Forever Pride Continues to Grow, Uniting LGBTQ Community in Rochester and Beyond
(Ellen Shanna Knoppow, March 25, 2024)
Rochester, MI – Alex Guo never set out to be instrumental in launching an LGBTQ+ Pride movement in the Rochester area. But the now-18-year-old first year student at Michigan State University has already started two nonprofits that boast an annual summer pride fest and a Pride Prom in north Oakland County.
Guo, who uses they/them pronouns, traces their queer activism to the beginning of junior year at Rochester Adams High School. Just returning from a virtual school year due to COVID, one of the ways Guo sought connection with other students was by exploring extracurricular activities. As an LGBTQ+ teen, Guo was drawn to the school’s GSA, also known as a gay/straight alliance or gender-sexuality alliance.
“I go to the intro meeting and not a single person shows up,” Guo recalled. “It was just me and the advisor. So after that meeting, I told the advisor, ‘Well, I guess I can just be the president and I’ll help get this club going.” And that’s exactly what Guo did, emphasizing it seemed out of character to take charge in such a bold way. “That really transformed me as a person into now where I’m just doing so much work now, in that [LGBTQ+] aspect.”
Two and half years later, advocating on behalf of the queer community has become integral to Guo’s life. That began unexpectedly with what they described as a small but vocal minority espousing anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in the Rochester schools community. Guo explained one of the school board trustees, Andrew Weaver, took issue with an in-class explanation of preferred pronoun use by a teacher. In addition, the library saw three of its books pulled from the shelves, a casualty of the trend of banning books with LGBTQ+ content.
“With all those things happening with my teachers getting called out on Facebook for no apparent reason whatsoever and seeing just how tense the community was with this, and, of course, being president of a GSA, that trickles down to the school level in our hallways,” Guo said. “So I decided I had to speak a little bit more.”
Today, all three district high schools have GSAs, something Guo worked personally to implement. In north Oakland County, especially rural areas, Guo feels that LGBTQ+ issues aren’t discussed enough.
With Pride in the Park already in existence, the nonprofit Forever Pride combined forces in 2022. Guo created Forever Pride Action to extend the reach of Forever Pride to include the ability to endorse local candidates who share their values and take positions on key LGBTQ+ issues such as the death of Nex Benedict, a transgender student who was the victim of a deadly school bullying incident in Oklahoma last month.
The day of this interview, Guo received confirmation from the IRS that Forever Pride Action had been granted 501c4 status. With one round of endorsements under their belt as a “test,” “We’re actually, of course, endorsing for the upcoming primary in August and the general election in November,” Guo said, in reference to the collective action of Forever Pride Action’s board of directors. “But that is the main difference” between the groups, which are volunteer-led.
Guo was eager to talk about last year’s inaugural prom, a fun time for teens and volunteers alike.
“There was actually an enchanted garden theme we did for it,” Guo said. ”So it was like fairy lights, and it was really pretty.” Around 70 students attended, almost exclusively from the Rochester area. Guo called it a success despite some limitations, considering it was the first year holding the event
“The kids were really excited about having a designated event where you can have pride flags everywhere and have it directly towards making it very inclusive for LGBTQ students,” Guo added.
Now known as Pride in the Park, the first Rochester Pride had about 100 festival goers in 2021; that number climbed to an estimated 500 to 600 people in 2023, with more supportive organizations becoming involved with each successive year. Some of last year’s highlights included the Rochester Hills Public Library as well as the Oakland County Health Division, on hand to offer free vaccines.
“You could tell the vibe was so different from 2023 compared to 2022 and 2021, seeing that event grow,” Guo said. This years’ event, already approved by the city council, will be held June 22 from 12pm to 4:30pm; potential sponsors and vendors should check social media for application dates.
The response to Forever Pride, Forever Pride Action and their initiatives has been largely positive, says Guo. They acknowledge there will always be some angry outliers in the community, but Guo doesn’t see that as particular to the Rochester/Rochester Hills area.
Guo isn’t sure they started a movement. Still, they’ve observed a marked difference in the awareness that Pride in the Park and Pride Prom have created.
“What I’ve noticed in my groups, as well, in all the connections I have in the city, is that we’ve seen this big shift among businesses, among the school district, among just conversations where people are becoming more and more mindful of how to be inclusive for the community,” Guo said, “becoming mindful that there are LGBTQ people in Rochester, and we have to include them and be inclusive and welcome as a city.”
True Colors Pride Prom will be held May 11 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in downtown Rochester. Tickets are $20; scholarships are available.
https://linktr.ee/foreverprideaction
