Rally

In the center of our downtown area, there is a rotary.  The island in the middle showcases a Vietnam War memorial and beautiful landscaping, as well as crosswalks that help usher pedestrians across this busy intersection. 

Community groups often gather in this space, holding signs to promote their favored cause or candidate, and no permit is required to do so.  

Yesterday was my first event in the rotary.  I am a member of a Pride Allies group in town, and we organized and LGBTQ+ Pride Rally, inviting members of the community to gather in support.  I packed up my collection of Pride Flags, a bulk-sized box of skittles, and a cooler full of water.  We had rainbow stickers and markers and poster board for anyone who didn’t bring a sign. We were ready.  

*****

A slightly awkward preteen boy pulled up on his bicycle.  I greeted him, asking if he was part of the local middle school GSA.  “No.  I go to a different school.  I was just going to the store and I saw you here, so I decided to come back for a while.”  He stayed for three hours.  

*****

A little old lady, wearing wrap-around sunglasses and struggling to see over her steering wheel, smiled at us and waved as she puttered around the circle at about 7 miles per hour.  

*****

A large man in a mid-sized sedan drove through a little too fast.  He saw my sons standing with their signs and their flags, leaned halfway out his window, and bellowed, “FAGGOTS” before he flipped them off.  

 *****

A bald man in a grocery delivery truck shouted, “Happy Pride! Keep it up!” and send out two short blasts of his truck’s startling horn. 

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A twenty-something woman with spiky pink hair leaned a bit out her window and shouted, “GO QUEERS!” while pumping her fist and honking her horn. 

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A family of four drove by with their windows down.  A preschooler in her car seat shouted, “Happy Pride!” out the window.  The rest of the family was silent.  

*****

A middle-aged woman in a white SUV drove almost all the way through the rotary before shouting, “I LOVE MY WHITE HUSBAND” and speeding away.  

*****

A woman in her fifties, driving a Subaru with a co-exist bumper sticker, shouted “Thank you!” as she drove past.  

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A bald man in a pickup with an NRA logo in the window smiled and gave us a thumbs-up. 

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On more than one occasion, we were pleasantly surprised.  Our own stereotypes were shattered by the tradesman and truckers who threw us a thumbs-up or blared their horns.  

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There is research that tells us that simply having a GSA (formerly ‘gay-straight alliance’, now updated to mean ‘gender-sexuality alliance’) in a middle or high school reduces suicide rates.  That’s even if students don’t ATTEND the GSA.  Having it in place and visible speaks to the culture of the building.  It lets students who often feel ostracized and alone know that they do have support. 

If that’s true in a school, imagine how much MORE powerful it is in our communities.  

I won’t lie; the negative responses stuck like barbs.  They pissed me off.  But the honks and waves and cheers of support outnumbered the negatives by a hundred to one. 

A whole group of kids left that rally feeling a little more seen and a whole lot more supported.  They had a chance to hear the nasty comments and then build their resilience with the backing of a hundred honks and cheers.  

I’m going to call that a good day.