Pride celebrates LGBTQ+ community

After spearheading the first slate of Pride events in eastern New Mexico history last year, Laura Wight received a Facebook message from an older lesbian couple.  

"They were like, 'We've lived here pretty much our entire lives, we've been together for more than 30 years and we have to say that the Pride parade was the first time we ever felt like we belonged in this community," Wight beamed. 

It served as an indicator that despite backlash Eastern New Mexico Rising - a new non-profit that provides resources and community for local LGBTQ+ members - encounters, change is occurring.  

As year two approaches, Wight and Eastern New Mexico Rising hope more LGBTQ+ members can feel like they belong. 

"It is not quick, you know? You have to be committed," Wight said in an interview with The News on Memorial Day. 

Pride organizers work for more lasting impact 

The region's first attempt at celebrating the LGBTQ+ community took place in 2011. That year, Clovis hosted a Pride parade with Jesse Lopez, president emeritus of Albuquerque Pride, serving as the grand marshal. Lopez called it a "landmark" event. A "landmark" it was not. No public Pride gatherings took place again in the region until last year. 

Wight hopes that Eastern New Mexico Rising's efforts will have a more lasting impact. And she's confident that can happen because she's seen it happen before. 

Before coming to Portales to work for Eastern New Mexico University, the librarian spent 10 years doing similar volunteer work for the Great Falls LGBTQ Center in Montana. That non-profit hosted the city's first Pride month and now offers mental health resources, financial support and a list of LGBTQ+ friendly churches, Wight said. 

"Kid you not, it was like a mirror of what's happening here," said Wight. "It's like the same stages. So, in the beginning, there's a lot of hate. There's a lot of pushback ... we're still in that phase here." 

Pushback was evident during a city election forum in February. One person criticized the Clovis City Commission's lack of attendance at Pride events last year. Candidates were asked if they would attend this time. 

Clovis Mayor Mike Morris responded, "You will not see me at the Pride events or offering a proclamation for that." Morris said his position wasn't motivated by hate but, "it just doesn't align with my morals and my faith."  

Morris did not respond to multiple interview requests to expand on his beliefs. 

LGBTQ+ efforts finding support 

There have also been public displays of support for Rising's efforts to embrace cultural diversity in an area that has long been staunchly conservative. 

A Portales sandwich shop went public last summer with an encounter the owners said occurred with Clovis pastor Farril DeFoor during a Pride event last year.  

DeFoor, who this spring posted on his Facebook page, "If you think transgender day isn't a plan to destroy America then you are a fool," has been openly opposed to the LGBTQ+ movement since last summer's Pride Month. 

Do Drop In Restaurant co-owner Mik Mountjoy said DeFoor asked that fellow co-owner Kamille Mountjoy – Mik's mom – stop openly welcoming the gay community. Kamille responded: "I'm not going to discriminate against anybody who walks through these doors because I will help anybody – regardless of who they are," she said. 

Do Drop In posted its version of what happened on its Facebook page, and Mik said sales tripled over the next few weeks. 

"We knew it could have tanked our business," said Mik. "It's a 50/50 toss up. You're either gonna have a lot of love or a lot of hate."  

Mik, who is Christian, said the encounter also led to support from some local Christian church leaders who told her, "Not everybody is willing to make that hard divide" and that eastern New Mexico is "a place of warmth and welcoming." 

DeFoor, asked by The News to talk about Pride Month last week, declined an interview. "I am tired of fighting with them," he said. 

Strong anti-LGBTQ+ stances also exist in homes here and across the nation. "I had to lie to my parents to come here," is a line Wight said she has heard a heartbreaking number of times from LGBTQ+ youth attending Eastern New Mexico Rising events. Hearing comments like this is one reason why Wight said Eastern New Mexico Rising is working to help destigmatize the LGBTQ+ community. 

An "uphill climb" she quipped, but when reflecting on last year's turnout and the growing support, she feels there is hope for a more accepting future.  

It's "a new chapter in the sense of all the possibilities of what can be, what's ahead. So, it's like, 'OK, well, we're turning over a new leaf, we're progressing, moving forward.'"