When Richard Reyes moved to Gallup about 14 years ago, he used his job at a local newspaper as a way to get into the Pride festivities. As someone who was new to town and not entirely comfortable with his sexual identity, Reyes covered the event for the paper as an outsider looking into a community he actually belonged to.
Fast forward 14 years, and now he’s more comfortable in his skin, and a member of the Gallup Pride planning committee. The organization held their big event of the year on Sept. 28.
In an interview with the Sun, Reyes explained why he believes hosting Pride events is important.
“I think Pride is important because so many people in the LGBTQ community don’t always feel supported or accepted in their lives,” Reyes said. “I think society is still learning to understand and accept LGBTQ people. … I think it’s important that the LGBTQ community has a safe space to be themselves and to express themselves. I think it’s really important for people of all ages, but especially young people, to see it’s OK to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, or whatever they identify with, because they might not see that it’s OK in other parts of their lives.”
DIVERSITY AROUND GALLUP
While Pride Month is celebrated nationwide in June, Reyes said that Gallup Pride was originally hosted in the fall because that’s when the University of New Mexico-Gallup students who first put on the event were back in the area. He said that the new planning committee wanted to keep that tradition. They also didn’t want to compete with other community events, such as Diné Pride, Gallup Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial, or the Red Rock Balloon Rally.
Dr. Jennie Wei is another member of the Gallup Pride planning committee. She’s gone to many other Pride events in bigger cities throughout the country, such as Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, and New York City. But she said every Pride is similar because they all share a goal: celebrating diversity.
“[Gallup’s Pride is] similar to other Prides in that it’s meant to bring together and celebrate the diversity of our community,” Wei said. “Especially given how diverse our community is not just in terms of gender identity and sexual orientations, but also in cultures. It’s just so beautiful to see so many different groups intersecting at the event.”
Wei said the community of Gallup is really what makes Pride special.
“Everybody knows everybody, or if you don’t know somebody you know somebody who knows them, and it’s just such an incredibly tight-knit feeling, even for people you’ve never met before,” she said. “One of things we always talk about in the [LGBTQ] community is that you have your given family and your ‘chosen family’ and it was just so nice to see that we were all there with our chosen family.”
This year’s Pride event involved music, drag queens, and food trucks all at the Courthouse Square. Rev. David Martin from the LGBTQ+ Ministry of Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande gave the opening remarks, and a transgender Diné woman named Mattee Jim, who is known locally as “The Panda,” served as emcee. Vendors such as the New Mexico Transgender Resource Center, Battered Families, Inc., and Diné Pride all had informational booths available at the event.
New Mexico Transgender Resource Center’s Director of Operations Erik Wolf explained why attending Gallup Pride was important to him.
“Going to Gallup Pride is really important for us because we know have a lot of our transgender sisters and brothers who live in Gallup,” he said. “They have a really great support through Indian Health Services in Gallup, they’re able to provide gender-affirming care to the people in our community, so we wanted to show up in support of the work they’re doing in Gallup.”
The Center provided information about their services at Gallup’s event. They help transgender people change any identification documents they need, connect people with gender-affirming care, and provide case navigation for both adults and children.
Gallup Pride is made up of all volunteers, and is currently not a 501c3 non-profit, although Reyes said they’re looking into reinstating their status soon. COVID led to many of the volunteers taking a step back, and this is only the second year that the organization has officially “been back.”
The September event is currently their only sponsored event, but Reyes said they’re looking to host more events throughout the year in the future.
Next year’s Gallup Pride event is scheduled for Sept. 27.
