LONGVIEW, Texas — Rainbow was the dress code for the first-ever Live Out Loud Pride Event in Longview’s Teague Park where over 250 people poured into the park to celebrate being LGBTQ+ with games, vendors, even a doggy drag show.
But more importantly, Mallory Waugh-Brown, the event's Volunteer Coordinator, said, it was about showing people that everyone deserves to be accepted.
“It's so important for young people to see that they are okay," said Waugh-Brown. "It's okay to be who you are. And to be your authentic self. And for families to see that their kids are perfect just the way they are.”
Live Out Loud started as a support group for people within the LGBTQ+ community, but since COVID-19 canceled nearly all in-person Pride Events last year, they "quickly became a planning committee," the event's organizer, Tina Rushing, said.
Their planning committee turned into an all-out party — with the needs of the LGBTQ+ community in mind. Vendors who supported LGBTQ+ causes were invited to attend, a group of college students volunteered to take sign-ups for free HIV testing, and there was a group helping people to register to vote.
Rushing said this year's Pride is even more important due to the anti-transgender laws that were being discussed in the Texas legislature.
"The Supreme Court just passed a law that Catholic Charities could discriminate against LGBT families," Rushing said. "People say, 'Oh, that was hundreds of years ago.' No, it wasn't, it's now. And so we have to pay attention."
Live Out Loud is part of the One Love Longview Counseling Center, and its mission is to provide services, counseling centers, and safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth for free.
Waugh-Brown points out that One Love Counseling Center is only one small part of addressing a larger problem. She says that 40% of homeless teens identify as a part of the LGBTQ+ community, whereas only 10% of teens in general do. This, she says, is why events like family-friend Pride are so important to normalizing being a part of the LGBTQ+ community.
"Kids deserve to be loved for who they are, and live their authentic self," Waugh-Brown said. "We want to have support for those families and also for those kids, we have a safe place for them to come meet other kids who are like them, other families who are like them, and so they can talk it out and get the help they need."
One attendee, Paul Ballard, said events like these go a long way for ensuring LGBTQ+ visibility within East Texas.
"I have a lot of friends who still haven't come out, it's hard," Ballard said. "And just being out here and them seeing me and then being able to come out here .... and just enjoy it and see that it's not something to be ashamed of.”
Ballard said he's seen the LGBTQ+ community in East Texas growing, and people are being more supportive.
While the community is growing, this Pride, Rushing said, is not only a celebration of being LGBTQ+ but a fight for their right to exist.
"I think that the LGBT+ community still needs a voice," Rushing said. "We want to be seen and heard and to have a voice."