“We’re trying to get the younger community to have more of a voice in Pride, and even take over,” said Debbie Harding, treasurer of Michigan Pride.

Nickerson said there are plenty of young people who would jump at the opportunity to run the event.

“Being LBGT is not something you can visibly see. It’s something you have to proclaim. You have to at least tell people,” Nickerson said.

Festivals like pride weekends help strengthen the gay community, and find out about events, Nickerson said.

Building “Pride”

Pride was started in 1988 by Michigan Pride as part of the gay rights movement, Harding said.

“They wanted to have a presence, particularly in the capital city. It’s just a day for us to show our pride and be open about it.”

Nik Pfost, a social relations and policy and international relations sophomore, said he plans on attending his first Pride event this weekend.

“I never really had an opportunity to go to Pride in high school, just because of the distance from major cities,” said Pfost, who is from Coldwater. “Now it’s right here and it looks really fun.”

As part of his classwork, Pfost said he studied the political movements of the late ’60s, and the role festivals like Pride took.

“For me, I have a lot of respect for Pride as a symbol of liberation,” Pfost said. “It’s a place just to say, ‘We’re different and we’re proud.’”

Pride today

Pride will feature a comedy show on Friday, then a whole host of activities on Saturday, including a march, festival, rally and commitment ceremony all planned for the day.

“It’s important for people to see we’re a community. And it’s important for our members to express themselves publicly,” Harding said.

For the first time this year Pride will feature fireworks, and on Sunday, Pride will host a picnic for people and their pets in the park. The group is expecting between up to 50,000 people to attend the festival this year, about 5,000 of whom will participate in the rally.

The climate

During the past 20 years, Pride has grown with the visibility of the gay community in Michigan, Harding said.

But, the state is still lacking a discrimination policy for LBGT people, Nickerson said.

“There’s no protection of marriage or employment,” Nickerson said.

Protests at Pride are the norm, Harding said, though there hasn’t been any sort of violence from them.

Earlier this year, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that gay couples could not receive domestic partner benefits, four years after an amendment to the state constitution banning gay marriage.

“It’s different, especially since the marriage amendment came along,” Harding said. “

Events like Pride can help change views, Nickerson said.

“It challenges old traditions and ideals,” she said. “It makes people at least see that we are a community. It’s not educational necessarily of what LBGT people are. But it’s getting people who have never met a gay person at least aware of us. It’s a starting step, change takes a lot of time.”