Blue Ridge Pride Responds to executive orders
Blue Ridge Pride affirms the right of all persons to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This includes how one identifies, who one loves, and where one lives. We commit to continuing to enact our mission of fostering an informed, engaged and supportive LGBTIQA2S+ community with an intersectional lens. We also commit to helping anyone oppressed by systems that seek to erase them, as much as we are able to within our capacity, and to grow that capacity where possible.
To our trans and nonbinary friends, neighbors, staff and volunteers: In January, we welcomed 6 new board members, 4 of whom do not subscribe to the binary. Currently, our board and staff are made up of roughly the same percentage of trans and nonbinary individuals as cis individuals. We are grateful and proud to have such leaders and visionaries for our work. We understand that we are one of the targets of the new administration, and will do everything we can to uplift, support and advocate for the rights and dignity of our entire community.
To our Latinx friends, neighbors, staff and volunteers: Today, we moved forward in ensuring our services are accessible to those whose native language is not English by adding translation to our website of the 3 most common languages (other than English) spoken in our region. We also sent our main agency and program materials into Cenzontle for translation, and added an interpretation app to our main phone line, which should be operational by the end of the week. We will do our best to walk with you and advocate for you in the ways you need during this time.
All LGBTQIA2S+ people are welcome to utilize our services, and the entire community is invited to continue celebrating and welcoming queer folk at our festival, through our Welcoming Spaces trainings, and as volunteers at our many events. Hate speech, including intentional deadnaming and misgendering, will not be tolerated within our walls and offerings. We will not be removing any gender identities in any program materials, applications, etc. This includes refusing any federal funds which demand this. More than that, we call everyone into conscious consideration of and action against the harms caused by binary identities, classifications, and systems, as well as national boundaries which punish rather than assist.
Remember, we are stronger together. We will not be erased.