After the riot at New York City’s Stonewall bar in June of 1969 and the gathering that occurred the next year, many LGBTQ+ communities across the US slowly started to host their own marches. These events were first used to bring forth issues the LGBTQ+ community had been facing for centuries.
Kira Kinney, 9-24-2022, Entrance from the food court to the vendors and stage at the 2022 Salem Capitol Pride.
Salem finally hosted its first pride event in 1978 with 9 participants marching in front of the Capitol building. [1] The next year, only 12 people marched, all members of the Salem-based gay organization, Capitol Forum. [2] These low numbers were mainly due to the fear of backlash. While being gay was no longer illegal in Oregon, businesses would still fire employees who were thought to be gay. One woman who participated in the 1979 Salem march even wore a wig to the event in order to hide her identity.
This type of discrimination was legal all over Oregon until 1987 when then Governor of Oregon, Neil Goldschmidt signed an executive order prohibiting state-funded jobs from discriminating against an employee’s sexual orientation. [3] While this was a big step up, it was quickly repealed through a lobbying campaign by the Oregon Citizens Alliance, a conservative group that would continue from 1986 to 1996 to lobby against LGBTQ+ rights.
Despite the rising backlash against LGBTQ+ people throughout the 1980’s and into the 1990’s, events like the marches continued. Throughout the 1990’s, Salem would continue to have annual Pride events and gatherings to protest and to celebrate. [4] In 1996, Salem got what we would now call its first Pride parade, with 200 people watching and cheering the marchers as they went by. [5] However, almost 20 years had passed since the first Salem Pride event and very few laws had passed giving LGBTQ+ people rights or protections.
In 2007, the Oregon Equality Act is finally passed making it illegal to discriminate against people due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. [6] Shortly after that was passed, the Oregon Family Fairness Act became law giving the right of domestic partnership and the ability to adopt for LGBTQ+ couples. Then in 2015, the Supreme Court decision of Obergefell vs. Hodges made same-sex marriage legal across the United States, including in Oregon. Ever since these three major laws have been put in place in Oregon, it has opened opportunities for other LGBTQ+ friendly bills including becoming the first state to recognize non-binary identification on licenses. [7]
In 2001, a group called Capitol Pride began and started to take over the responsibility of planning Salem’s Pride events. They became an official group in 2004 and have continued to run Salem Capitol Pride every year since, apart from 2020. However, in 2022, a new event started in Salem to bring even more pride to the city. [8] Salem Pride was mainly created as a result of the timing of Salem Capitol Pride. Capitol Pride is usually held in August or September to avoid competition with Pride events in Portland and Eugene. However, many in Salem still wanted to celebrate pride during June and so Salem Pride was created. Salem Pride and Salem Capitol Pride are both continuing to run each year, supporting the other during their respective events.
Written by Kira Kinney on September 19, 2022
Bibliography
[1] The Capital Journal 26 May 1978; “Salem Gays Planning March for Gay Pride.” Oregon Statesman 09 June 1979 pg 2 — “Last year only nine persons marched in the Salem event….”
[2] “Turnout light for city’s 2nd gay rights march” Statesman Journal 17 June 1979.
[3] Boag, Peter “Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement.” Oregon Encyclopedia https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/gay_lesbian_rights_movement/#.YySfcnbMLct 22 August 2022.
[4] McFetridge, Scott “Rally backs rights for gays, lesbians.” Statesman Journal 21 April 1991.
[5] Foster, AnneElena “Gay pride parade draws small crowd.” Statesman Journal 2 June 1996.
[6] “Our History.” Basic Rights Oregon https://www.basicrights.org/about/our-history/.
[7] “LGBT Rights in Oregon” Equaldex https://www.equaldex.com/region/united-states/oregon.
[8] Tabrizian, Ardeshir “Salem Pride event debuts Saturday with march, live performances downtown.” Salem Reporter https://www.salemreporter.com/2022/06/07/salem-pride-event-debuts-saturday-with-march-live-performances-downtown/ 7 June 2022.
