Keeping love alive

Pride month is a wrap, but the need for education and demonstrations of support and inclusion remains as critical as ever, according to organizers of the annual Celebrate Love in the LCV.

The family-friendly event goes from 3-9 p.m. Saturday at Beachview Park, 1015 Second St., Clarkston, a location change from past events at Lewiston’s Pioneer Park.

Though the venue is different this time, the details of the celebration are similar to previous years. Five area groups and musicians will perform throughout the day, and about 30 vendors will be on hand with a variety of merchandise and giveaways. The Love Shack Kitchen, Mariana’s Tamales and Lil’ Manz Donutz food trucks are set to be on site with food and beverages to purchase. The event is alcohol-free.

Gathering in love and support feels especially critical as LGBTQ people have been targeted by politicians in Idaho and elsewhere, Chroma LC-Valley board member Erich Wunderlich said. State legislatures across the country, including Idaho’s, proposed — and in many cases passed — anti-transgender legislation this year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week business owners can decline services to LGBTQ people and anti-LGBTQ rhetoric has grown.

Polls show the majority of Amerians, including Idahoans, support LGBTQ rights, Wunderlich said, despite “the fact that politicians are using this as their platform as opposed to doing the hard work.”

Saturday’s event, per its name, focuses on celebrating — and demonstrating — the support present in the valley.

“I feel like for the queer community it’s important to be out, it’s important to be open, it’s important to be, ‘Yes, I’m here,’ ” Wunderlich said. “We’re not trying to feel special. We just want equal rights like everybody else.”

The gathering began in 2016 as a way for people in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley to come together to mourn and show solidarity with the LGBTQ community after the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla.

Organizers formed a nonprofit group, Chroma LC-Valley, last year to continue the Celebrate Love mission when the event returned after a COVID-19 hiatus.

Skate Pierce, who owns LGBTQ-friendly Hogan’s Pub in Clarkston with his wife, Meghan, shared screenshots on the bar’s Facebook page in early June of two examples of hateful messages his business recently received.

“This is why we have Pride,” Pierce wrote. “There is still so much hatred and bigotry.”

He ended his post with a hopeful message, in the spirit of Saturday’s event:

“Take Pride month to remind yourself that you are loved by community, despite the awfulness of some. Celebrate yourself. Remember those who fought for us to be where we are. Be grateful to those who are fighting to get us past where we are now.”