We are well aware of what is around us.” Helfgot said Phoenix Pride organizers enjoyed a close and co-operative relationship with the local police. Phoenix is a relative liberal oasis in a conservative state. The level of vigilance we have is already extremely high. Helfgot said organizers would be looking at plans “right up to the last minute, and making decisions as necessary. The Phoenix march-taking place in the city’s downtown, “well-patrolled” by law enforcement-is open to the public, while the festival component is a ticketed event. We do not do this in a vacuum, but alongside law enforcement, public health, and emergency service personnel.” Even though there was no reason to suspect a specific local threat we will keep an eye on the situation.”Īs with the other Pride organizers The Daily Beast contacted, Helfgot said he could and would not divulge specific security plans, but that these were “constantly being looked at, re-evaluated, and modified as needed. When the news broke of the arrests in Idaho, we were immediately in contact with our partners at federal, state, and local level in the public safety community. Helfgot, spokesperson for Phoenix Pride, which takes place in October because of the extreme summer heat in the state, told The Daily Beast: “The safety and security of our community and community members who participate in our events is paramount. It is in this relentlessly hostile and threatening climate that this year’s Pride festivities are being planned. The vigor with which Republican politicians are stoking the fires of this bigotry to play to their base has not yet been matched by equally vociferous Democratic Party pushback-despite President Biden’s executive order of this week, which, for all its august words and directions to government agencies, does little to directly counter the onslaught of legislative animus aimed at LGBTQ people. Every day seemingly brings a fresh barrage of bigotry. Right-wing politicians and extremist groups appear as one in their intention to cause as much misery for LGBTQ people as possible in legislation and imperiling their safety while going about their daily lives. Right-wing extremists have laid siege to events where drag queens read to schoolchildren, and are also focused on removing books with LGBTQ content from libraries, under an official campaign named “Hide the Pride.” Anti-trans sentiment is at a particular zenith, with former President Trump Friday geeing up support by claiming children are being “taught transgender,” presumably after math class.
If it wasn’t this important, bigots wouldn’t pay any attention to it.”Īlongside what happened in Idaho, Porta and other Pride organizers are doing their jobs, and trying to ensure safe marches and festivals, in a sharpened atmosphere of anti-LGBTQ hate.Īs The Daily Beast has reported, this year has already seen nearly 300 pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation tabled in Republican-run legislatures, many focused on trans youth and their health care and access to playing sports, alongside a pronounced uptick in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric being voiced by Republican lawmakers like Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Lauren Boebert, amplified by their many conservative supporters and commentators online and in the media. “What happened in Idaho isn’t taking anything away from how I feel about this weekend in Portland, but it does remind me again why Pride is important.
“I still allow myself to be shocked because I don’t want to get used to being threatened,” Porta said. As The Daily Beast reported, Idaho police then received death threats for arresting the men. They had detailed plans and protective gear to “antagonize and cause disorder” at the Coeur d’Alene Pride event, per a court filing reported by CNN. “People don’t realize how often Pride festivities and events are threatened in some way, and so nothing surprises me any more,” Porta told The Daily Beast, referring to the events of last weekend in Idaho, when a group of activists from extremist group Patriot Front were arrested after being discovered inside a U-Haul. She has been involved with Pride Northwest, which oversees the Portland Pride Parade and Festival, taking place this weekend, since 2006, serving as Board President (2007-2015) and since 2017 as Executive Director. This is not Debra Porta’s first time at the Pride-organizing rodeo.