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...

On Oct. 7, 1985, Lynette Woodard, who captained the gold-medal winning U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team in 1984, had the great distinction of becoming the first female player for the Harlem Globetrotters, remarking that she “got chills” when she heard the news. She beat out nine other finalists for the honor.

On Oct. 8, 2009, two people died of heat stroke and more than a dozen others had to be hospitalized for dehydration and other medical issues following a botched sweat lodge ceremony near Sedona, Ariz., at a five-day retreat run by motivational speaker and author James Arthur Ray. A third participant died nine days later.

On Oct. 9, 1942, Chicago bootlegger Roger “The...