Small but mighty LGBTQ+ Pride celebration returns to the San Luis Valley

ALAMOSA, Colo. — Alamosa, Colorado’s Main Street is largely unassuming.

A few brick buildings line the two-lane road with flower beds surrounding a bike lane on one side and parking spaces on another. The road itself is gray, with cars passing through all hours of the day and night.

But for at least one day each year, that changes.

On Aug. 27, the San Luis Valley LGBTQ+ community and its allies will shut down Main Street for an LGBTQ+ pride parade from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a festival in Coal Park to follow. The organizers did not schedule the celebration for June, which is Pride Month, because they wanted people to be able to travel to other pride events in the sate.

Pride organizers will close the road to cars, and businesses lining the street will hang rainbow flags and pride décor. Drag performers, a live band and vendors will perform in the street and park, with LGBTQ+-affirming organizations marching down the road to show their support.

“It’s pretty remarkable for us,” said Nancy Harris, treasurer of the San Luis Valley Pride board. “We really just kind of saw a need here in the San Luis Valley for a presence, a celebration, and raising awareness and visibility of the community and the place for allies to support us as well.”

Because of the small, rural nature of the Valley, Harris said visibility is all the more vital. Queer people are everywhere, she emphasized, but their representation is often only found in large cities.

“It’s really so critical in a small community like this where there’s not always that visible presence of the queer community,” Harris said. “We need to make this open and known to people.”

In 2020, a viral video showed a pastor in nearby Del Norte telling church members that his church “does not condone homosexuality,” after a local resident came out as gay at a church event. Two years later, Amber Mitts wants churchgoers to know they’re welcome in the Valley regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Mitts is the pastor at First United Methodist Church of Alamosa and the only openly queer pastor in the Valley. She wanted a rural church because of the slower pace of life and tight-knit community, but said being an open, married lesbian in the community has brought unique struggles.

“Because it’s rural America, it has some charm where people will be superficially kind to you,” Mitts said. “But don’t push it.”

As the metropolitan hub of the area, Mitts said Alamosa — which has a population of about 9,000 — is largely safe for LGBTQ+ people. But the further one ventures into the more rural parts of the San Luis Valley, the less safe and accepted an LGBTQ+ person is likely to become, Mitts said.

“There’s a lot of back-handed language or things that are said in a very roundabout way, but as a queer person, you know exactly what they’re saying or what they’re getting at,” Mitts said. “We have a lot of voices that say we’re sinful and evil.”

Various Christian churches in the Valley used to participate in weekly "pastor swaps," where pastors would preach at churches other than their own and meet church-goers from around the area. But Mitts said several congregations refused to accept her due to her being married to another woman.

“It can be really frustrating and uncomfortable when those tend to be the dominating voices,” Mitts said. “My existence is not harmful to you, so stop pretending and acting like it is.”

Mitts grew up in an evangelical household that did not accept her sexuality, which is why she feels it’s important to be the representation she wishes she had as a child and young adult.

“Especially in rural towns where it can feel very isolated, sometimes just knowing you’re not alone is enough,” Mitts said. “We’re just everyday people trying to exist and exist well, so seeing queer people out and about or in places of leadership is really important.”

Grantley Showalter, a nonbinary Alamosa resident, said Pride has fulfilled its goal of uniting younger and older LGBTQ+ community members together, as well as educating parents on how best to support their LGBTQ+ children.

“I think this town is taking some steps to be better and more accepting,” Showalter said. “We’re all here, we’re all part of these communities and we have a lot to offer.”

While she agreed the community is headed in the right direction of acceptance, Mitts said homophobia can still feel inescapable in the Valley.

“For every one good person, there could be three or four that make you want to throw something,” Mitts said. “But you stick it out for that one person because there's still good in the world."

Alison Berg is a multimedia journalist at Rocky Mountain PBS. She can be reached at alisonberg@rmpbs.org or on Twitter @alison__berg.