Madison's Pride Weekend is alive and well
Contrary to yesterday's article in the Wisconsin State Journal, Madison's LGBT Pride weekend is alive and well. Sure the central event at Brittingham Park has been streamlined and stripped of much of the glitz and glamor of previous years, but what the article missed is that the weekend has expanded to multiple venues over multiple days making it a truly citywide event. Madison's Pride weekend just ain't your Daddy's Pride anymore.
As the article points out the organization, Madison Pride, is suffering from serious financial issues and missing records. Last year they pumped $30,000 into the Pride weekend, this year they are only pumping in roughly $500 and the events, including the Pride March, speakers, and music from the Cowboy and the Gentlemen, will take place on Sunday. The organization may have "reduced scope" but the weekend itself has expanded.
Much of that expansion can be chalked up to the founder of Madison indieQueer, Liz Tymus. Tonight iQ and the High Noon Saloon kick of the Pride weekend with a massive party. The night will feature a Drag Review with Ginger Devine and special guests including the Mad Kings, Josey Lynne, Davina DeVille, and many more. Minneapolis electro dance act The Battle Royale will get the venue pumped up followed by DJ Tizzy, flown in from NYC, keeping booties moving and grinding well into the witching hours.
If that isn't enough dancing for you then Friday has even more as iQ presents a special "best of DiscoTech" event at the Majestic Theatre. iQ night favorites OCD and DIamonds will be manning the wheels of steel along with special guest VDRK. There will be a Marquee Room pre-party for 50 lucky Discotech early birds featuring, once again, the skills of DJ Tizzy.
On Saturday State Street's feminist bookstore, A Room of One's Own, shows some Pride as they host a unique "Queer Spelling Bee." Good spellerz can register early on Facebook. The event is at 2 p.m. and donations will go toward Madison Pride.
That will be followed by the first ever Pride Foam Party at the Cardinal Bar on Saturday night. There isn't much else necessary to say about this event. Foam, music, slippery. Good times.
With all of this going on it is hard to understand the conclusion that Madison's Pride weekend is reduced in scope. Yes, the organization traditionally behind the weekend is having internal pains and obviously most of the events above are focused at the dance party friendly side of the LGBT community, but if the above list is any indication of health when paired up with the Sunday picnic and parade, then it seems to me this year is solid and that next year, if Madison Pride pulls itself together and can work with iQ and other successful LGBT friendly organizations such as OurLives magazine, this weekend will be even bigger and even better than ever.
Omission
The article completely omitted that anything else is going on this weekend and makes it sound like there are a handful of limited activities on Sunday. I was expanding on it with commentary, not reporting.
Heck, even the WSJ article's
Heck, even the WSJ article's title is misleading: "Madison's gay-pride event to be much smaller this year." This makes it sound like there's only one Pride event happening, and the article does nothing to clear that up. It's good as a piece reporting on the current state of one particular organization, but I think it strays where it makes it sound like it's the only game in town.
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thelostalbatross.blogspot.com
WSJ article
The WSJ article does a great disservice to the GLBT community by making it appear like there's not much going on.
The first mistake is by assuming that the picnic at Brittingham park is "Madison's Gay Pride Event". Sure, the picnic has historically been a large event and a focus of the Madison Pride weekend celebration but that doesn't mean that it is somehow the only event worthy of news coverage. There have always been other events going on during the celebration, and this year looks to be more "event-full" than years past.
Madison has a large GLBT community that celebrates in a variety of ways and I believe that Jesse's post captures the essential spirit and general feeling about Madison pride weekend events better than the WSJ article which focuses on the financial difficulties of one event promoter.
Pride Events
The calendar on Our Lives has most of the weekend's events listed:
http://www.ourlivesmadison.com/event
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