The Proliferation of Pride in Michigan: How Communities Find Meaning in Gestures Large and Small

Motor City Pride may be the oldest, largest and best-known Pride festival in the state, but celebrations in other Michigan cities have become well-loved, annual mainstays, too. And over the past several years, the LGBTQ community has seen many expressions of communal pride emerge in sometimes unexpected places. This June alone saw a first-ever Pride flag-raising ceremony in Hazel Park, a Pride festival organized in Cadillac and a Pride Month resolution adopted in Calhoun County. Clearly, there's value and meaning to recognizing Pride month in some way in one's own community, something to which this writer can attest from being part of the planning committee for the inaugural Royal Oak Family Pride this past summer. Even if one's community doesn't host a parade or have so much as a non-discrimination ordinance, it's at least an affirming nod to its LGBTQ residents for community leaders to fly a rainbow flag above city hall for a month out of the year.
Macomb County Pride, slated for June, will be the first such event for that community and it's already generating buzz. For that reason, Between The Lines explored the changes that Macomb is experiencing as it relates to celebrating — or at least tolerating — the Pride of the LGBTQ community there. From a Pride parade and resource fair planned in Mt. Clemens to a Pride Month resolution in Eastpointe that was only narrowly adopted, we also got a bird's eye view from an anonymous elected official who both explained why there is resistance in Macomb and why there's promise for the future.