This article was reported by NJ Urban News, a nonprofit publishing partner of NJ Spotlight News.
In a part of South Jersey where LGBTQ+ residents historically have had few visible spaces, nearly 1,000 people turned out for a Pride festival. This is a sign that acceptance of the community can change in these counties, organizers say.
The inaugural South Jersey PrideFest was hosted by Salem County Pride+ at Appel Farms Arts & Music Center in Elmer on June 21, drawing more than 100 small businesses, local bands and drag performers. It was one of several Pride events held across South Jersey’s Republican counties this month, as LGBTQ+ groups aim to provide safe spaces in a politically divided climate.
It was funded almost entirely by Salem County small businesses, said Amber Rorris-Crow, deputy director of Salem County Pride+.
“It’s very nerve-wracking, I think, in a conservative county reaching out for sponsorships,” Rorris-Crow said. “We applied for funding from nationwide LGBTQ organizations, and the majority of our funding — I would say something like 80 to 85% of our funding — came from small businesses in Salem County and the surrounding areas.”
Churches, mental health organizations and health experts also attended to offer their services.
“It was really important to us to structure it so that when folks came into the event they walked through all of the resources first so they could see all of the people that were there for them before they saw people trying to sell them something,” Rorris-Crow said.
‘Vilify and target’
Bambi Nieves, author of “The Perfect Prince(ss),” was among the vendors at the event, where she sold copies of her book.
“As a non-binary Afro-Latina person it’s important to me to celebrate some of the things that I was once afraid of,” Nieves said. “There is a concerted effort on the right to both vilify and target queer people, especially trans people. And while I don’t have as many right-leaning Republican friends, I hope that people can start to see there’s more that brings us together than tears us apart.”
Other South Jersey groups also are working to build community and visibility and to encourage government support. Some towns are more welcoming than others, according to Ann McCabe, founder of Equality Cape May. Her group has the challenge of creating an environment not only for residents, but also for tourists and vacationers in the oceanside resort.
“We don’t really have the spaces or events that are happening where they can go to a certain bar or a certain tea dance or something like that,” McCabe said. “We’re not there yet, nor do I know that the leadership of these communities want that to happen.”
Equality Cape May’s June 7 Pride March had a theme: “Unapologetically us.”
“We had to be unapologetically us, and we had to be doing good for our community because there were a lot of people doing good things for the whole community,” said McCabe. “Our community was the community that needed representation, that needed visibility, that needed advocacy.”
The organization is focusing efforts on counties that do and do not recognize Pride Month each June, McCabe said.
“Let’s see who turns us down — that may be where our work has to go,” McCabe said of municipalities. “How can they begin to show their allyship in a more expanded way than just the proclamation of recognizing Pride Month? Because that takes some liberal thinking, but let’s look for liberal action.”
‘Still illegal’
John Quattrone, a volunteer at South Jersey PrideFest, said it was humbling to see how young LGBTQ+ community members can feel safe at events like these.
“Someone came to the table today, and it was their first festival. They’re 26 years old, and they’re going to their first Pride festival in Salem County,” Quattrone said. “And for someone like myself who grew up before all of this — it was still illegal, and it was still a mental health issue, you know — having that freedom because some really passionate people created a space for that to happen is what this is all about.”
Frank Revesz, a drag performer who performs as Regina Holiday, grew up in Cape May County and attended the Cape May march.
“To stand in a place where visibility like this once felt impossible and see hundreds of people celebrating openly, proudly and authentically was incredibly meaningful,” Revesz said.
Broader acceptance of LGBTQ+ relationships and rights is declining nationally from a 2022 peak, according to a May Gallup poll.
“In a world that is so divided and often so hateful because hate is what sells newspapers and gets clicks, people were there to celebrate joy, to celebrate each other, to be together,” Rorris-Crow said. “That in and of itself is an act of resistance.”
