ACLU PUTS PRIDE ON PARADE

The ACLU of Oklahoma participated in Oklahoma City’s 20th Annual Pride Parade, which celebrated Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Inter-Sex (LGBTI) identity. The two-hour parade was held on Sunday, June 24.

Affiliate board members Marjorie Ramana and Peter Cahn; volunteers Marc Bell, Ethan Dyer and Alicia Penn; and staff members Joann Bell, C.S. Thornton, Tamya Cox and Michael Camfield enthusiastically navigated the parade route. They were greeted by applause and cheers the entire way.

“Having marched in the first Oklahoma City Pride Parade in 1988, I’m thrilled to witness how much the event has grown in two decades,” Camfield said. “It’s such an uplifting experience to receive the outpouring of support for the ACLU that comes from parade bystanders.”

As part the parade’s 20th anniversary, the Cimarron Alliance Foundation arranged for new vinyl banners commemorating the event to be placed on municipal light poles adjacent to the parade route. The ACLU of Oklahoma successfully vindicated Cimarron Alliance Foundation’s right to display the banners in litigation that concluded during 2002. As a result of this connection, Mark Henricksen, one of the cooperating attorneys who handled the case, generously sponsored several new banners printed with the ACLU’s name on them.

“Since the affiliate was involved in the banner case, I thought it was an appropriate way to honor the ACLU,” said Henricksen.

In addition to being a part of the parade, the ACLU of Oklahoma used the festivities to provide educational material to the community. The affiliate distributed 1,000 brochures about its defense LGBTI rights and the rights of people living with HIV or AIDS. The literature was included in grab bags given to parade spectators and attendees at a festival held on June 16 and 17, 2007.