LGBTQ+ kids and teens find community in Twin Cities Pride’s first youth night
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The first ever Twin Cities Pride Youth Night was a lot like how the movies portray big school carnivals. The ones where characters are planning, anticipating and centering their fun around, but which seem to not exist in real life.
Crowds of kids and teens packed into the heart of Loring Park in Minneapolis, milling about the area, sitting cross-legged around an intimate stage, and lining up for free pizza and ice cream on a humid summer evening.
“It’s insane. We did not expect this turnout,” said Kelsey Alto, programming director for Twin Cities Pride, amid the hubbub on Friday. She estimates at least 2,000 people attended the event.
Nonprofits providing direct services to LGBTQ+ youth like QUEERSPACE collective and Annex Teen Clinic offered booths with interactive activities — opportunities to decorate folding fans and make friendship bracelets while learning about resources.
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Drag was at the center, with both established and first-time performers taking stage. A DJ played pop hits by young queer favorites like Chappell Roan. People could get faces painted in rainbow colors and find free gender-affirming clothing.
The Youth Night kicked off the larger Twin Cities Pride Festival happening through the weekend. Though the festival is for all ages, Alto said organizers wanted to create space for people under 21 to connect.
“There’s just been such an increase in violence and hateful rhetoric,” Alto said. “This is really just a place where we're able to, you know, tell them that they're as much a part of this community as anybody else.”
Chaperones and younger siblings were welcome, though there were also designated waiting areas.
MPR News asked four young people to share their thoughts on the day.
Hildie Edwards, 14
Edwards is a singer, performer and actress, so she enjoyed lip syncing, which she says is a form of drag. Her song choice was “360” by Charli XCX.
She is also a powerful advocate for transgender youth like herself and was a grand marshal for the Twin Cities Pride parade in 2022. This year, she returned as the nonprofit’s intern helping decide what ideas were “too cringe” (Alto’s words) for the youth night.
“I think that it’s good that so many queer youth felt safe enough to come here,” she said.
“So many trans kids are being targeted in like, legislature and in like, official public spaces, and just them showing up is like really special ‘cause even if like one queer kid found another one, that just means that they feel like they're less alone,” Edwards added.
Rhue Williams, 10
Williams attended the youth night with a group of friends and their moms. They said it was great to be someplace where they didn’t feel a pressure to “tone down.” At one point, they jumped on stage.
“I was dancing to ‘Confident’ by Demi Lovato and I felt confident doing it,” they said.
They said their school is an open environment, yet their self-expression still feels out of the norm.
“Here, you can just kind of go all out. I was wearing a light up rainbow skirt. I wouldn’t do that at school,” Williams said. “Here, I wouldn't really be questioning if I should be doing that.”
Asked what they want people to know about queer youth, Williams said, “For a lot of people, they're not pretending and to say that is like kind of hurtful to people. I'm just like, ‘This is who people are.’ It's not like a fake thing.”
Damien Charles, 16
Charles and her family drove from Devils Lake, N.D., to attend their first Pride celebration together. She said it was really fun and everyone was friendly. She enjoyed the activities most.
“I’m honestly kind of ecstatic. There’s just a lot to like look at.”
Asked what they want people to know about queer youth, Charles said, “It’s all like a spectrum. It’s not like this or that. You can kind of be like a little trans or like a little gay.”
Nova Riley, 22
Riley took part as a volunteer at the booth for The Bridge for Youth, a nonprofit with emergency shelter and outreach programs for youth experiencing homelessness, particularly youth of color and queer youth. They are passionate about the organization because of its impact on their life.
After their family became homeless, Riley relied on the shelter as a teen and later its residential transitional housing program. Now, they find community in its weekly LGBTQ+ groups.
Riley passed out items like period and self-care kits, while taking in the event with joy.
“I really wish I had something like this when I was their age,” Riley said with a smile. “Sometimes it’s really scary to go out to Pride and being a youth, but seeing parents bring out their kids or kids coming out and being so curious about identities and pronouns and being able to share the love with them — it’s so important and it makes me so proud.”
Riley said it took their parents a couple years to accept their gender identity. In a more supportive environment, Riley believes they would have come out earlier.
“There are still times where I’m scared to express, you know, my pronouns or my name change. And so I think it’s really important to have this representation for the youth so that when they do feel that they’re ready to come out, or they’re questioning, that they have that safe space to be able to do so.”