Residents celebrate gay pride during festival
By Brian Rosenthal
Aug. 16, 2009
Dressed in a flowing beige dress, Mr. Ruby Holiday rallied the crowd at Wingfield Park on Saturday afternoon.
"If you're a lesbian and you know it, clap your hands," Holiday chanted. "If you're a lesbian and you know it, clap your hands."
Holiday celebrated love and equality with an estimated crowd of more than 5,000 at the 13th annual Reno Gay Pride festival Saturday at Wingfield Park.
The message embodied in that chant -- pride -- is the point of the festival, Reno Gay Pride executive director Bob Robinson said.
"This is the one day out of the year where you can not feel ashamed and be who you are," said Robinson, 46. "It's important for young people to feel secure and feel like they belong."
Attendees were young and old, gay and straight and of all different ethnicities.
"Diversity is amazing," 18-year-old Tyler Jennings said. "It's great to see so many people out here. I like how everybody can come together like this and not hate each other."
Standing in the midst of the festival, Jennings wore a shirt that read "My gay friends are better and cooler than your straight friends." Although she is not gay, the Carson City resident said she came to show support for two of her gay friends.
Attendees had added reason to celebrate this year, organizers said. State Senate Bill 283, which grants gay and lesbian couples the ability to file for a domestic partnership, takes effect Oct. 1.
Secretary of State Ross Miller attended the festival to speak about the law. His father, former Gov. Bob Miller, signed a groundbreaking gay pride proclamation in 1996.
"I'm so proud to be here celebrating Gay Pride Day with you," Ross Miller said on stage. "There's a lot to be proud of. We respect equality in this state for all Nevadans."
Miller stuck around after the speech to man a booth with information about how to file for a domestic partnership.
"The response has been tremendous," he said, noting that all of the filing forms his office brought were gone shortly after 1 p.m.
Around that booth, 75 other vendors hawked everything from rainbow flags to bank accounts. Many of the vendors were not gay, Robinson said, but their presence made the gay community feel accepted, he said.
Armando Torres, selling DirectTV subscriptions, agreed.
"We get involved in a lot of events," he said. "This is just another one. Why look at it differently?"
Robbie Raaf, 42, the owner of the store Cloud 9 in Sacramento, said the festival is one of the best gay pride events in the country.
"I've been to a lot, and I've got to say that the people that run this know what they're doing, and they're doing if for the right reasons," he said.
In the grass surrounding the stage, 49-year-old Lola Martinez watched a performance while wearing a shirt that read "I Love My Gay Son."
Martinez's only complaint was that there was no parade this year.
Organizers had to cancel the parade due to a lack of participants and higher costs, Robinson said. They hope to bring it back next year.
Standing with her 13-year-old daughter, Lynn Sparks said the festival is valuable for its openness and friendliness. The 50-year-old mother said her daughter invited her to the event to see what it was like.
"It's different," Sarah Sparks said. "I like it."
"I think she should experience the differences in all people," Lynn Sparks said of her daughter. "If we were all the same, what a bore it would be."
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