Kristen Kaylor

Noelle Rider (left) and Rachel Rider (right) from Vote for Your Pride.

The Hattiesburg community recently celebrated 10 years of LGBTQ+ pride and stressed the importance of voting at the annual Pride in the Park event hosted by The Spectrum Center. For members of the community, this was a big accomplishment; ten years is the longest time that any LGBTQ+ event has lasted or been held in the state of Mississippi.
The event took place in the Town Square Park and featured dozens of vendors, performances by local artists and drag queens, and a march through downtown Hattiesburg. Several organizations were also given the opportunity to give speeches, such as MS Votes, Pine Belt 4 Palestine, Invisible History, Planned Parenthood and MS In Action. Mickie Stratos, a TSC volunteer and one of the event coordinators, gave their thoughts on the event this year.
“Ten years is a long time in Mississippi, especially for pride organizations,” Stratos said. “It’s always so fulfilling to be in a group of queer people… and just being able to be ourselves.”
Due to the fact that this year is an election year, the event also had vendors and sponsors who wanted to stress the importance of voting. Vote For Your Pride is a branch of the statewide organization, MS Votes, that hosted a table at the event. MS Votes was founded by a group of people from a younger generation who noticed how little of a voter turnout Mississippi had. They started the organization in order to inform and help people register to vote, and have since seen a significant increase in voter turnouts. According to volunteers at the table, Mississippi is one of the most difficult states to register to vote in due to laws that can block people from registering to vote. Noelle and Rachel Rider were two volunteers at the Vote For Your Pride table, who spoke about their experience at the event.
“It went really well for us, we registered voters… and we gave out a lot of information to people that are already registered,” said Noelle. “Your vote in Mississippi matters.”
Those who attended the event throughout the day were pleased with the vendors and activities at the event. Attendees were able to shop with local community artists, meet and greet with drag queens and performers, and learn more information from the provided booths and vendors. There were toys, games and crafts for all ages, and even a drawing to enter a giveaway for those who bought from vendors. Those who participated in the march through downtown were given the chance to leave their handprint on a banner in support of the event and the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. Jordan Bryson, one of the event attendees, shared their thoughts after the day ended.
“I really enjoyed the event,” Bryson said. “I felt like all of the booths were really informative, and the performances were perfect.”
To learn more about Vote For Your Pride and MS Votes, you can visit their website or find them on social media @msvotes or Mississippi Votes. For more information about The Spectrum Center, visit their website or Instagram @tsc_hburg.