Upstate Pride SC festival draws hundreds to downtown Spartanburg
Downtown Spartanburg was a sea of colors Saturday as people from all over came to celebrate the Upstate Pride SC march and festival at Barnet Park.
The park was packed with people of all ages – from babies to grandparents – who proudly displayed rainbow flags, rainbow body paint and other colorful attire in support of the local LBGT community.
When it comes to the Pride festival, the overarching theme is love, acceptance and support for people of all gender expressions and sexual identities, said Cody Owens, board member of Upstate Pride SC.
The nonprofit organization has been in existence since 2008, but Owens is hopeful that one day it will be unnecessary because everyone will be equal.
“It’s really important because we want to support our community,” Owens said. “It’s a community that doesn’t get a lot of support, and it’s been growing support nationally with more legislation and the recent marriage equality ruling.”
Pride is a great annual event, Owens said, and it allows people to come together and allows them to be free in who they are.
Saturday was Kasie Whiteside’s first Pride event. She and her wife, Chrystal, came to the event with their friend Michelle Hall.
We have a right to be who we are, Chrystal Whiteside said, and events like Pride and the large number of people who come out shows that the LBGT community has supporters who are tired of hate, she added.
Kenneth Bailey has lived in Chicago for two years, and he said Spartanburg’s Pride festival is the best he’s attended. During the march, Bailey said people came out of businesses to show support of those marching.
“It’s very, very awesome,” Bailey said.
Bailey’s friend, Christopher Evans, said Saturday was his first Pride event in Spartanburg, and he could tell it was “nothing but love.”
However, the event also drew some protesters. Members of Upstate churches protested by standing quietly and holding signs across the street from the entrance to Barnet Park.
Later in the afternoon, members of another church were standing across the street from Barnet Park shouting at people as they left the festival and crossed the street.
When people got across the street and had to walk passed the group, protesters held pieces of paper in their faces and shouted inaudible Biblical phrases.
“Everyone has their own beliefs – I have mine, and I believe my beliefs wholeheartedly,” Kasie Whiteside said. “There are some things in my religion I don’t understand, but people are becoming more accepting. The way I believe, you’re supposed to love everyone. You don’t have to agree with what they do or how they are, but it’s not your right to hate or judge somebody. To me, only God can judge me.”
This story was originally published September 14, 2015 at 11:21 AM with the headline "Upstate Pride SC festival draws hundreds to downtown Spartanburg."