EDITORIAL: Eugene’s pride in making life difficult for marginalized communities

It’s no secret that we at DSM have a tumultuous history with Eugene Pride. While the organization does allow the Queer community up and down the state to gather and enjoy themselves at Alton Baker Park, there is a history of the event taking place at the expense of marginalized communities. 

Three years ago, a rogue employee managed to usurp the organization’s social media pages and its on-site marketing to impose their personal views on kink and fetish, prohibiting attendees from wearing “gear or paraphernalia.” In 2022, those rules were rightfully rescinded and the cultural gathering went on as any Pride event should: with the ability to freely express yourself. 

To be fair, this year, the fault entirely lies with the City of Eugene and Kesey Enterprises. The issue at hand has to do with parking. The event is facing a new obstruction with Kesey Enterprises-controlled Cuthbert Amphitheater and an enabling local government that’s allowing it to happen. 

The parking lots at Alton Baker Park that would normally be used by attendees of Eugene Pride—an event that ends at 7 p.m.—were deemed off-limits and reserved for those attending a Ween concert at the amphitheater scheduled for 7 p.m.  

Understandably, would-be attendees of Pride were upset, and several of them took their frustrations to the mayor and city council during their July 22 public meeting. Not only was the lack of parking a major topic but so was the non-plan for any confrontation with right-wing bigots in the form of Rogue Valley Saltshakers who protest the event every year.

Zora Parker, a “proud technical journeyman in the chapter of IATSE 675 here in Eugene,” spoke about their role in the union and the “coming together and performance of Broadway shows, sporting events, concerts of all kinds” and the symphony. Parker continued and said that “many of my union kin are at Pride helping to support and also to be able to celebrate our truth together.” 

“Allowing Kesey Enterprises to overtake Alton Baker Park, which is a public space by the way, for a concert that doesn’t start until an hour after our celebration is finished sends a message to me and my rainbow kin,” they said. “A message that we are only necessary to put on your sports, your concerts, your “Bravo Breakfasts, and business council meetings, and your Broadway shows. That the celebration specifically for rainbows in the dark, such as myself, has no place in Eugene.”

Megan, who is on the board of the Eugene Folklore Society and Eugene Pride’s event programmer, spoke about how the event can be life-saving. 

On top of over 50 drag queens, artists, and musicians, those who take the stage will perform in front of “a crowd of over 12,000 people in your community.” Megan added that hundreds of sponsors and vendors with booths would be Queer-owned and feature both the youth and entrepreneurs. More importantly, “more than 100 people will be tested for HIV and get immediately connected to care in a supportive environment.” 

Another community member and proud parent of “an LGBTQIA child,” Julia, spoke and told about falling in love with Eugene’s nature when moving from Northeastern Indiana but, mostly, its inclusivity which “helped me know I had selected the right place to call home.” 

“I see no reason why Eugene, a much more liberal and welcoming community, should be making it so difficult for the LGBTQIA community here to celebrate Pride.” On top of her concerns about parking accessibility, she also addressed previous concerns regarding the lack of information from EPD on how they’ll handle right-wing bigoted protesters. 

Robert Knodel, a resident who moved to Eugene from Southern Oregon just a couple of years ago, spoke about the increased inclusivity of being in Eugene and how he was frustrated about “a private company… taking control of the park and making it difficult for performers or sponsors or anyone else that would like to attend Pride.”  

“I really feel like and hope that you all listen and hear all of us and to please do better,” Knodel said. 

Not only did community members express their frustrations but so did the president of the Eugene Pride organization, Brooks McLain, who called out the city government for not only not supporting cultural events but putting profits and an allegiance to Phil Knight first. 

McLain started by saying that they wanted it to be clear that “this was not an indictment of city staff” as the organization had been working with “incredible people” in the city, however, they were still unsure up to the Friday before the meeting if they could successfully organize the pride event. 

This was, according to McLain, “because questions that should have been answered months ago were not answered” and “contracts that have been signed should be evaluated, like, how can a private company take away parking from an event that already struggles with parking?” He also stated that they had just learned of the conflict two months prior and had previously already had a traffic plan in place for the event. 

“This is not happening in isolation,” McLain added. “We’re losing Juneteenth Celebration, we’ve lost the Black Cultural Festival… we’ve lost our hospital, we’re losing our baseball team which is one of the biggest fund-raisers for the LGBTQ community and the first to wear rainbows on their jersey.”

“Gone, because we don’t support culture,” McLain said. “You know we used to have a saying, ‘the greatest city for arts and outdoors,’ and we are turning our outdoors into a football palace and we are obliterating our cultural institutions.” 

“This is an indictment of the political leadership of this city. We prioritize Phil Knight, we prioritize Brian Obie, we do not prioritize the LGBTQ community and our festival, we do not prioritize the Black community in this town.” 

Following the city council meeting, Eugene Pride announced that they had coordinated with the city and would be providing a shuttle service via Sunshine Limousine that would pick up attendees every 30 minutes from five locations:

• Downtown Eugene
• 4J Headquarters
• Valley River Center
• East Autzen gravel parking lot (enter on Leo Harris Parkway to park)
• Lane County Youth Services/John Serbu Campus

They also announced that parking directly at Alton Baker Park would be reserved only for ADA, people using mobility chairs and scooters, or those carpooling with four or more people. 

Then, on Aug. 5, it was announced that Ween, the 30-year-old rock band with a loyal but niche following, had canceled their Spokane, Portland, and Eugene concerts for undisclosed reasons. Rumors circulated online that it was due to COVID-19 infections. With the cancelations, though, would-be Eugene Pride attendees that DSM spoke with seemed relieved and were planning their trips to the event now that parking would, assumably, be freed up. 

We messaged Eugene Pride via their website contact form and asked if the parking plan would be altered given the cancellation. We did not receive a response. 

The optimism was short-lived, though. The next day, Aug. 6, Cuthbert Amphitheater announced that they had filled in the canceled show with Brown Stallion, a Ween cover band from both Portland and Eugene. After the announcement, Eugene Pride responded to comments on their Facebook page and affirmed that the parking plan was unchanged. The organization also posted that they had managed to get 11 public parking lots that attendees could park at for free and be shuttled from. None are in Springfield, though. 

When DSM was made aware of the current situation, we couldn’t help but see the similarity with what happened at UO between the student government’s spring concert and the Native American Student Union’s powwow being scheduled for the same time — two years in a row. As a result of public backlash, the student government canceled the concert and later passed a resolution protecting Mother’s Day weekend from being available for any event other than NASU’s annual powwow. 

We have no idea how the event, and its parking disaster, will unfold, but we at DSM do know that we share in the community’s frustration with the city government’s priorities. It is time that the city put its residents—not private real estate corporations or billionaires—first and support true cultural community events, not international tourist-centered sporting ones that end up being more exclusionary than not.

Listen to your community.