Today marks the beginning of Pride Month. The celebration is dedicated to members of the LGBTQIA+ community, honoring their contributions to society, whether locally or internationally. But this year, some members of the community are fearful of retaliation from President Trump’s administration. In the first few weeks of his second term, the Republican moved to crack down on the rights, protections, and acknowledgement of trans and gay Americans. I spoke with the founder of Collar City Pride Meagon Nolasco, who says the Trump administration is a looming threat.
We've seen a lot of attacks on trans and non-binary folks. Specifically, as recently as this week, we just saw, you know, a pretty horrific bill go through that is essentially going to gut gender affirming care as it relates to being covered under Medicaid, which is a huge, huge, huge concern, because typically Transgender, Gender Nonconforming, and Non- Binary (TGNCNB) folks are living below the poverty line. They do not have access to insurance and providers in the same way that cisgender heterosexual folks do, and not being able to access care under Medicaid is a really, it's a really scary world that we're looking at if that bill comes through. So, I think, you know, overarching, that's kind of the concerns that I'm hearing in the community. I think in New York state, we're very lucky, because we do have a lot of protections here. But I think a piece of what has happened with this administration change nationally, regionally, locally, is the rhetoric that we're hearing around TG and CMB folks, right? It's not a constant barrage of laws and policies, although that's happening too, but it is the kind of emboldened nature in which folks have started to stand up and speak negatively about the community, and that is happening even right here in the capital region, right? We're not immune to it. Even though we're in New York State, we have a lot of conservative area and rural conservative area in the upstate New York landscape, and it's a different world there than it is in places like, say, New York City.
How are people finding support in their community?
Well, I think that we again, are lucky to not only be in New York. But to be in the Capital Region, we have several LGBTQ+ centered organizations. We have Collar City Pride operating in Rensselaer County. We have In Our Own Voices and the Pride Center of the Capital Region operating in 10 different counties, including Rensselaer County. We offer, you know, mental health between the three organizations. We offer mental health services, substance use services, harm reduction services, case management, domestic violence, anti-violence services, I think, though, what I and what a lot of us in the area as leaders, have been hearing, is folks really want to come together within community. They really want to be around folks that are like them, that are going through the same concerns and fears. Collar City Pride this year has hosted two what we call community solidarity gatherings. So far, we've hosted both of them at Cafe Euphoria. They've been open forums that I've been leading, just for folks to come in and talk and chat and vent. And you know, we are not I'm no expert. I do happen to work at the New York State Legislature. I work at the New York State Senate, so I try to pass along any information I have, but, you know, we don't know much more than anyone else does. But I think it's nice to know that you can all come together in a room and be like, wow, we're all concerned about the same things. Or, you know, here's resources that folks maybe didn't hear about or don't know about. You're able to exchange resources. At the first community solidarity gathering, we had several organizations that were there to share about their resources. At the second gathering, we had just about all of our Troy democratic city council was there. So, I think ultimately, folks in community right now are looking for community and ways to be in community that is safe and supportive and feels good.
So, what's your message to those struggling with their gender or sexual identity right now? You mentioned the federal administration constantly taking blows at people of the LGBTQ+ community?
Yeah, I have so many words. How much time do we have? No, I'm kidding. I think if I have to give one statement, right there's so much to divulge. But I think right now, to everyone in the queer community, I want us to keep our eyes on the youth. All of us who are LGBT+, are at risk right now, but our youth are not only having their, you know, their services and providers stripped away, but they don't get a say in a lot of this. They don't get to vote, they don't get to choose, they didn't get to pick, and they don't have a lot of a voice. And we are seeing, before this administration started to roll back gender affirming care protections, we've been seeing, you know, states individually rolling back gender affirming care for youth and. We're also simultaneously seeing the suicide rate increase in queer youth. So, I feel like that is a correlation that we're not talking about enough, and I think that we have to really rely on the science and what the science is telling us, and that would be my statement to folks is, you know, pay attention to the science, to the data. Don't let the rhetoric fill your brain. There's a lot of it right now. You know, those who are in power are doing what they're doing on purpose, right? It's meant to make us constantly in this mode of reaction and survival, instead of planning and, you know, thinking about what our next steps are. If you're in New York state right now, you are as safe as you can be with the administration and our protections for LGBTQ+ folks, we also have very strong protections for TGNCNB folks specifically, and even more protections are coming down the pipeline in the state legislature right now. We just in the New York State Senate passed the trans shield law, which protects gender affirming care providers in the same way that abortion care providers are protected in the state. So, follow the data, follow the science. Don't listen to the rhetoric. It's really, really important that we don't let them erase us, because that's what they're trying to do.
You mentioned the cafe chats at Cafe euphoria and collar City Pride puts on and supports drag and burlesque shows and art contests and other support groups. So, one, how are you funding these and what do you take away from these events after you meet with people and get to have face to face conversations with them?
Yeah, so our funding is predominantly private funding, right? So, ticket sales to our events, donations that folks make throughout the year, donations at our events, donations at tabling events. We are a fully volunteer organization, so we have a nine-person board, and our board operates like a working board, but we're a board of volunteers, so we volunteer a lot of our time. I hesitate to call it free time, because I don't know that it's actually free time to any of us, but we also love what we do, which is why we took up this project. We also have received a couple of grant awards. Those are specifically for certain programs and services that we offer or events. So, we've received a grant award from the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall Foundation, and that is how we opened up our case management services in Cafe Euphoria. We host those two days a week, Mondays and Wednesdays, from 6 to 9pm completely free of cost. For folks, I happen to be a social worker, so I donate my time and provide those case management services, which is why they're so late in the evening, because they're after my daytime job. But we do take telehealth appointments outside of those two days and times for flexibility for folks. We also just recently received a grant from the Capital Arts Center, and that is going directly towards our entertainment costs. So, all of our performers for our Pride festival, which is in October, are local. They're local to the Capital Region. They're typically local to the Troy-Rensselaer County area. And it is really important to us that we pay every performer a livable wage. It's a lot of work to prepare for these performances, and I think it's really important that if we're hiring folks during Pride season for pride events, they'd be paid. So that is what that grant fund is going towards. Our entertainment costs, all of our performers’ costs for things that are related to performance, like the stage. We also have DJs who are local and queer. That's another important piece. All of our performers for pride are LGBTQ+, as well as our hosts as well as our DJs. So that's, you know, that's kind of where our grant funding streams go. Most of, most of the grant funding that we apply for is for particular programs, and then just our general operating budget. We have a pretty low budget. We don't have overhead. We don't have, like, a space that we rent. We have space that we use at Cafe euphoria that is paid for by our grant. All of us are volunteers, so we don't have salaries that we pay out. So aside from what feels like a constant surplus of pride flags that I'm buying, our funding streams are relatively low and fully grassroots, but completely function us throughout the whole year.
Collar City Pride recently moved to pull its festival from the City of Troy following a post made my Deputy Mayor Seamus Donnelly when President Trump was inaugurated in January. The post was in support of the second-term president. It has since sparked some outcry — with commenters wondering how Donnelly can support a president who has used executive orders to roll back rights for members of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Speaking with WAMC in April, Donnelly said he’s a proud member of the LGBTQ community with First Amendment rights.
“When you're in our positions, anybody can say whatever they want,” Donnelly said. “That's fine. But really, you know one myself, the mayor, the administration, the staff. You know, we're diverse people there. There's no hate here, and our city is one of the most safe and welcoming cities in the region, in this state, very diverse community here, and that's something to celebrate.”
In response to Donnelly’s comment to WAMC, Collar City Pride founder Meagon Nolasco says they’re not asking for an apology. They do want LGBTQIA+ resources on the city website, an official statement of support for the trans, gender non-conforming, and non-binary community, and to assist in funding the organization’s pride event.
Donnelly says the organization’s withdrawal is a “disservice” to the community.
“Not that we're going to sit here and do a ranking list of what city is more diverse and welcoming than others, but Troy's up there,” Donnelly said. “So, I think that to take it out over Facebook post, frankly, is a bit silly, and it's a disservice to the community that they purport to be.”
The city will host its annual Pride Night Out June 20.
Collar City Pride says its annual festival will be held in Watervliet with an exact location expected to be announced Friday.
