Methow Pride is Community.

Why Pride?

Pride is about the right to be unapologetically yourself. Our recent culture has forgotten how fluid gender roles and expressions have been over the centuries. We have clearly moved past the simple binary (man or woman, male or female) - binaries create boxes that limit the fullness of who we are. At a recent Queer 101 workshop co-hosted by Room One and Methow Pride, it was clear that traditional stereotypes for either men or women were not healthy for anyone, regardless of if you are straight or queer.

What Pride Means to Us

“We created a series of events during Pride Month to celebrate the fullness of our human experience and to create inclusive, welcoming spaces for all in our community. We want folks of all ages to come together. We need to listen when folks tell us they do not feel safe or able to be themselves in certain environments. We need to do better.” - Kelly Edwards, one of the co-leaders of Methow Pride

“I grew up in a community without much queer representation which made it hard to find safe spaces or even people to connect to and relate with. Pride festivals existed in the cities, but rarely did I see celebrations in the mountain towns that I felt at home in. The opportunity to work for Methow Pride and help curate Pride Month has given me the opportunity to try and create safe spaces for other young people, in the ways I would have hoped to see in the smaller rural communities I love so dearly. Methow Pride really exemplifies that intersectionalities, like being queer and [being almost anything else] can exist at the same time. From the wide array of local businesses and individual support that went into making Pride Month happen, to all of the disparate people who show up to celebrate at these events, to me that means that being queer here is a welcomed and integral part of this greater community and one that I am so proud to be a part of.” -Maddie Morgan, Communications Lead for Methow Pride