Members of Santa Ynez Valley Pleasure simply returned from a whirlwind journey to Copenhagen, the place, on the private invitation of Lord Mayor Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, they obtained a non-public tour of Metropolis Corridor, marched on the head of a six-mile parade, and spoke in entrance of a 200,000-person crowd throughout Copenhagen Pleasure Week, one of many largest LGBTQ festivals on the planet.
“It was unimaginable,” stated SYV Pleasure president Lauren Lastra. “They had been simply so beneficiant and welcoming. It felt like a full circle second.”
Mayor Andersen stated in a while Instagram: “Right now the delegation from Solvang felt the assist from everybody in Copenhagen Pleasure. … I’ll all the time combat for equality and the appropriate to like whoever you need.”
It was this spring that Solvang ― which payments itself as “the Danish capital of America” ― drew the ire of Andersen and her traditionally LGBTQ-friendly compatriots when it rejected a request to hold rainbow banners in celebration of Pleasure Month.
The choice got here not lengthy after satisfaction flags had been stolen from a close-by church and burned, and rainbow-colored crosswalks erased from the native highschool. Certainly one of Solvang’s metropolis council members referred to the city’s LGBTQ residents and their supporters as “clowns” and “losers.”
After widespread backlash and a tersely-worded letter from Anderson, who stated Solvang’s opposition to the banners was antithetical to its Danish heritage of “respect and acceptance,” the city reversed course and accredited them. Some inside Solvang Metropolis Corridor questioned the legitimacy of her letter; Anderson declined to entertain their skepticism.
Lastra stated the invitation from Anderson’s workplace to not solely take part however function prominently in Copenhagen Pleasure got here mere weeks in the past and was “very sudden.” However, she stated, SYV Pleasure knew “it was a possibility we couldn’t move up.”
The parade was of “epic proportions,” stated Lastra, director of scholar providers at Pacifica Graduate Institute. And whereas it dwarfed Solvang’s personal annual celebration, the 2 occasions did share some similarities. “They had been each tremendous family-friendly, with kiddos on dad and mom shoulders waving flags,” she stated. “It was heartwarming.”
Throughout their public handle they shared the stage with Stuart Milk, brother of Harvey Milk, and obtained a heat welcome from the gang, Lastra stated. “The vitality was epic.” Her group noticed just one protester that day, “perched on a bit bucket studying Bible verses,” she stated.
The Danes they spoke with in regards to the Solvang banner situation had a tough time wrapping their heads across the controversy, Lastra stated. They didn’t perceive how attitudes so plainly in opposition to LGBTQ folks may exist in a liberal American state like California, and particularly in a city with deep Danish roots. “It simply didn’t compute for them,” Lastra stated.
SYV Pleasure was additionally invited to a celebration on the New Zealand consulate the place they rubbed elbows with ambassadors, and their lodge ignored Copenhagen’s central plaza and its seemingly nonstop occasions. There have been early talks with town’s main LGBTQ group about unifying its and Solvang’s yearly celebrations as “sister” occasions, Lastra stated.
Lastra noticed how a lot of Copenhagen was wrapped in rainbow decorations in celebration of Pleasure Week. And Anderson, she famous, stated greater than as soon as how the present of assist was “good for the entire neighborhood,” together with its financial system and the tourism {dollars} it obtained.
Your entire expertise, Lastra stated, was unforgettable. “It was so sudden and so superb,” she stated.
