Why is Pride Month so important?Â
Every year I hear non-queer community members ask this question and not always with bad intentions. Although it is exhausting and not the responsibility of the queer community to educate people on why we have Pride, I still think it is important to do the work now so that future community members may not have to work as hard.Â
Lady Gaga Night - Buffalo Pride Weekend
On June 1st, Sober One Six held our 2nd annual Pride event. This time it was Lady Gaga Night at Rec Room Buffalo. An all-out tribute to the one and only, Mother Monster. This event brought over 300 community members and allies together for one common purpose…. to HAVE FUN! There were outfits, themed mocktails, choreographed performances (including my debut) and so much more. Gaga reinforces the fact that everyone is welcome at her shows and always to be your authentic self! That is exactly what we emulated for our guests… a safe place to come and not only have no pressure to drink alcohol but to express yourself however you feel most comfortable. This is what Sober One Six is all about! SEE PICS HERE!
Buffalo Pride Parade
The work didn't stop after Gaga Night. On Saturday, we danced in the dark, and on Sunday, we got up bright and early for the Pride Parade! This was our first time walking with a float in the Parade and I will have you know that Sober One Six will ALWAYS be in the parade from here on out! It was so much fun. It started on Elmwood Avenue at Buffalo State College and went all the way to the corner of Elmwood and Allen Street in Allentown. The energy was unmatched and it was such an honor to get to show people that we are a group of sober, sober-curious, and sober-supportive individuals who still know how to have a good time!! We had myself, Andy Krumm (Mister Mocktail) on the mic hyping the crowd up while a stunning group of drag performers dazzled everyone with their looks! It was so important for us to represent a group of people that normally do not get represented during pride, those who do not partake in alcohol. The word sober to some may be a heavy word but I am here to show Buffalo and the world that it doesn’t have to be. Giving up alcohol and other substances does not have to be scary. What is on the other side of that is beautiful and unexplainable in the best way! Thanks to all of our friends and volunteers who joined us and brought the energy! SEE PICS HERE!
Buffalo Pride Festival
After the parade, we went down to Canalside Buffalo for the Buffalo Pride Festival sponsored by Evergreen Health Services and M&T Bank. As much as it is important for bigger corporations to recognize their LGBTQ community and put on a big festival, I do have to say the Pride Festival is not my favorite part of Pride. The reason being is that, it seems sometimes more of a way to make money than to celebrate our community. Going back to the question of why is Pride truly important? I feel that we need to invest in our local queer community and give our community the resources it needs to thrive. For a long while, we had to hide in the shadows and only be a portion of who we are and when it comes to the pride festival in Buffalo, I feel it has turned more corporate rather than celebrating local individuals. There are so many performers and queer organizations that do so much on the day-to-day. Seeking out queer businesses to help with Pride or hiring queer contractors is what I plan to continue to focus on with Sober One Six. Stay tuned for next year as the ideas are flowing for our third Pride event ;)
Pride in the Park - Hamburg, New York
Speaking of an event put on by the community for the community… I had the pleasure of hosting Hamburg’s 4th Annual: Pride in the Park, put on by Rainbow Collective! It was so great to host and help organize an event that really celebrated the local community and was free for guests of all ages to come and enjoy! Hamburg also has a connotation of being on the conservative side of things and in talking with the organizers, this was the biggest Pride in the Park yet! I'm so excited to see where things go in the future with suburban towns becoming more and more accepting of everyone.Â
June Sober Social - 26 Allen
Of course, for our June Sober Social we had to have it at THE queer staple of Buffalo, Twentysix Allen! This was our biggest sober social yet with over 40 attendees! Twentysix created a specialized mocktail menu just for our event and included many canned non-alcoholic options that they offer regularly. Since we held our social on June 19th (Juneteenth), Lydia aka DJ Lydvicious graciously offered to come speak to our guests about the history and importance of Juneteenth. This gave everyone a brief education on how Juneteenth is now a national holiday and to hear it directly from one of their community members, was much appreciated. Catch us at our next Sober Social at Mister Sizzle’s on July 17th. RSVP on our events page for your free mocktail!
Sober Drag Show: NYC
We ended pride month with a bang…that took us all the way to New York City! We held our first Sober Drag Show at Rent Money Lounge on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. This was absolutely surreal because this just proves that what we are doing with Sober One Six in Buffalo can expand to other cities too! We had a full non-drinking cast featuring Buffalo queens, Willa Dewhisp and Freddie Hercury NYC queens, Nancy NoGood and Emi Grate. It is always important for me to expand our mission far and wide. The LGBTQ+ community has a long history of abusing substances and I want everyone to know they can choose to not include substances in their life and it can still be an amazing life! We are here to support you!
Pride is important because we have been silenced solely for being who we are. Pride is a time for us to be loud and unapologetically ourselves. It is a time to educate people and celebrate the incredible individuality that we have! Pride is not just a party! We celebrate those who came before us and we try to leave this world better off for the next generation of queer people! Pride is love!
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