When it comes to the LGBTQIA2S+ community, even having parades and festivals this month is a test of equal rights, said Ron Piaseczny president of Niagara Pride.
A Pride Month spiritual gathering Thursday at the First Unitarian Universalist Church in Niagara Falls was well attended, Piaseczny said, with a lot of new faces.
Today, another event from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Newfane, creates an opportunity for inclusion. Pride N.O.W. will hold a “fun and family-friendly event” with vendors and non-profit exhibitors at the Gazebo Business Plaza at 2720-2729 Main St. The expanded event welcomes residents of Wilson and Olcott, who have been incorporated into the event’s initials. The event includes a drop-by craft project provided by Newfane High School students.
Lockport’s Pride celebration will be held June 14, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Kenan Center. The event will feature LGBTQIA2S+ and allied merchants, informational vendors, and family-friendly entertainment. An adult-themed drag performance will be held at the Kenan Center’s Taylor Theater immediately after the festival, hosted by Sober One Six.
While he sees increased attendance as a good indicator of community building, Piaseczny said he spoke to a person at the spiritual gathering who told him that when she wore a rainbow shirt to a sub shop this week, she received noticeable stares and was left waiting longer than other customers.
The reality of working to assure equal rights for LGBTQIA2S+ people, Piaseczny said, is that change takes time. New York state passed Proposition 1 in 2024 which added new categories to be protected from discrimination, including sexual orientation and pregnancy, to the state constitution. But it doesn’t offer instant transformation.
“It does not mean that all of the sudden, every employer, every business in Niagara County, is going to welcome the LGBT community with open arms,” he said.
Pride events are meant to bring out people to mix, mingle, be entertained, inspired, and included. These festivals are gaining a wider reach, but historically, there has been pushback for what some might call “extreme openness.”
Piaseczny makes no apologies.
“For one festival, to let our hair down, to be colorful, to be creative, to have that sense of expression, is no different than having it for heterosexuals 365 days of the year.”
Piaseczny challenges people to think about whether Mardi Gras in New Orleans is any different than a pride event.
It’s also not “just easier” to blend in with the straight community, he said.
“We have seen cultures and societies move in the direction that if you can not be assimilated into what is perceived as normal, … to ask the individual to completely remove those pieces of themselves,” Piaseczny said. “For LGBTQIA2S+ people, it’s not something that people choose. You are causing severe psychological trauma and damage.”
The Trevor Project website states that at least one youth ages 13-24 attempts suicide every 45 seconds. According to the Trevor Project, “LGBTQ+ young people are not inherently prone to suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, but rather are placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society.”
Piaseczny said more kids are living “out” while in school than in decades past, and that school organizations for gay students make a positive difference.
“With those being in the school, you have a deeper sense of community and peers that are being supported,” he said. “So if there’s a bully, you have others who are supportive.”