Showing up for Pride

Pride month was marked Saturday by a procession of nearly two dozen people who marched carrying flags, signs and other rainbow-hued decorations from The Goods Sustainable Grocery to Soldotna Creek Park.

Eve Godsoe said she’d come to support her community — people who are transgender or who otherwise identify within the LGBTQ+ community. She said she saw positive spirits, good energy, and great support from people honking horns, waving hands and sending “I love you” in sign language.

Pride isn’t for fun, Audrey Hobart-Anderson said. Pride marches trace their roots to the Stonewall Uprising of 1969. Pride and Pride marches gather together people who have faced difficulties because of the way they identify. It’s “important,” she said, to show up for one another and to stand up for one another. The crowd on Saturday supported one another.

“It’s a really good feeling to be around people who understand it,” she said. “Even if they’re not a part of it themselves, people who still support it and show up for fellow people.”

The march was followed by a karaoke night back at The Goods. Godsoe said she’d be singing “Feeling Good” by Michael Bublé. Hobart-Anderson said she might choose from favorites like “we fell in love in october” by girl in red or the works of Chappell Roan.

Another Pride march will take place Saturday during Soldotna Pride. The group will line up at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex at noon.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.