as in, ‘I refuse to be ashamed,’ and ‘pride’ as in, ‘I think I’m better than other people.’ I think that gets conflated pretty frequently.”
People filled the chairs, stood in the doorway and sat on the floor in Grand Rapids City Council chambers, and commissioners said it might have been the most well-attended Human Rights Commission meeting ever. Others spoke up to share their own stories of troubling encounters with bullying in schools, in grocery stores or while walking down the street.
Commissioner Ron Grossman said his gay son had similar experiences when he lived in Grand Rapids.
“He found it very, very difficult to be here, because it was overt and covert hatred that he experienced,” Grossman said.
Starling, who is the treasurer of Itasca Pride, asked for the commission and the city’s support of the event, whether as a partner or a financial sponsor. Chairperson Angella Erickson suggested the group return with more specific budgetary figures to present to the City Council.
“That’s one way that can make it really easy for us to kind of help support — the commission has supported other pride and generally affiliated types of events,” Erickson said. “ ... And the commission would support that kind of work again.”
Grand Rapids Councilor Rick Blake read the mission statement of the Human Rights Commission: “to promote a community of harmony and respect for the rights and dignity of all people.”
“I’m so grateful for all of you for coming. Thank you,” Blake said. “Because it’s great to see so many people show up.”
Starling said Itasca Pride Fest is still shaping up, but planned are a headlining band, 20-25 vendors, visits from political candidates, and an area set away from some of the louder events for face painting, giant bubbles and sidewalk chalk.
Drag performers may also be part of the event, he said — another reason people have expressed opposition to the festival as not being “family friendly.” Starling said drag shows are not inherently sexual, despite how they’re often portrayed.
“I think people are all about ‘family friendly, family friendly,’ and then they just completely ignore the fact that we have families. We have children, multiple of our board members have children, and I know multiple queer families in this community,” Starling said.
“ ... I think it’s important that people know that we will always be here to meet the hate with a greater amount of love. And I think we greatly demonstrated that today with the turnout that we had.”
Itasca Pride Fest will be 10 a.m.-6 p.m. June 23 in downtown Grand Rapids.
Updated 4/29/24: This digital and audio story were updated to provide the correct information about the Facebook event organizing a "Protect the children & Walk with straight pride" rally.
The event was not deleted.
KAXE regrets the error.
