With each year, the Juneau Pride event involves more and more people, but this year the organizers are consolidating the individual events.
Brandon Demery, the Chair of Southeast Alaska Gay &Lesbian Alliance (SEAGLA), said this year’s Pride events are fewer in number, but there will be more packed into each event.
“We just pared down, simplified, and tried to stay a little more local and more of an organic build on Pride events this year,” Demery said.
Pride, which runs from June 2-18, begins with the Pride+ Exhibition at the Juneau Arts and Culture Center, which serves as the opening of an exhibit that will run all month. A few days later, Mayor Ken Koelsch is expected to issue a resolution naming June 2017 “Juneau Pride Month,” as he did in 2016 as well.
One of the bigger events this year is the Pride Pub Crawl, which is where the consolidation of events will be the most evident. Instead of having different nights for karaoke, trivia and a pub crawl, all three aspects are combined into one night, taking place Saturday, June 10.
Starting at 7 p.m., participants in the crawl will start at the Rockwell and wind their way to the Rendezvous at around 10:30 p.m., where there will be trivia, karaoke and a comedy show from local comedy troupe Club Baby Seal. In previous years, Pride has brought comedy troupes from around the country, but this year the organizers decided to go with a local group.
“In the evolution of SEAGLA’s Pride events of late, I’d say within the past five years, we have each year ramped it up quite a bit,” Demery said. “As much as the community enjoyed bringing a comedy troupe up from L.A., we decided to buy local, if you will.”
One event that has remained largely unchanged for decades is the Pride Picnic, which is entering its 31st year. This year’s picnic takes place June 11, and will include appearances from Juneau Reps. Sam Kito III and Justin Parish.
This will be the first Pride celebration since the CBJ Assembly passed an ordinance this past August that forbids discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, race, age and more. Assembly member Jesse Kiehl was one of the main proponents of the ordinance and is being honored for his efforts in getting the ordinance passed.
Kiehl will receive the Mildred Boesser Equal Rights Award at the picnic, becoming the second recipient of the award, named for longtime LGBTQ advocate Boesser, who died in 2015. Kiehl said the ordinance itself, which went into effect in September, took much more than merely his own work.
“The ordinance was really a huge group effort,” Kiehl said. “So many people worked hard to get it passed and we spent a lot of time with the bishop and with folks from the Chamber, folks from the (Latter-day Saints) church and so many other people to come up with something that protects everybody’s human dignity and opportunity to work and earn. That’s really what everybody shared, so I don’t know if I deserve an award. I think everybody who worked on that ordinance deserves to share the credit.”
The culmination of this month’s events comes June 17, when the GLITZ drag show takes the stage at Centennial Hall. The event has quickly gained popularity, going from the Rockwell to selling out a room at Centennial Hall last year. There are still tickets available for this year’s event, Demery said, which can be bought at SEAGLA.org.
GLITZ and the pub crawl are the only events that cater to a more adult crowd, Demery said, while all of the other events are open to all ages. The full schedule, which is still subject to change, can be found at the Juneau Pride Facebook page.
The events might not be as numerous as they’ve been in the past couple years, but Demery said that might actually be good.
“It’s still gonna be a lot of fun, a lot of events,” Demery said, “just not every day like it was last year.”
Know &Go
June 2, 4:30-7 p.m.
Pride+ Exhibition at Juneau Arts and Culture Center
June 5
Mayor Ken Koelsch expected to issue resolution naming June 2017 as Juneau Pride Month
June 10, 7-10 p.m.
Pride Pub Crawl, starting at Rockwell
June 11, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
Pride Kickoff Picnic, at Sandy Beach (Shelter #2)
June 14, 5:30-8 p.m.
Pride Kickball, at Savikko Park
June 17, 7 p.m.-1:30 a.m.
GLITZ Drag Show and Dance, Centennial Hall (tickets available at SEAGLA.org)
June 18, 5-9 p.m.
Pride Bonfire, location TBD (either North Douglas, Sandy Beach or Thane)
Contact reporter Alex McCarthy at alex.mccarthy@juneauempire.com or 523-2271.
