‘Rexburg Pride: Celebrate Unity’ aims to bring people together
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REXBURG — A pride and unity event will be hosted in Rexburg Saturday and organizers hope to make it a yearly tradition.
“It’s very easy for me to call Rexburg home. I have found that people move here … and they could call it home,” Brooks McFadden explained. “I want to make sure that this is a home for the LGBTQ+ community as well.”
McFadden has been a part of Flourish Point, a resource in Rexburg for the LGBTQ+ community, since it opened in February. Along with providing mental health resources, an essentials pantry, a gender-affirming closet, community education, and a lending library, they have organized the first annual Rexburg pride event at the Beehive Pavilion in Porter Park.
The event, officially called “Rexburg Pride: Celebrate Unity”, is all about bringing people together.
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“The goal of Rexburg Pride is in the title – ‘Rexburg Pride: Celebrate Unity.’ We want to be able to celebrate unity within the LGBTQ+ community, but also with the Rexburg community,” McFadden said. “They want to bridge this gap that we don’t believe should exist.”
Flourish Point has been planning an event like this since shortly after it opened to the public. Their goal wasn’t in size, but more in purpose.
“It doesn’t have to be a huge event, but let’s get it going. We want to be able to celebrate individuals for who they are, so let’s do it,” McFadden explained. “Even if it’s just a little event at a local park.”
For LGBTQ+ BYU-Idaho student Tenney, events like this shouldn’t be divisive in the community, but great ways to include everyone.
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“Pride isn’t about pushing any sort of political agenda, or trying to just celebrate queer people and alienates straight people,” Tenney told EastIdahoNews.com. “It’s about bringing everyone together and helping everyone understand each other and making the community of Rexburg less polarized.”
Tenney explained how she has seen multiple student-organized LGBTQ+ events since she began attending BYU-I, but this will be the first community-run event.
“It’s just about celebrating who we are and celebrating unity,” she added. “It’s very family-friendly and we are trying to make it very welcoming so people can kind of get a taste for what the community is about and what pride is about and make it educational.”
More information can be found at the Flourish Point Website.