Last year, LGBTQ+ Rolla held its first big public event. We had held some Zoom events with just a smattering of participation, but were emboldened to hold our first Pride gathering. I had hoped for 20 or 30 people to attend and we planned accordingly. We had music and snacks, but not much else. Over 90 people showed up! I was amazed. Not only did they show up, but they had a great time, as evidenced by the fact that they stuck around for the whole evening.
We continued to hold events throughout the year, with a focus towards building community and ramping up to another Pride gathering. Knowing that people would show up, we planned a little more carefully. I remembered one of my previous greatest achievements: when I was general chair of APEC in 2017. APEC is a major conference for engineers in my field. Engineers are not known to be highly social, but we still have a social event on Wednesday night of the conference. We’ve done various things over the years, but that year, we struck gold. We rented a city park and had different activities around it: food (there has to be a meal), a live band with a dance floor, games like cornhole, hand-rolled cigars. It was a huge success because there was something for everyone.
Last night, we held Phelps Pride 22 in the lower Schuman pavilion. Instead of just a bunch of random snacks, we had food trucks—Food For Your Soul and Sweet Stop. We had music from Spotify and from a keyboardist (Chris Feaster). We had crafts—jewelry-making and tie-dying. We sold T-shirts, plain white but with our logo, perfect for tie-dying. We had games—cornhole, ladder ball, volleyball. Something for everyone. Even a speech celebrating Pride as a protest, with a reminder that our work of building a better world is never done.
IT WAS INCREDIBLE! I would say easily 200 people. The pavilion itself was full, with people filling the lawn around it for a long way in every direction. I spent most of the night at the welcome table, selling T-shirts and raffle tickets and getting people to wear name tags.
One beautiful moment came around halfway through. A guy came over to the welcome table and said, “How can I be a better ally to you?” I said, well, first of all, I’m an ally myself, so start where I started: show up. He had already done that much, so I told him to keep showing up. Secondly, I pointed him to our website, which has some good resources. But the beautiful part is that he asked. He wants to be better and do more for other people.
That’s the sort of thing I have been hoping for. By national standards, Rolla is fairly conservative; by rural Missouri standards, it’s moderate-to-progressive. Just the fact that more than 1% of the city’s population showed up to Phelps Pride is a good indication that there are supportive people in the community. But we can and must do better and be better. The burden is not on LGBTQ+ individuals—it is on straight allies. We need to make a community that is more inclusive, more open, more loving of each other.
The greatest is the enemy of the great.
From This Is Day One by Drew Dudley
Was Phelps Pride 22 better than Rolla Pride 21? Wrong question. The 2021 event will always be the first one, which makes it special. The question is, was Phelps Pride 22 a great event? Absolutely! People gathered in true community, openly living their true selves. We should strive to make every day great by helping everyone live as the best versions of themselves.