The primary time I went to Delight, I lied about the place I used to be going. I drove about an hour from my dad and mom’ home in central Massachusetts to the sting of the Boston subway traces. Within the station car parking zone, I modified my modest khaki shorts for a vivid crimson pair with a a lot shorter inseam and boarded the prepare heading downtown.
Once I went out into town, I discovered myself surrounded for the primary time by a crowd of largely unusual individuals. The rainbow colours of Pridegoers’ balloons, floats and clothes stood out towards the muted tones of Boston’s Metropolis Corridor Plaza. The novelty of what I skilled revealed that this isn’t potential in every single place, actually not within the metropolis the place I grew up.
For many years, largely cities like New York and San Francisco have outlined what Delight seems to be and seems like. Unusual individuals like myself, for causes that appear apparent, flocked to those areas; why would not you wish to stay someplace the place you are feeling celebrated? However in an age of widespread LGBTQ visibility and acceptance, queer residents in smaller communities are bringing Delight to their hometowns, prompting questions on what the competition may appear like in these locations, the affect it might need, and what sorts of communities welcome queer individuals.
Lebanon, Ohio, just lately confronted these questions. A metropolis of about 21,000 nestled between Dayton and Cincinnati, Lebanon is not shy about its conservative politics, and it hasn’t all the time felt welcoming to its queer residents. Rising up, Lebanon-born James Reynolds felt that being queer wasn’t accepted; he left city and finally settled in Cincinnati.
Years later, he reconnects with Brooke Handley, who grew up in Lebanon and nonetheless lives there, and shares his desires of constructing a extra inclusive tradition of their hometown. The 2 got here up with a plan for their very own celebration of the individuals of Lebanon. They anticipated resistance, however thought they’d nothing to lose.
The primary Lebanese Delight Pageant came about this yr on July 20, a sunny Saturday, within the metropolis’s Bicentennial Park and surrounding blocks. Billed as a protected, optimistic, family-friendly occasion, it had all of the hallmarks of a queer celebration: balloons, rainbow-themed clothes, drag queens. The phrases “Love All the time Wins” have been prominently chalked on the sidewalk. With excessive power and pleasure, the occasion continued all through the afternoon and nicely into the night time, the celebration undeterred even by the presence of a bunch of protesters.
The competition was met with shock by some locals, however for a lot of in attendance there was a shared feeling that it had been successful. It felt private. It felt like a neighborhood. This impressed some to think about different variations of their childhoods during which their identities have been celebrated and valued.
Delight occasions do not all the time give me the identical thrill as my first Delight in Boston. Now I’ve lived in a number of bizarre hotspots and may take them without any consideration. However the Lebanese Delight Pageant is a reminder that Delight gives one thing actual to those that want it most. It’s permission to discover id, a reminder that there’s neighborhood to be created, and at greatest a redefinition of house.
Interviews have been edited for size and readability.
Extra reporting by Hannah Sales space.
Sam Whitney is artwork director at Occasions Opinion. Amy Lynn Powell is a photographer based mostly in Dayton, Ohio.
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