Saturday event draws supporters from area towns
Aurora had its fourth annual Pride celebration Saturday, drawing participants and vendors from around the state.
People from surrounding towns and counties came to celebrate with different organizations present such as the Nebraska ACLU and Free Mom Hugs, an organization that allows people to show their love and support for the LGBTQ+ community and give free 20-second hugs to those who need them.
Beaux Mason, the leader of Aurora Pride, started this endeavor with a friend four years ago.
“Our first year, three weeks out, we’re like, let’s do this,” Mason said. “(We) threw everything together, and we had a pretty decent turnout for that year and so we were like, let’s keep doing that.”
Mason’s fiance, Dakota Russell, has been involved since the beginning as well.
The start of Aurora’s Pride celebration goes back to Mason’s own experience growing up in Aurora. Being the only gay kid who was out in high school, Mason felt that he and the LGBTQ+ community weren’t being represented. This, he recalled, led to bullying.
“We have these people here that we know they’re there, but they’re not being represented and that’s leading to bullying because the rest of the population of the town (isn’t) being exposed to this kind of group of people and the drag of it all,” Mason said.
He and his peers simply wanted visibility, he said.
Being able to bring a Pride celebration to small-town Nebraska has meant a lot to Mason.
“It means everything because I grew up in this town, so this is my home and it always will be,” he said. “So it’s great to see that there’s other queer people here.”
Another reason Aurora’s Pride means so much to Mason is the fact that people in the area don’t have to travel far to celebrate.
“It makes me happy that they get to feel represented, and they don’t have to drive two towns over or two hours to go to Lincoln Pride, just to feel like they can have a Pride,” he said.
Russell expressed that the relationships made at Pride are life-long.
“I love our Pride because it’s such a small community, but the bonds that we make with these people are forever,” he said.
Aurora’s Pride celebration doubles as a fundraiser for the Trevor Project, a non-profit organization that is focused on suicide prevention for teens in the LGBTQ+ community.
“Every year since we started here, we’ve been able to donate at least $1,000 to the Trevor Project,” Mason reported.
Aurora’s Pride is entirely self-sustaining and funded by donations, Mason said.
“We’re all fundraising based, and I even throw a lot of my money in every year just to keep it running,” Mason said. “Any donations that we do get we’re so incredibly thankful for.”
Something that Mason thinks everyone should know about Pride is that someone doesn’t have to be in the LGBTQ+ community to attend Pride celebrations.
“You don’t have to be queer. Everyone knows someone who is queer, or something along those lines,” he said. “Speaking from experience, it means a great deal when you have a family member show up to one of these things.”
Everyone is welcome to experience Pride, Mason said. Especially those who have never been and want to learn about it.
“I love to see people who’ve never come to one of these things come to one because it’s in their town,” he said, “I love exposing people to this art form because it’s a beautiful art form and we’re a beautiful set of people.”
Jen and Chris Thor of Fremont Nebraska were attending Aurora’s Pride celebration They are representatives of Free Mom Hugs, a non-profit organization that supports the LGBTQ+ community.
“We were like, “Hey, let’s go downtown and see if there’s a little cafe or something. Oh, whoa, we’re not the only game in town,” Chris said.
His wife expressed her love for small towns for pride.
“It’s really cool. I love coming to smaller towns,” she said. “I’m from a very tiny village myself in Iowa, so for me, there’s an added benefit of that small town pride and that small town support. It’s good to know that a town of this size is so supportive and so willing to have events like this.”
Rachel Denty of Henderson, Nebraska was in town as a volunteer for Aurora’s Pride celebration. She believes that having small-town pride is vital for youth in the LGBTQ+ community.
“I grew up in Henderson, Nebraska. Having a Pride this close to me, especially in high school would have been huge,” she said. “It’s something I would have been able to go to by myself instead of having to ask my parents for example.”