Drag queens perform, students from throughout state participate in annual festival
This festival had everything: dogs in rainbow outfits, giant sea urchin-esque backpacks, drag queens and a camel.
What sounds like something out of the mouth of Saturday Night Live’s Stefon actually took place in downtown Columbia on Saturday: the 24th annual SC Pride festival, South Carolina’s oldest and largest gay pride celebration.
The day started with a police-escorted parade that began on Laurel Street and ended in front of the Statehouse on Gervais Street. Loud, sparkling floats filled with people dressed from head to toe in rainbow prompted cheers from spectators as they blared Top-40 hits and chanted the words “a part, not apart.”
At the parade’s end, a group of protesters lined Gervais Street in front of the Statehouse. The protesters stood silently, holding Bibles and signs condemning gay marriage that bore phrases such as “One man One woman = One marriage.”
The line of protesters were predominantly white men, to which USC’s Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Straight Alliance president and fourth-year theatre student Mason Branham said, “Old white men: times are changing,” noting that opposite the protesters were the supporters, who stood four people deep across the street.
Branham was “utterly excited” for this year’s festival and said BGLSA “spearheaded” the collegiate involvement.
“It’s not just USC students here today,” Branham said. “We have PC, Midlands, everybody.”
The main stage was set up on Main Street, where free performances, including electronic group Berlin and American Idol finalist Kimberly Locke, were given throughout the day.
Mariah Balenciaga and Morgan McMichaels, both contestants on RuPaul’s Drag Race, also performed later on in the festival.
The streets were packed with vendors selling everything from candles to kettle corn, while volunteers manned nearly every corner, sporting easy-to-spot neon T-shirts.
Brenton Lueras, the volunteer coordinator for SC Pride, said he had around 207 volunteers for the day, and people had been coming up to him as the day went on, asking if they could pitch in. According to
Lueras, volunteers were selected after submitting an online application and were then given jobs and tasks ranging from selling T-shirts to setting up for the event.
Lueras said that as volunteer coordinator, one of his favorite things to experience at Pride was the “diversity of people,” saying that people from all backgrounds and walks of life were present at the festivities.
Brandon Brazell, a second-year graphic design student, served as a volunteer for the second year in a row. Brazell said that he enjoys coming to SC Pride each year because he feels accepted.
“You’re going to a place where you feel accepted, and you can just be you,” he said. “It’s not every day on campus that you can be around people who support you.”