Pride Issues
Not the best shots of me (unless you're super into multiple chins), but here are two pics from Pride last week.
This was from Taos Fierce Pride which is a local resource for promoting health in the LGBTQI community. Their big emphasis is on raising awareness & providing resources on smoking cessation.
They did a picture booth and you can see all the pics on Facebook. Really, it was fun - defs one of the better participants at Pride in the Park. However, thinking back on the booths, leads me to a question: Do you believe that (other than food and drink, of course) the focus of the booths at a Pride event should be on issues relating to the LGTBQ community?
Pride in the Park is pretty small. Besides the entertainment (the main focus), there is a dunking booth, a couple of pic booths, a handful of vendors selling Taos Pride swag and rainbow paraphernalia, and info booths from Equality New Mexico, Aids Foundations, P-Flag, an AA/NA group that focused on LGTBQ people with addictions, etc. Also, Susan's partner, Judge Jeffery Shannon, had a booth where he married people who had $25 and a marriage license.
There were also booths from groups with missions not directly related to LGTBQ issues. Much to Cody's and my disappointment, there was no voter registration this year, as we were going to coerce Andrew into doing it. Stray Hearts was there, "tempting all the lesbians with cats" - or so the joke went. Actually, they brought more cats than dogs because they are easier to transport and don't want to run around and interact with other dogs. Honestly, there were some pretty cute dogs who attended with their owners, but some were trouble makers. This one little long-haired dachshund was a darling little brat who started all kinds of dramas with other dogs, so Stray Hearts pretty much had the right idea.
But voting and pet adoption are still pretty universal and (unless you're Andrew with his voting issues) not particularly controversial. Besides, if one really wants to stretch it, voting is key to any socio-political movement, and puppies and kittens are cute love you no matter your gender or sexuality. However, off to the side, far out of the ring of booths, was alone booth: Citizens Against Taos Airport Expansion. "Cause nothing says LGTBQ issue like a crosswind runway****.
Why were they segregated? "Because it's got nothing to do with queer issues!" suggested Cody, a queer supporter of the crosswind runway. Another possibility might be that they were not invited, but just showed-up because they knew people would be there. So is Pride only for LGTBQ issues?
**** In a nutshell, Taos Airport is a tiny, single runway airport used mostly for recreational flying, a few private planes, and, most importantly, MedeVac Air Ambulance. Because Taos is in a bowl-shaped valley, the winds can come from any direction, which makes take-offs and landings difficult to impossible in certain, very common conditions. We have periodic crashes for this reason. Theoretically, the cross-wind runway would be used when the wind conditions called for it, but it could also increase air traffic slightly. And for this latter reason, many people are against it. It is a controversial issue, with people who work in tourism supporting it and people who don't care for increased air traffic opposing it. The thing is, air traffic would not increase that much because both runways can't be functioning at the same time. But for me, the most important factor is safety - and not just the pilots. As mentioned above, the primary use the airport is taking critically injured or ill patients from Holy Cross to larger and more complete facilities in Santa Fe or Albuquerque. Liam, one of my favorite babies in Taos was airlifted to Albuquerque when he was just three months old, but the plane was delayed about an hour and one-half because of winds. People could die.
This was from Taos Fierce Pride which is a local resource for promoting health in the LGBTQI community. Their big emphasis is on raising awareness & providing resources on smoking cessation.
They did a picture booth and you can see all the pics on Facebook. Really, it was fun - defs one of the better participants at Pride in the Park. However, thinking back on the booths, leads me to a question: Do you believe that (other than food and drink, of course) the focus of the booths at a Pride event should be on issues relating to the LGTBQ community?
Pride in the Park is pretty small. Besides the entertainment (the main focus), there is a dunking booth, a couple of pic booths, a handful of vendors selling Taos Pride swag and rainbow paraphernalia, and info booths from Equality New Mexico, Aids Foundations, P-Flag, an AA/NA group that focused on LGTBQ people with addictions, etc. Also, Susan's partner, Judge Jeffery Shannon, had a booth where he married people who had $25 and a marriage license.
There were also booths from groups with missions not directly related to LGTBQ issues. Much to Cody's and my disappointment, there was no voter registration this year, as we were going to coerce Andrew into doing it. Stray Hearts was there, "tempting all the lesbians with cats" - or so the joke went. Actually, they brought more cats than dogs because they are easier to transport and don't want to run around and interact with other dogs. Honestly, there were some pretty cute dogs who attended with their owners, but some were trouble makers. This one little long-haired dachshund was a darling little brat who started all kinds of dramas with other dogs, so Stray Hearts pretty much had the right idea.
But voting and pet adoption are still pretty universal and (unless you're Andrew with his voting issues) not particularly controversial. Besides, if one really wants to stretch it, voting is key to any socio-political movement, and puppies and kittens are cute love you no matter your gender or sexuality. However, off to the side, far out of the ring of booths, was alone booth: Citizens Against Taos Airport Expansion. "Cause nothing says LGTBQ issue like a crosswind runway****.
Why were they segregated? "Because it's got nothing to do with queer issues!" suggested Cody, a queer supporter of the crosswind runway. Another possibility might be that they were not invited, but just showed-up because they knew people would be there. So is Pride only for LGTBQ issues?
**** In a nutshell, Taos Airport is a tiny, single runway airport used mostly for recreational flying, a few private planes, and, most importantly, MedeVac Air Ambulance. Because Taos is in a bowl-shaped valley, the winds can come from any direction, which makes take-offs and landings difficult to impossible in certain, very common conditions. We have periodic crashes for this reason. Theoretically, the cross-wind runway would be used when the wind conditions called for it, but it could also increase air traffic slightly. And for this latter reason, many people are against it. It is a controversial issue, with people who work in tourism supporting it and people who don't care for increased air traffic opposing it. The thing is, air traffic would not increase that much because both runways can't be functioning at the same time. But for me, the most important factor is safety - and not just the pilots. As mentioned above, the primary use the airport is taking critically injured or ill patients from Holy Cross to larger and more complete facilities in Santa Fe or Albuquerque. Liam, one of my favorite babies in Taos was airlifted to Albuquerque when he was just three months old, but the plane was delayed about an hour and one-half because of winds. People could die.