The Rainbows Festival at Heritage Square this past weekend raised money for the Phoenix Pride LGBT Center and awareness for equality. The Pride Center hoped to show that the festival didn’t have to be the stereotype of gay pride parades, and that everyone was welcome.
“It gives a place for the community to show ‘hey we’re supportive, come to us,’” Stephanie Tieichel, the volunteer information booth manager said. “There’s State Farm, there’s insurance, there’s PayPal, everything that’s obviously LGBTQ friendly is here, so it shows there are resources and people willing to help.”
The goal of the festival was to bring awareness to the gay community and to raise money for the Pride Center.
“Our center offers technology for people in school and they try to bring resources to people in the community,” Tieichel said.
The Pride Center offers resources, support groups, community groups, social groups, an LGBT library and events. The library offers LGBT narratives to appeal to the community.
Fundraising money came from vendors that bought the booth space and sponsors such as Smirnoff and Coca Cola, said Sam Elliott, a volunteer.
The festival offered entertainment along with the vendors. There were main stages for performances by DJs, local bands and dance groups.
Compete, a gay sports magazine, had a booth at the festival. The magazine covers sports, health and fitness in the LGBT community regionally in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Palm Springs and Los Angeles.
The magazine includes health stories and stories about amateur and professional athletes who come out, who are gay or supportive of the gay community, said Patrick Gamble, the associate publisher.
“Nine years ago there was nobody covering LGBT sports,” Gamble said. “There was just a dire need to cover it.”
Vicky Leggett visited the festival to support the community.
“I just enjoy people watching and being with a lot of friendly people,” Leggett said. “It’s nice to be yourself and be around people who accept who you are.”
Leggett said she hopes events like the Rainbows Festival will be good for the community to be more accepting.
The festival aimed to start conversations about equality between everyone and raise awareness of the LGBT community.
“Whether you are gay, straight, trans, everybody’s welcome,” said Dani Logan, program manager at the Pride Center.
Fundraising was a big part of what allowed the Pride Center to remain open. Money went toward maintaining the center, operating costs and programming.
“We just want to be open and operational, to have those resources for anyone in the community that needs them,” Logan said.
The Phoenix Pride Center has a full time staff, but volunteers make up the work force of the organization, Logan said.
The Pride Center is open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
Contact the reporter at ellenpierce@asu.edu.
