It’s Pride Month in the United States and in many countries around the world, and although this year’s events are overshadowed by the horrifying actions of some world leaders (including the U.S. President), it’s still an important time for queer visibility and celebration of the LGBTQ+ community. Every Pride organization does critical work in their local community and region, while also being a part of the much broader LGBTQ+ Pride movement. Many, like Spencer Pride, actively engage in that broader movement in collaboration with other Prides. Our investment in the broader LGBTQ+ Pride movement is year-round, but what does that look like?
Collaborating with Prides
Spencer Pride (and our leaders and other volunteers) engage with Pride organizers through key state, regional, national, and global LGBTQ+ Pride networks such as Indiana Pride Network (of which Spencer Pride is a founder), USA Prides, and InterPride. It starts with building relationships with our Pride peers, and that leads to a variety of cross-organization knowledge sharing, support, and more. We’ve presented Spencer Pride’s work at the InterPride Conference in Indianapolis and the USA Prides National Conference in Las Vegas, and have actively participated in in conferences in Greece, Atlanta, Minneapolis, San Diego, and Canada.
Whether educating about how to successfully host and support rural Pride events, or participating in broader conversations about how we can work collectively for the movement, Spencer Pride has been involved in these important groups for many years. We regularly send volunteers to local, state, regional, national, and international gatherings and we always bring a wealth of knowledge back to leverage for our local work.
Kate Gehringer, Spencer Pride’s festival director, has attended multiple events on the organization’s behalf and energetically speaks about the value she’s gained through those experiences.
“Especially in the area of accessibility, safety, and security,” Gehringer says, “we’ve brought back much invaluable information and implemented it for the benefit of our own community.”
Examples include having Stop-the-Bleed kits, a formal Festival Emergency Response Plan, and strategies for engaging local emergency management personnel in ensuring a safe event for Spencer Pride Festival attendees.
“It’s impossible to quantify the impact that our engagement with other Pride organizers has had on our event,” Gehringer adds.
There’s a lot of power in being a part of such a phenomenal international network of Pride organizers. Well beyond the formal gatherings that we participate in, we lean on this network when we need help. We support them when they have questions or are looking for specific solutions to their own local problems. We also engage in cross-organizational campaigns, such as the recent Mental Health campaign organized by USA Prides and their partners.
Part of our year-round work entails mentoring Pride organizations, and we are proud to see that our advice has benefitted many groups that are now flourishing throughout the state of Indiana and well-beyond. In reality, we often learn as much from these organizations as they do from us.
Our own leaders serve the broader movement formally, as well. Jonathan Balash, Spencer Pride’s president and programming director, currently serves on the board of USA Prides and also co-leads the USA Prides National Conference along with Dave Wait from Motor City Pride in Michigan. In partnership with Jordan Braxton from Pride St. Louis and St. Louis Black Pride, Jonathan represents 13 Midwestern states and convenes those regional pride organizers every month. The monthly meetings provide a space for them to share and learn from one another and cultivate valuable relationships. Recent topics have focused on grant-writing, building trans-inclusive organizations, and other best practices.
We are proud of the strong international network that we’ve cultivated, and to be able to contribute to the movement with countless Prides around the world.
Showing Up for Prides
Beyond the ways that we collaborate with one another, Spencer Pride also ensures that we physically show up for Pride organizations by attending their events and other programming.
For brand-new Prides, especially those in small towns and rural areas, we know the impact that each vendor and partner can make, and that each participating Pride can help lend credibility to groups working to establish their own reputation and brand. For a long time, Spencer Pride volunteers attended every single Pride festival in the state. Unfortunately, that’s no longer possible, given the nearly 40 Indiana Pride events each year. We do still invest heavily to attend as many events as we can. One year, we attended 12 Pride Festivals in a single season!
In 2025, we’ve already begun to attend Pride events. During the first weekend in June we were able to participate in two different events. First, we staffed a booth at the Greenwood Pride Festival and sold LGBTQ+ merchandise, in addition to promoting our October festival. We continue to be both excited and impressed at what Greenwood Pride has built over the past 5 years. While Greenwood Pride (and other groups) were celebrating at their events here in Indiana, Spencer Pride also had a contingent of dedicated volunteers representing our organization in Washington, D.C., for WorldPride. Attendees from our organization walked in the WorldPride Parade, and attended the International Rally and March for Freedom. WorldPride was hosted by D.C.’s Pride organization, the Capital Pride Alliance.
“Participating in WorldPride gave us the opportunity to show our support for Capital Pride Alliance, to show our support for LGBTQ+ people, and to promote Spencer Pride at an international venue,” says Elisabeth Solchik, Spencer Pride’s vice president and development director. Solchik was one of seven Spencer Pride volunteers who participated on our behalf at WorldPride this year.
This was the second time that Spencer Pride participated in WorldPride, having also participated in New York City in 2019.
In 2025, Spencer Pride will also be showing up at many other Pride events, including Indiana Pride of Color’s BLQ+ Pride Fest (August 16), Bloomington PrideFest (August 23), and Loogootee Pride Festival (September 8). Look for us at these events in 2025.
In addition to showing support for these other organizations, Spencer Pride’s volunteers learn a lot by participating in these other events. We bring back insights that help inform our festival strategy. Volunteers also really enjoy attending these fabulous events as well. Although they are often doing a lot of hard work during the events, they still appreciate the opportunity to be a part of these amazing Pride celebrations.
Year-Round Work
By collaborating with and showing up for LGBTQ+ Pride organizations around the world, Spencer Pride is able to learn from the best and share lessons from our nearly two decades of hosting Pride in South Central Indiana. While for many people Pride Month comes just once a year, for organizations like Spencer Pride the work is year-round.
