Hi everybody and welcome to Outward Slate's LGBTQ podcast. I'm Ryan Lauter and editor at Slate. And well, my fellow queers and allies, we have made it one more trip around the sun together. It is summer, it is June, and it is Pride.
And given all we've been dealing with in the past year, I hope you are taking some time to celebrate in whatever way makes you happy, whether that is partying all night or volunteering all day or watching the bird cage for the 57th time at home, which is my own personal sacred tradition. Speaking of celebrations, on this week's show, we're going to be taking a look not at the big city periods and festivals that tend to dominate Pride in the public imagination, but at Pride as it blooms more quietly and also maybe a little more bravely in conservative small towns around the US, especially in this incredibly hostile political climate that we are living in. To get some on-the-ground color about what that really looks like, we'll be talking to an organizer from Nampa Idaho in the second half of the show. But before that, we're going to be taken on a tour of small town Pride by our very own Christina Cartorucci, who just published a fantastic piece on the subject, and Slate.
Hi, thanks so much for having me on the show. I know, I know, it feels great to be on this side of things. Speaking of Pride celebrations, I know that DC Pride slash world Pride just happened this past weekend. Tell us briefly how that was.
It was a really, really good Pride. I mean, I didn't really do any of the big world Pride stuff, but I think because it was world Pride, everything else felt bigger and better. And so this year, this group of, I think 20-somethings, who just started throwing parties in DC at some point last year, rented out this event space in downtown. It was, I think, seven floors.
I believe they sold more than 1,000 tickets. There were 16 DJs spread out in different rooms. It was insanely hot. The AC in this old building was clearly not up to the tasks of 1,400 dancing dikes, but they put so much effort into it.
The vibes and the decorations were immaculate. Every room had a different theme. And it just made me so happy to be at one of these big high production value Pride parties that felt like it was made for me and my friends. And not like, oh, we're going to this sanitized, corporatized, and mostly male event.
And I was like, wow, we can have nice things. And it also just made me so happy to see young people starting something new and taking a risk, doing a big event like that is a huge risk. And probably had to put a lot of money down and trust that people would respond. And people did and had an incredible time.
And yeah, it gave me a lot of hope for the future of DC Pride Saturday nights for my future. That's so exciting to hear, especially because everybody's like, Gen Z or like, do anything like that. And it's like, no, of course not. Of course they do.
Oh, that sounds beautiful. Before we move on into the main show, I believe you have a bit of five month housekeeping. Thank you for giving me the soapbox for this, Brian. So I've noticed something disturbing.
I started noticing it last Pride, but I suspect it's been happening for quite some time. And that is the trend of people, and more often businesses buying a Pride flag from probably Amazon or T-Man or something, and hanging it out immediately out of the package, still with a grid of creases on it from the way it was folded. I'm not talking about a scrunchie wrinkled Pride flag, that's the problem, which is like, oh, this is a flag I bring out every year. And it's kind of like shoved in the back of my closet until I bring it out.
No, I mean specifically the kind of wrinkles that come right out of the plastic package and show me that you didn't start thinking of Pride until last week. And you feel like you're doing your due diligence by purchasing something cheap and immediately hanging up. I think it's disrespectful to the queer community to hang up a wrinkly Pride flag in that vein and not steam it, iron it at the very least, hang it up in the bathroom while you're showering, or let it flab out in the breeze for a week or two somewhere private before you put it out for public display. But I'm telling you, once you have heard this from me, you're going to start seeing this everywhere, and it's going to bother you too.
And so this Pride, my goal is to publicly shame those flag flyers on my own personal Instagram and hope that my plea catches on. Well, you heard it listeners that the steam are seeming, all right, well, we're going to be back to talk about small town prides after a short break, perhaps during that break, listen to our ads, but also iron that flag, get it ready, and we'll be back to talk more. All right, we are back. Because you know, I remember that when we were first discussing the general idea for this piece in outward HQ, it's like, you know, what's going on with small town prides right now, basically, I think we kind of assumed it would be a sad story, right, with like the Trump attacks and the national backlash, all of that, there would be a lot of cancellations or just people sort of retreating from these celebrations.
But you discovered in your story a different dynamic, queers and allies in these areas really seem to have been emboldened to celebrate by this hostile political climate. Can you talk a little bit about how you saw that, maybe how it manifested in Waverly, Iowa? This was an incredible discovery that I came upon organically when I was looking to see about prides in small towns, assuming that the story would just be about like bigger security measures they were going to have to take, or yeah, maybe places canceling down because of opposition rising up in the community. But pretty quickly, you know, as I was googling around reading a bunch of local news stories, I found out that a lot of prides in small conservative areas only really started up in the past few years, just as this nationwide sort of anti-LGBTQ movement was gathering steam.
So in Waverly, Iowa, which is a town of about 11,000 people, they actually have a human rights commission funded by the town. And a person on that commission, Andy Hanson, had been thinking for a while about wanting to have Waverly's own pride, because it would feel really meaningful for that town to have its own pride celebration. But they were like, you know, we don't want to just have like something that everyone else has, it has to feel really waverly. And we want it to be meaningful to the community because of how waverly it feels.
And nothing ever seemed quite right until last year, kind of spurred on by the rising climate of, you know, anti-LGBTQ legislation in Iowa and the general climate across the US. This person in town came to them with this idea to have a boat float down the river in the middle of town. People would, you know, bring their canoes and kayaks and instead of a parade, go down the river. And they were like, this sounds like an amazing perfectly waverly idea.
And almost immediately there was backlash. So this group of pastors got together 15 pastors from the area to, you know, plead with the city council, don't do this. The city council said, you know, no, we're doing it. Our human rights commission is putting it on and this celebrates diversity and whatever.
No sooner had they moved on from that than this bill came up in the Iowa legislature that would ban cities from funding any DEI programs, which obviously this would fall under that. So they thought, okay, we're, you know, we're going to have to find new funding for this. And you know, local businesses were kind of scrambling together to do that. But then they realized that bill wouldn't come into effect until July.
So they're actually good for this year. And so the boat float is happening. But throughout that process, and in facing all of this opposition, the town really came together, the people in town who are queer who support the queer community to be like, no, this actually feels more necessary now than ever. And this means a lot to us and we're doing it.
And so now Andy and the other organizers of this pride are like, well, we're going to do this every year, whether this anti-DI bill, which is now law, you know, it's not going to be funded the same way next year, but we're doing it anyway. And that was the story I heard from so many people across the country who were in these towns, any sort of opposition they faced only made them more determined and made the people in town who supported them more determined to have these events. It was like they needed it even more. Yeah, I mean, yeah, and that's really inspiring because one of the things that your piece really drives home is that there are serious, not just political threats, but like physical safety threats to pride goers in these areas from right wing terrorists, I mean, from groups that they really want to come at least menace people, if not actually hurt people.
And so, you know, the organizers that you talk to are seriously having to think about, you know, balancing safety as they make plans with what pride is supposed to be about, which is like joy and without visibility to right sort of about marching through or sleeping through, building through the middle of town. And the second part of the show, we're going to talk to an organizer from Idaho about this. But could you speak to that balancing struggle with regard, maybe to the black privacy that they had to use this year? Yeah.
So in Nampa, Idaho, which I'm really excited to talk to one of the organizers in this episode, they, you know, wanted to have it in this public park downtown, they were able to get a permit because the city couldn't turn them down because the First Amendment exists. And they have to give them the permit, just like they would any other group that wants to use it. But in conversations with not just local law enforcement, but also the FBI, because Idaho also has a history of white nationalist groups intimidating pride celebrations. You know, there was a famous one in court of lane in 2022 with the like 31 patriot front members who jumped out of a U-hall and were going to cause a disruption.
Anyway, the law enforcement representatives all said, you know, you have to have, you should have a fence to keep protesters out, there should be security to enter. And it was really hard for organizers who felt like, you know, we want to have a free flowing open event that where people can not feel like they're sort of caged in in this park. Not only that, but they opted to have black privacy cloth. So it's, you know, you can't even see into pride from the outside because there's also a history in Idaho and elsewhere of these right wing agitators or bloggers taking videos of people at prides and using them to advance the right wing agenda to docs, drag performers.
And in one case, actually, in Idaho, a blogger was defaming a drag performer and saying that he had exposed himself to children. She sort of doctored this video that she took and he ended up winning this defamation suit. But you know, still, this is an intimidation tactic that they just didn't want to expose people to that or have them, you know, fear being watched and filmed by malicious actors. And so yeah, that's when they were trying to balance the show of power and visibility with safety and privacy in that sense, they decided to air on the side of privacy.
Yeah, I mean, that makes sense. One of the lines that I really loved in the piece sort of after you show us all of this is this one, legislation and intimidation can make queer and trans lives harder in countless ways. Lawmakers can rest control of our bodies, Christian, Nash, Melissa, and Alicia is going to make us for our lives. Judges can dissolve our legal bonds to our partners and children.
But there are essential parts of the queer experience that those who despise us can't touch. Could you just talk a little bit about what those are to you and sort of how reporting this piece and in hearing about these small town prides informed or strengthened your belief in those things? To a person. And I spoke to several people for this piece.
I read local news reports about a lot more. And they all, all of these organizers of new prides expected just a few dozen people to come to their events. It started out as a plan for something small and then hundreds or thousands of people ended up showing up. And to me, you know, there's a feeling that I get at pride of it's there's no way to talk about it without sounding super corny.
But it's like, you know, a feeling of connection and power and admiration for everything that queer people can do and have done. And, you know, for me, that means the art that we make and show for each other at pride and at other times. I mean, even just the way we dress up and express our identities for each other. It's, you know, planning this incredible party that I went to do this weekend.
That was something brand new and felt like a risk and young people just like trying something because they just love bringing people together. When you're with hundreds or thousands or even just a few other queer people at pride, it's reminder that there's still strength in numbers even when the political change that we've expected or hoped for no longer feels possible. And, you know, the fact that there are these new prides springing up in conservative areas over the past few years, even in the face of this right wing backlash against queer and trans people shows that the progress that we've made on queer and trans issues because of incredible bravery and activism from within the community can't be embraced by legislation because there are still people, people still matter. There are still parents who are supporting their trans and queer kids and bringing them to prides who would not have even known what queer and trans means, you know, seven years ago.
There's teachers and doctors that even though the laws might prevent them from caring for queer kids in the ways that they would like to are still able to make life better for the people they meet. And that's the kind of thing that the, that legislators can't take away. And they can't take away pride either. They can ban drag performances, pride will still happen.
They can say you can't have it in a public park and pride will still happen. And, you know, not to chew my own horn or anything, but I did publish another piece this week about corporations pulling out of pride. And it's a point that I make there too that we've come to expect these big high budget prides in these, you know, major cities and people in smaller towns with smaller budgets and no corporate backing are also showing us that you don't need all of that money and all of that spectacle to have a pride either. And, you know, in that way, I feel like pride is a little bit of a microcosm of queer life and queer support that, you know, no matter what they take away, we'll still have things that matter.
Yeah, I think that's really beautifully put. Well, Snare's Check Out Christina's Peace is titled The Conservative Wave is Having a Very Unexpected Effect on Pride. That's Insulate. We'll link it on our homepage and you can find it in all of Slate's Pride coverage this month at Slate.com slash outward.
After the break, we'll be back to talk with one of the sources for Christina's story, Fresh Off the Second Pride Event in their county's history. You're not going to want to miss that. We'll be back in a second. One of the people I met while reporting my story on these new prides popping up in conservative areas was Van Knapp.
So Van lives in Canyon County, Idaho. They're a queer parent of two queer kids, and they volunteer at a local nonprofit for LGBTQ youth. Last year, 2024, they teamed up with a fellow volunteer to throw Canyon County's very first Pride celebration. This was a pretty big deal.
I mean, this county, you know, 70% voted for Trump. It's only about half an hour outside of Boise, but you know, people say it feels like a totally different world out there. And I absolutely loved getting to talk to Van about what they're doing in their hometown. So I wanted to have them on the show to talk more about it.
Van, welcome to outward. Thank you so much for having me. Van, when you and Tom got together last year to plan the first Canyon County Pride, you had three weeks to pull it together. And your ambitions starting out were kind of small, right?
I mean, what were you initially trying to do? Absolutely. Initially, I think if we would have known it would grow so quickly. I honestly don't know if we would have done it.
So it's actually a really, really good thing that we had such small expectations in the beginning. We envisioned a few friends and family, any of the friends and family that have been supporting us, that our friends with our kids, that we had met through queer people, basically any queer people we know would just show up at the park with a picnic. And I was going to ask my son to play his guitar. I was going to ask my partner to have her band show up, do like a 30 minute show, and then say happy pride.
Because Boise, actually, during COVID, moved their pride to September. So there isn't a lot for gay people to do collectively as a community in a family friendly way here in the area. There's obviously a lot of nightclubs doing things. There's a lot of like late night drag shows, but as far as daytime events and activities, I think part of the queer experience is going to some sort of parade or situation in an outdoor area that says, you're gay, let's celebrate happy pride.
And I think that's really all we were trying to do, mostly for those kids that we volunteer with. I could definitely say for the both of us, we weren't throwing it for ourselves to say happy pride. We were looking at these kids that once a week come to clutch, which is what the queer organization is called in Nampa, once a week come to this beautiful, but tiny, very intimate space where they can feel safe. Some of them are out to their parents, some of them aren't out to anybody except for us at clutch and just don't have a lot of support.
So we figured we could show them that there is a bright future for them in store, even if it is 40 people showing up at a park and just existing for a day as a happy bride. And so how did it snowball into what became, what was it, like 4,000 person festival that you pulled together in three weeks? Yeah, we don't have an exact count from last year because we had only three weeks to pull it off. But the number is definitely in the high 3,000 to 4,000 range from the estimates and drone footage and things like that.
And I hate to give them much credit to someone that wasn't in support, but I think a lot of it has to do with our mayor here. She released a very homophobic press statement and basically said, if it weren't for the First Amendment, we would not let you meet here. And like our lawyers say, we have to let you be here. It goes against everything that I stand for.
I'm a religious person and marriage between a man and woman is kind of the vibe of the whole press release. I think I know that a lot of people genuinely believe that in our area, but I think having it like printed inwards, coming from an official public figure that many will argue is kind of the most important person in our city. It felt really, really heavy for a lot of us. I think I can definitely say a lot of the community felt discouraged, but instantly turned that discouragement into rage and instant action.
And so while the mayor had a tiny spark that lit the fire, I think what really, I'd like to give the bulk of the credit to is our amazing community, because even though we are a lot quieter and a lot less maybe outwardly gay than a lot of spaces, the reality is that we have just as many queer and gay people here. They just work on the farm, so are wearing car hearts and don't look outwardly gay. Like, you know, that looks very gay. That's like the Dike.
I understand what you're saying. But you're right. But I think sometimes we have this like, like you said, 70% of our population voted for Trump. 70% of our population doesn't necessarily outwardly want us here.
And so I think because there's such a big majority of close-mindedness, we forget that not all of us look the same. And I get surprised oftentimes by the people I talk to. And I'm like, oh, okay, this dude that if he had a MAGA hat on would not surprise me about anything that come out of his mouth. But him actively being like, yeah, hell yeah, love his love, trans lives matter, like, is shocking.
You know, all that being said, the community just really like lit on fire and was like, this is not okay for a public figure. We even had a lot of people that weren't necessarily like fond of, you know, having pride. But because we do have a large proportion of the population that is so adamant about First Amendment rights, they were like, we believe marriage is between a man and woman too. But this is ridiculous.
Like, you should not be coming out saying that these folks can't use the park. So that was a nice surprise. But a lot of it was business leaders, like we have a queer coffee shop here in Namba. And they were our main sponsor.
They are locally owned, operated, her name is Chloe. And their history is incredible. I think in 1992 or three, I'm not sure the exact year, they instantly became like very, very public queer allies, which in 1993, there wasn't rainbow capitalism to even exist, especially in small town Idaho. I bring that up because Chloe was one of the first people to write a scathing email to the mayor as a business owner, as someone who contributes to our community, not just on the queer side of things, but period in the community writing this scathing email to the mayor.
And many people followed suit. I think a lot of the reason it grew so quickly so fast is because of people like Chloe standing up and saying, this isn't right. We have to do something because it's not okay to treat a person like that. And then it just snowballed from there.
Earlier, you use the phrase, family friendly to describe the event last year and this year. And in Christina's piece, she talked about, I guess there was a topless attendee last year that sort of spurred this blowback. And I think even a political politician proposed a bill that was strengthened these public indecency laws. And this year, you've got a new rule, which was where I'm sure don't bring a gun.
Very pithy. I wonder if you could just talk about that experience and the importance of being family friendly as you organize pride there, knowing that people are watching you like the politician sort of in bad faith. Yeah, it was a really heavy situation. The person had pasties on.
So wasn't topless. The issue is, is that it was a trans person. And she definitely was enjoying her time. I bring my kids there to be clear, it still felt family friendly from every person in attendance that was coming in good faith.
It did not feel family friendly to the two people not coming in good faith. Right. And you know, from the beginning, she was one of the first people through the door and we were like, this, this is going to be a problem, you know. And if you can't be yourself at pride, like where can you be yourself?
So I really fought for her to be able to just show up and be yourself and was worried about the repercussions. And on this side of things, I feel really frustrated because we now have HB 270 in Idaho, which is a very transphobic law in our state now because of the actions of County County pride. So it feels really heavy for me to think about me advocating for one queer person at the cost of every queer person in Idaho, specifically trans people. That is heavy.
You know, I've talked to a lot of trans people about it. And I think in kind of like somber, apologetic way, and all of them have been like, Oh, you know, they're gonna hate us no matter what. And if it wasn't County Pride 24, it would be an event in June next year. It would happen because these folks are looking for anything and everything that they can make into a bigger deal than it is for their agenda.
And that's definitely been nice to hear, but it still was a huge part of the planning process from our perspective, kind of back to the where a shirt and don't bring a gun situation, we had no problems with it. Like people were super understanding. We even talked to the person that was the cause of this that that were the pasties last year. And she was like, Do you remember me?
I'm wearing clothes this time. It was awesome. It was a lovely experience. And something really interesting happened during the drag show.
Everyone was wearing super family friendly things. And one of the drag kings was in line to come out and had a male like plastic fake chest, like a fake chest to come out and perform. And luckily one of my friends rushed up and was like, Hey, this is against H2 70. Just letting you know, a fake naked, like, yeah, I quote, male chest.
Yes, any, any form of nipple slash breast mass is what I think it's worth it is technically against the law here. So, you know, luckily, I mean, I made the decision just to talk to the drag king about it. And they immediately were like, I brought a cup of Rochester case when I put a jacket on, which it was 100 degrees and I was already so hot, but I was just very grateful. And I like, apologized 48 times.
And they were like, No, no, no, like, totally fine. But it also just hits on the fact of the reality of being a queer person in a place that is so actively out to get you, like, is, and this is just a teeny tiny blip of that. But having to feel like you are constantly being watched and ready for someone to, in this case, literally call the police because this is against the law and repercussions could happen. It's just heavy.
And I feel, you know, like, I am definitely a privileged queer person. I don't mind when people call me Sir ma'am. I don't know if I was gender queer, so whatever, I mean, a lesbian relationship. And it hasn't really affected me.
You know, we both have families that are very supportive and my trans kid has not experienced anything that has really affected his safety. That being said, it feels incredibly heavy and incredibly hard to be a queer person in this tiny blip of Idaho right now. And when I talk to other people who are not as privileged as me that are, you know, either visibly trans or outwardly saying they're trans and are more of a public figure, it's almost unbearable. Then when you add being a person of color on top of that, like, it's just heavier than I think any person should have to deal with from a day to day basis.
And so I guess that kind of, can you put a jacket on is it kind of made me really think of all of that as that happened. I mean, yeah, I just want to echo what other people have told you, which is that it's not Canyon County Pride's fault that homophobic and transphobic legislators are going to do their worst. Like, they could have seen image of a topless person at a pride in New York City and used that as a justification for promoting this bill. And I think it's one of their best tactics to try to blame us for the ways that they try to oppress us because we're doing too much or doing the wrong things.
But when you talk about how difficult this moment is, you know, I also think about the joy that people must have felt at your pride celebration. I mean, you know, I interviewed you for my story before this year's your second annual Canyon County Pride. What was it like, you know, a lot has happened since last year, the attacks on queer people and especially trans people have gotten so much worse. How did it feel in this particular moment to be able to have a celebration like that?
You know, I think it was almost overwhelming at times the amount of joy and freedom that just existed in every single aspect of the festival. And I think most of the people that gave me feedback were giving me feedback about all of the kids present. We had kids that were being themselves for the first time. I think my favorite part of the festival was I was standing front row at the drag show because part of the reason I plan a festival is not because I'm an activist, but because I want front row.
Where you get to carry the performers. Yes, I get to just have everyone that I'm definitely crushing on and want for what all their shows. So I was front row at the drag show and there were three, I would say 12 year old kids in the front just screaming, cheering, you know, they all had various flags on their back on how they identified, you know, like a pansexual, an ace, and a genderqueer. I think it was.
And they were just screaming having the times of their lives. I think they were having more fun with the me, which says a lot and screaming louder than me, which also says a lot. But they handed me this wadded up. I didn't even know what it was going to be after my favorite drag queen.
And I assumed their favorite drag queen could keep us as performance a wadded up thing of three $1 bills, a little tiny like post it note that said queer love is fabulous or something. I can't remember the exact, you know, like scrawled in kids handwriting all wadded up and a laughy taffy to take back to cookie posts. And I think that was like, I took back to cookie posts and I was like, girl, you've made it. Wow.
Like you've officially done. Here you go. And I think she was really touched too. But it just like even talking about that moment kind of gives me goosebumps of all of the youth that are able to exist.
And I hope it's not just for one day. But if it is, I'm going to make it happen one day every year until, you know, I have to move. And in which case, I will assign it to somebody else because, you know, I grew up in an even more conservative place than this. I grew up in Rexburg, Idaho, which was also mentioned in Christina's article, but somehow it's even rougher than here.
And they're still having problems that I feel like are ancient there, you know, white supremacists showing up people with firearms showing up to pride. And I've never had a point in my life where I felt my kid was unsafe. And I at Rexburg pride, like darted, grabbed my kid and pulled him like it was it was a very scary situation, like physically pulled my child back. And that's not an experience I thought I would have as a like privileged white person, obviously, it's not something I think about going to a park and having my kid attacked by adults.
It was a really scary experience. Were you at that the Rexburg pride where the Proud Boys or was it a patriot front? I think they were all there. Yeah, I was.
So I would say the scariest moment of my life as a parent having a kid who is a trans kid. And that's who these folks are targeting. Yeah, it was it was frightening. So it's just an interesting environment that we're living in and us being able to create a safe space for kids to exist without that heaviness without that literal danger, which is really frustrating and quite ridiculous to say that adults are targeting children.
But to create that and have them be able to exist was a really, really beautiful experience. You know, last year, your festival was just a couple hours this year, it was a full day, you know, you're growing, you're a consistent event at this point. You've created something that the community is going to expect. How do you think it's changed or will it change Canyon County and Nampa and the people who live there to now have their very own pride celebration instead of having to go to one of these other places to be at Boise pride or whatever?
I think it means hope if nothing else. I'm getting a little emotional about it because I, you know, growing up like in such a racist and homophobic environment as I did, you know, I'm still actively recovering from that. But the community really hasn't changed. Queer people are getting louder there.
And, you know, I'm going to Rexburg pride this year to support. I planned our once a year trip around that because my family doesn't really feel safe there. But I think it's it's hope. It's that even though we as humans should be able to exist 100% of the time, freely, and feel safe 100% of the time.
I think the one day a year is hope. And specifically, in these small towns that you're highlighting in places like Rexburg and in places like Nampa, it it feels a little different when a Pride Festival exists in your town where you, you know, go to the library, go to the post office, go grocery shopping, walk around and have kind of a familiar sense of your everyday activities. Feeling that you can be queer in your home space is a lot different than driving somewhere to be able to show up and feel like you can be yourself. And with the way things are, a lot of these folks can't afford to drive to Boise.
A lot of these folks don't have the means like transportation wise to drive to Boise for Pride. And a lot of the youth specifically aren't out to their families. So having it locally means a lot to me for a lot of different reasons. But I'm I'm choosing to be super hopeful.
We have a lot of things to not be hopeful about. And I'm finding more and more humans that are actively opposed to us having this hope and opposed to us showing up. And it gets really, really heavy and really, really discouraging. And I think existing in this space, I've been able to experience such drastic, drastic lows as I am, you know, reading the hate emails that we pulled for public record and then immediately being dragged out of that to receiving an email from a pastor who is here locally in Nampa trying to create a safe space for everybody, including queer people.
He's straight. He doesn't like he has attended multiple funerals for queer people because of how the religious community treats queer people. He has actively welcomed and opened his doors, fed queer people. He's honestly exemplifying what I assume people think a religious leader should be.
He's actually doing it here in Nampa. And like those drastic polls, it feels like I'm getting dumped in a ice cold, you know, bath straight into boiling hot. And it's like confusing my body a lot because I have these extreme emotions on both sides. But I, I try to balance those and really like focus on the hopeful side of things.
Yeah, I mean, I think you've pretty well captured what it's like to be a queer person in this moment, and especially during Pride Month. So thank you for bringing, you know, both sides of that to us. And I cannot wait to look at more photos and videos from Canyon County Pride. It seems like it was really a blast.
And I hope I can make it next year. Yeah, please. I mean, I will have a front row spot. I will certainly, I will try to help you out.
I believe all. I totally believe that. Yeah. And you should totally look at Clippy Pus' performance because she's my favorite.
Well, Van, thank you so much for joining us. And for our listeners, where can people follow Canyon County Pride so they can get the info on next year's festival? Yes, we would love people to follow us on Instagram and Facebook, just at Canyon County Pride. We also have Canyon County Pride dot Nice.
And CanyonCountyPrideMerch.com. Oh, very nice. Not Pride without Pride March. Yeah, if you really want some gay cowboy shit, definitely check out our merch.
That's all for our main show today. But there's always more outward over in the sleep plus feed. This week, Van Knapp will stick around to help us update the gay agenda. If you're not already a slate plus subscriber, remember, if you join, you'll get ad free podcasts, extra segments on all our shows and you'll never hit a paywall on the slate site.
Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking try free at the top of the outward show page or visit slate.com slash outward plus to get access wherever you listen. We're always interested in your feedback and your topic ideas. You can reach us anytime at outwardpodcast.com. Our show is produced by our very own outward Pride Parade Marshall, Talis Shaw.
If you like our show, please subscribe in your podcast app, tell your friends about outward and rate and review us so other people can find us. Brian, it's such a pleasure to have this quite episode with you. Happy Pride. Happy practice, Kana.
Stay gay, everyone.