Nashville Pride takes on different meaning amid pushback
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Nashville's LGBTQ+ Pride festival this weekend will feature a parade, dancing and other familiar staples.
- But organizers and community members tell Axios this year's festivities have taken on a new significance due to a wave of criticism and state legislation targeting the LGBTQ+ community.
Why it matters: Advocates say the current climate underscores Pride's amplified importance this year.
- "LGBTQ folks need that sense of community," Nashville Pride board member Brady Ruffin tells Axios. "But we also need to have a space where we can unite and organize together in opposition against this hate."
"There's certainly fear. There's angst and anger. But there's also a sense of resiliency," Inclusion Tennessee executive director Phil Cobucci tells Axios.
- "We will not let this be the final chapter for Tennessee."
Driving the news: Pride has been under heightened scrutiny in Tennessee and across the country this year as many states considered limiting gender-affirming care and drag shows.
- Franklin Pride, which took place earlier this month, was nearly sidelined by impassioned critics who said the event shouldn't take place in a public park.
On Tuesday, federal authorities announced they had arrested a man who was charged with making threats against Nashville's Pride festival. (Organizers say they're working with private security as well as local, state and federal agencies to maintain safety.)
What they're saying: "We're no stranger to this type of dangerous rhetoric that is being spewed," Ruffin says. "But this year has been uniquely difficult."
The latest: In the last week, news circulated that the Tennessee attorney general's office had requested records for patients getting gender-affirming care at Vanderbilt University Medical Center as part of an investigation into medical billing.
- The Tennessean reports the office has also sought information about patient referrals and people who reached out about VUMC's LGBTQ program.
State of play: The state investigation follows a legislative session that saw Republican state lawmakers moving to restrict drag performances and ban gender-affirming care for minors, among other efforts.
- Conservative lawmakers framed the laws as efforts to protect children. The executive director of the ACLU of Tennessee described the work as "a full-scale attack on trans rights and gender expression."
- A federal judge called the drag law unconstitutional, and the ACLU and U.S. Department of Justice are challenging the gender-affirming care law.
The big picture: Ray Holloman is a trans man who has lived in Middle Tennessee his whole life. He remembers attending Nashville Pride for the first time and realizing there was a community that could relate to his challenges and experiences.
- “It’s still that place for me even with all the stuff that's going on,“ Holloman tells Axios.
Holloman says he remains deeply concerned about state laws that target the trans community. But he plans to attend Nashville Pride to catch up with old friends and make new ones.
- "There's power in numbers," he says. "We are all working together and trying to help each other."