Back in April, 14-year-old Kloe Spain, who is non-binary, was playing with a few friends at Eljer Park in Marysville when a group of teenage girls approached them and began spewing anti-gay slurs and laughing.
“I was kind of used to it, but it made me really angry,” said Spain, who goes by the nickname Mono and uses they/them pronouns.
Spain said this harassment isn’t new — it has come from classmates at Bunsold Middle School, too — but this time it led to something big: Marysville’s first ever Pride Fest.
When Spain’s mother, Hope Roy, took to Facebook to voice her frustration at what happened, an area substitute teacher saw the post and decided thatsomething needed to be done.
“I’ve seen posts like that and I’ve heard instances of things like that from so many youth in this community over the last couple of years. It boggles my mind,” said Mandy Butka, 42. “This one was just kind of the breaking point for me.”
Butka said the incident sparked the idea among her and other community members for the 2021 Marysville Pride Fest to support the local LGBTQ community and take a stand against discrimination. It will take place from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Partners Park & Memorial Pavilion, 125 E. 6th St.
The free event will include speakers, live music, food trucks and more than 30 vendors. There also will be an area for kids to participate in arts and crafts, as well as face and hand painting.
While the traditional Stonewall Columbus Pride Parade will not take place this year due to the pandemic — a virtual Pride March will be broadcast on June 19 — Butka said the Marysville Pride Fest will include a smaller, “lively walk” around the blocks in uptown Marysville, accompanied by music and entertainment.
The hope is to “kind of get the feel of a parade, just like you would if you were at Pride,” she said.
Butka said the event is important to show a collective stand against bullying and show both Marysville LGBTQ youth and adults that they are not alone.
“It’s really big because we have a very conservative community here and that’s not always welcoming of our LGBT folks, and it, unfortunately, has bred instances of bullying a lot in the kids in the schools,” Butka said. “We’re trying to build a community of tolerance here and, moreover, the kids who are LGBT — or any other marginalized group — we want them to know that there are allies here. There are adults here who love you, who welcome you, who want you just as you are.”
Spain, for one, is looking forward to having such an event in the community.
“I’m happy because I’m going to get a lot of Pride stuff because I don’t have that much and because … I can have all of my friends together to celebrate it.”
Hobbyist photographer Ben Parks, 37, plans on being at the event, where he will set up a chalkboard that attendees can use to express affirming messages and then have their pictures taken with it. The idea is for people to “express their support and love for each other,” he said.
Parks has already taken pictures of 17 people or groups from the community, a response that Parks said “kind of blew my expectations out of the water.” One photo included kids twirling around with streamers attached to poles. Another included a young person with a lesbian Pride flag, wearing it as a superhero cape. A local Presbyterian pastor sported a shirt saying “This pastor loves you” in another photo.
Heather Hoffman, 32, had her photo taken by Parks with her wife and their son in tie-dye shirts with “Love is love” and “You matter” written on the chalkboard.
Hoffman said there is a fair number of LGBTQ youth in the Marysville area, and an event like Pride Fest is important to show acceptance from the community and encourage youth to be themselves.
“It’s important because Columbus has a pretty big following, but sometimes the rural areas can get the notion that they’re maybe not as accepting, but that’s not necessarily true,” Hoffman said. “So I think people will be pretty impressed with the turnout at (Marysville) Pride. I think it’s going to be a great time.”
Roy said the event will provide a safe space for LGBTQ youth in the community.
“I just think it’s a really good idea for them to do this because there’s a lot of kids that are (a part of the LGBTQ community), but they don’t want to come out because they are afraid of what people are going to say or, you know, get made fun of,” she said.
Michelle Kaffenbarger, principal of Bunsold Middle School, said the school has had reports of LGBTQ students being bullied and takes “immediate and appropriate actions” to prevent future incidences when officials are made aware. She said the school has support systems in place for the students’ “social, emotional health and well-being,” including school counselors, outside support staff services and a local mental health resource.
“Oftentimes, there is absolute trauma, let me just say that, emotional trauma that comes with kids … being on the receiving end of these kinds of things,” Kaffenbarger said. “We work very hard to generate a culture, a climate of acceptance. And that’s important to us here. It’s important to me because everybody matters.”
Butka said the impact of Pride Fest was being felt in Marysville even before it was organized.
“One child found out in a school where I substitute teach a lot, and it spread like wildfire apparently amongst the kids. So I actually had kids coming up and giving me hugs and saying, ‘Thank you, thank you so much. We’re so excited that this is happening,’” Butka said.
“They’re excited, they’re feeling more welcome, even though the event hasn’t even happened yet. Like they already know that they’re supported and they already know that the community is here to stand up for them and let them know that they’re perfect just how they are.”
aatuah@dispatch.com
@asiaatuah
