Latest news with #TrixyValentine
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Under the baobab: State College Pride a celebration of community and inclusion
Happy Pride Month. Happy Loving Day. Happy Juneteenth. It is a busy and blessed time. State College's fifth year of celebrating community and inclusion began with a parade and ended with a festival in Sidney Friedman Park, sponsored by State College Borough, Happy Valley Adventure Bureau, Downtown State College Improvement District and Centre LGBT+. Trixy Valentine (Jacob Kelley) was this year's parade Grand Marshal. The State College police helped to facilitate safety and efficiency. Mayor Ezra Nanes joined the 50 or so decorated cars and floats. Downtown was filled with over a thousand joyously celebrating spectators who continued the party in the park. Guest speakers included Lt. Governor Austin Davis, Mayor Nanes and state Rep. Paul Takac. Entertainment included drag performances by State Queens, hoop artist Jamie Lee, knife juggling by Capvara, poet Jay Orlando and indigenous performer and educator Patrick Littlefoot Brooks and Family. On June 28, 1969, early morning, we were sitting in a bar on the Lower East Side of Manhattan when a friend came in and told us that 'the f---' were rioting in the West Village Club called The Stonewall. None of us believed it. 'Out' homosexuals were a docile group and The Stonewall, a popular dance venue, was a mafia-run dive. We decided to go see for ourselves. The liberal Republican mayor, John Lindsay, had begun his 1969 law and order campaign raiding gay clubs and harassing the marginalized gay community. In those days it was illegal to be or act gay. When the police attacked The Stonewall, that night people fought back, singing civil rights songs and shouting antiwar slogans. Later some implied that SDS and the Black Panthers were behind the rebellion. They weren't. It was a spontaneous reaction of people who had been persecuted too badly for too long. The Stonewall Uprising is considered by many to be the beginning of the American gay pride movement, which changed our world for the better. It is no longer a crime to be gay and gay marriage is legal. Our State College police protect our Pride parade in which our mayor rides. Prior to the parade, a resident set fire to a gay pride flag hanging outside the Faith United Church of Christ. Pastor Jes Kast responded in a human and loving way. She continued the celebration of their planned Strawberry Festival. The church basement was packed with neighbors tasting the sweetness of the fruit of our community. My beloved wife and I were married just a few years after the Supreme Court decision in Loving vs. Virginia in 1967, which allowed interracial marriages to be legal. However, practice delayed by habit and ignorance often trails the law. When we drove through Southern states she would sit in the back and I, in the front, pretending to be her chauffeur lest we be harassed by the police or worst. Elsewhere around town This year marks the sixth year that Juneteenth will be celebrated in State College with the theme: 'Juneteenth: Our Freedom, Our Fight, Our Future.' The celebration weekend will take place on June 13-14. A Block Party in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Plaza and 100 Block of Fraser Street will be held on Saturday, June 14, from noon to 6 p.m. Penn State presents the premiere production of the musical 'True Crime Frankenstein or the Modern, Modern Prometheus,' June 12-15 in the Penn State Downtown Theatre, directed by John Simpkins with book by Matt Cox and music and lyrics by Eli Bolin. The show was a co-production of Penn State Centre Stage, Concord Theatricals and Penn State Musical Theatre. Sisters and brothers, you are seen; you are loved; you are not alone. Ubuntu Charles Dumas is a lifetime political activist, a professor emeritus from Penn State, and was the Democratic Party's nominee for U.S. Congress in 2012. He lives with his partner and wife of 50 years in State College.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
State College to host Pride parade, festival
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (WTAJ) — Centre LGBTQ+ announced that State College Pride will take place Saturday, June 7, with performances, guest speakers and entertainment scheduled. The day will begin at 10 a.m. with a pride parade through Downtown State College, followed by a festival at noon in Sidney Friedman Park. The annual event is open to all and is focused on celebrating identity, visibility and community. This year will feature guest speakers, including: Trixy Valentine (Jacob Kelley) – Grand Marshal and nationally recognized nonbinary drag performer, educator, and LGBTQIA+ advocate Jason Goodman Landau, Executive Director of the PA Youth Congress Ezra Nanes, Mayor of State College Representative Paul Takac, Pennsylvania House of Representatives Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania In addition to the speakers, festival goers will have the chance to enjoy drag performances, poetry readings, knife juggling and hoop artists. Leading the celebration this year is Valentine, who is the founder and CEO of 'Mx. Kelley Queer Education LLC.' For the full event schedule, visit Centre LGBTQ+'s website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.