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Drag show outrage isn’t stopping expected outpouring for Tri-Cities gay pride events

Eric Rosane
·5 min read
File/Tri-City Herald

Despite a canceled Tri-Cities Pride Festival and threats against Tri-City establishments earlier this year for hosting all-ages drag shows, LGBTQ Pride Month kicked off this week with a long slate of events planned.

And support for gay pride in the Tri-Cities is growing louder, events organizers say.

“With all that was going on in the Tri-Cities, it was impossible for us to not go one year without making this safe space and creating this statement: That hate does not belong in this community,” said Doug White, the Yakima resident whose political action committee is putting on an alternative to the Tri-Cities Pride Festival later this summer.

The Tri-Pride 2023 festival is set for Saturday, July 8, at Memorial Park in Pasco.

It will feature performances from dance troupes and musical acts, family-fun activities such as face painting, and more than 100 vendors.

“We’re expecting the largest crowd ever. The community is turning out in unbelievable warmth and support,” he said.

The regular Tri-Cities Pride Festival will return in 2024

Tri-Cities Pride, the group that has traditionally organized to put on the annual Tri-Cities Gay Pride Festival, had to cancel this year’s event in order to reorganize into a nonprofit. The group plans to return next year for the 2024 festival.

Gay Pride Month

Pride Month is celebrated annually in June to remember the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, a tipping point for the gay liberation movement in the U.S.

It’s also a time for people who identify with the LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, or Queer) community to celebrate their identity and community.

But anti-gay hate crimes and rhetoric, and in particular those levied against transgender persons, have been on the rise in recent years.

Recent controversies over Target’s Pride merchandise and a short Bud Light partnership with transgender social media star Dylan Mulvaney, as well as recent bans in states other than Washington on gender-affirming care, have continued to grab headlines.

Gay youth are at a significantly higher risk of suicide or self harm, says The Trevor Project. And people who identify as LGBTQ are nine times more likely than non-LGBTQ people to be victims of violent hate crimes, according to the Williams Institute, a public policy research institution at UCLA.

But communities can curb hate and self harm simply by recognizing the existence of gay and trans people.

“Statistically, there is a 40% drop in LGBTQ youth self harm and suicide attempts when they have at least one accepting adult, and the attempts go down even further if they’re able to use their real chosen name and their proper pronouns at home,” said Carly Coburn, chairperson of PFLAG Benton Franklin.

PFLAG “meets people where they are at,” Coburn said, and the group helps families better understand what experiences their gay child may be going through. It’s one of the reasons they try to build community by hosting social hours and regular events.

Coburn said their organization also distributes educational materials for families of faith and military families.

Emerald of Siam

The Emerald of Siam restaurant and the Out and About club both faced push-back in April from protesters upset over the establishments hosting all-ages drag shows.

This despite the fact that the two Tri-City businesses had been offering the family-friendly events regularly for years.

The Emerald of Siam received harassment online and by phone, vandalism and even an anonymous death threat over an Easter Sunday drag brunch event. Opponents accused them of “grooming” kids.

On April 18, Emerald of Siam staff and hundreds of supporters marched on the Richland City Council to demand an apology for its apathetic response and for Mayor Pro Tem Theresa Richardson’s previous comments saying she was “sad” to see a drag show planned on Easter.

While there was no apology, White said it was heartening to see a strong and vocal turnout.

“I’ve gone through this cycle where oppression just seems to create this desire to push back and push harder than before, from Stonewall to the AIDS epidemic,” said White. “The most recent attack on Emerald of Siam did the same thing. It made everyone just jump up and say, ‘No, not in our community.”

Coburn said the Tri-Cities will need leaders — elected, as well as in the communities and in the schools — who are supportive and understanding of the LGBTQ community and who recognize their humanity in order to avoid another situation like Emerald of Siam.

“It’s almost like that iceberg meme — recognizing the humanity is at the top, but there’s so much more below the surface,” Coburn said.

Pride Month events