Among the all the flags representing the LGBTQ+ community, Ann Lowrey waved the lone American flag Saturday in the 10th annual Cenla Pride Walk through the streets of downtown Alexandria.
“I’m glad that I thought to add it to our parade this year,” said Lowrey, an LGBTQ+ ally and the CEO of CLASS Healthy Living for All, which is the primary sponsor of Cenla Pride.
She noted that some people have had negative reactions to the rainbow flag flown by the LGBTQ+ community, proclaiming their flag is the American flag.
“And I was like, you know what? This is the flag of the LGBTQ+ community, too,” she said.
Lowrey said CLASS started Cenla Pride because CLASS is about promoting healthy living.
“And we know that when people are not accepted for who they are, that causes a deterioration in both their physical and mental health,” she said. “And so, we want to promote the idea that everyone is equally human and worthy of dignity and respect. And as Americans, everyone has the freedom to choose how they live.”
Connor Allen, 18, of Boyce, and his friend Ramon Regan, 19, of Lafayette, both had a difficult time while attending school. Both are trans.
“There were a lot of homophobic and transphobic people,” said Allen, who attended school in Alexandria. “But I had a group of friends that were very supportive of me. And they helped me get through a lot.”
“I was bullied a lot,” Regan said. “I didn’t have really any friends to support me along the way. I was a lone wolf.”
Allen also had one teacher who helped him.
“She was the special ed teacher, Ms. Ellington, and she was very kind and supportive of everything that I needed help with,” Allen said.
He also found support from his mother, who brought him to his first Pride event, Cenla Pride, which at the time surprised him that Alexandria even had one.
Allen invited Regan to this year’s Cenla Pride. Regan has never been to one before.
Mason Nugent, 21, of Alexandria, feels lucky because he’s never experienced an Alexandria that wasn’t friendly to gay people.
“I hung out around Tamp & Grind a lot, and Tamp & Grind is obviously very friendly to all sorts of people,” he said. “But yeah, I mean, I felt pretty accepted from a young age.”
The first Cenla Pride he showed up to was in 2016.
“I got to feel comfortable and safe here pretty young, pretty early. I never expected it to be as accepting as it is so it’s very nice,” Nugent said.
Nugent’s friend Cameron Duplechain said Alexandria is more tolerant of LGBTQ+ people than it was 10 years ago when Cenla Pride first started but that tolerance still is not where it needs to be.
He referred to comments made on a social media post of a local television station.
“You could tell there’s still very much hate and disdain in the community for people who are just being who God made them,” he said. “It’s no more, no less.”
Ten years ago, he would not have felt safe walking the streets of Alexandria with Pride flags and other members of the LGBTQ+ community.
“But now it is like second nature, because I feel like we’re here, and why do I have to live as somebody else to appease a vocal minority,” Duplechain said.
Lowrey said they have seen the crowd grow each year, and they estimate that between 1,500 and 2,000 people attend at least one Pride event in Central Louisiana every year.
Cenla Pride has grown in other ways, Lowrey said. Other nonprofits like PFLAG were formed, “and allies are becoming more vocal about their love for the community and people are not willing to be silent anymore when they see a group of people who are the subject of oppression.”
A number of affirming churches are growing in the community, and that doesn’t surprise her. A Pride mass was held Friday evening at St. James Episcopal Church.
She said the Rev. D.C. Sills delivered the message. She was on the original Pride planning committee 10 years ago.
“Her message was, don’t ask what would Jesus do? The question is, what did Jesus do?,” Lowrey said.
The events have been received very positively by people who attend, though Lowrey said they do experience some negative backlash on social media “from people who do not care to understand or who want to impose their belief systems upon others.”
But no one has every shown up in person to protest the events.
“They’re mostly keyboard warriors,” she said. “We do our very best to ensure the safety of everyone who chooses to participate in Pride with the help of our law enforcement agencies and the cooperation of the city of Alexandria.”
“I’m always impressed with how secure I feel at this event,” Nugent said. “I’ve never felt unsafe. It’s always been very well organized, and there’s always good security. I feel like the city actually cares about making sure that this is safe.”
“There are some thoughts in my head like, ‘Oh, gosh, what if something happens because this is a target?’” Duplechain said. “This is a target place for people who do not want to see people like us be ourselves. But I refuse to live in fear. I won’t be cloistered to a house just because it makes somebody else that uncomfortable.”
The 10th annual Cenla Pride started on Friday with a Pride mass at St. James Episcopal Church and the 10th anniversary opening reception that included the Barry L. Owen Creative Art Competition and silent art auction. On Saturday, the Cenla Pride Walk was held starting at Tamp & Grind Coffee Shop and concluding at the Randolph River Front Center where a day of family-friendly activities, a Drag Queen Meet and Greet and a Drag Show where held.
This article originally appeared on Alexandria Town Talk: LGBTQ+ community comes out with Pride in downtown Alexandria
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