Pride in the parade: Procession down Main Street followed by a band – Ashland News

Thousands turned out to support SO Pride on Saturday

By Art Van Kraft for Ashland.news

A boisterous crowd estimated at 1,000 people lined Ashland’s Main Street Saturday morning, cheering and applauding the 14th annual Southern Oregon Pride Parade. The street was full of color and movement as participants pranced, danced and sang, reliving the energy of Pride parades of the past.

The crowd followed the parade into the Plaza and wound up Winburn Way toward Butler Bandshell for a series of performances. Along the way, people passed parked cars and stands displaying a variety of interests and programs.

As the hill filled at Lithia Park’s bandstand, the crowd was greeted by parade grand marshal Justin Huertas, the award-winning Seattle playwright whose original musical “Lizard Boy” completes its run at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

“When we arrived in Asland to begin our work, we were met with nothing but genuine compassion and care,” Huertas said. “The city feels like a magical fairyland for every kind of queer mythical creature with a beating rainbow heart. Our show centers on a young, black gay man who learns to accept and celebrate that the things that make him different are his superpowers. Today is the day you remember to live fully and loudly in all your glory.”

The performances in the orchestra were moderated by Lady Luci LaVicious. Performances included a drag show and aerialists.

Two Portland drag artists took a break on the Plaza after the parade. Both Sister Frieda Copulate and Sister Marmalaid Poundcake said they would travel to Pride events throughout the region. They deliberately appear in small towns for a reason.

“I proudly try to support all the more rural towns because they are the ones most in need. Portland has so much support that these smaller cities need support. We’re happy to stop by and help in any way we can. “I marched with everyone to show my pride,” Copulate said.

Sister Marmalaid Pound Cake said the need for gay and transgender support is greatest in small towns like Ashland.

“We are a queer organization with the goal of atoning for stigmatic guilt and spreading all-encompassing joy. There is a lot of guilt that comes with being queer. We try to block that out and replace it with joy. We want people to feel like they can be who they are, and that’s one of the ways we do that. We dress like the loudest, weirdest people in the room and that allows everyone else to be exactly who they are, Sisters of Professional Indulgence,” said Pound Cake.

On a parked float decorated with balloons, Hadassah Dejack addressed passersby to introduce her organization that helps injured animals.

“We are here to celebrate pride. We are a non-profit organization. Tikkun Olam Farm Sanctuary in Phoenix provides a permanent home for abused, abandoned, neglected and unwanted farm animals,” Dejack said.

The gay theme even applies to animals, she explained.

“We are also an LGBTQ organization. Intersex animals live in our animal shelter. That means they are born with male and female parts and we use them, these pronouns, to identify the animals. The term was originally hermaphrodite, but now we use “intersex” to be more precise. We also have two gay ducks who have been in a relationship for six years,” she said.

Dejack said the shelter was instrumental in rescuing and treating animals in the Alameda Fire.

“We worked with the National Guard and received a large number of burned and injured livestock that were not evacuated. We also have a current happy ending. We take in a sheep named Hersch. He should be slaughtered. A local shelter resident had him and he has such an engaging personality that they decided not to kill him, so they gave him to us,” Dejack said.

Further along Winburn Way, a stall provided information about transgender treatment and support. Marlene Dabestan is a nurse at OnePeak Medical’s Talent and Ashland facilities.

“I represent the gender-equitable care that we offer. We provide hormone replacement therapy and connect people with surgical services. We provide everything from basic care to gender determination. Not all medical providers currently offer this, but we are in our talent office and have an office in Ashland,” she said.

Art Van Kraft is an Ashland-based artist and former broadcast journalist and news director for a National Public Radio affiliate in the Los Angeles area. Send him an email at [email protected].