Taos Pride https://taospride.org Tue, 21 Jun 2022 14:44:24 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://taospride.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-TaosPrideLogo512-32x32.png Taos Pride https://taospride.org 32 32 Roller Disco https://taospride.org/roller-disco/ Tue, 21 Jun 2022 14:44:23 +0000 https://taospride.org/?p=19623 Remember the fun of strapping on some roller skates and launching yourself into the mix at the local rink? Now is your opportunity to relive those nights of magic. This year for Pride we will be taking over the Youth and Family center’s roller rink and turn it into a disco scene. The mirror ball and a funky set of tracks will have you grooving all night long.

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Drag Out and Dance https://taospride.org/drag-out-and-dance/ Tue, 21 Jun 2022 14:40:20 +0000 https://taospride.org/?p=19621 Last year for Pride we invited Donnie Chalepah to Taos to DJ for our Gayest Drag Show Ever! He did an amazing job and really enjoyed himself. For the last several months he has been itching to get back to Taos to visit his new friends. We are thrilled to welcome him back to the Alley Cantina again in Pride month. This Saturday June, 25 – he will be mixing his fun and super danceable tracks for the queens, allies, and lucky guests. Tell your friends and get them to the door. He will be bring a fun light show too. So nice!

In addition to the great music we have a few remarkable queens who will be performing that night.

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Gayest Bake Sale 2022! https://taospride.org/gayest-bake-sale-2022/ Sun, 22 May 2022 15:27:26 +0000 https://taospride.org/?p=19585 Gayest Bake Sale Ever!! This event is a celebration of the brightest and boldest baked goods in Taos. Please drop off your goodies at Cid’s Food Market any time between 9am and 1pm on Friday, June 3.  We welcome your fabulous cookies, cakes, pies, candies, jams, granola, bread, cinnamon rolls, donuts, the skies the limit!!! Individually wrapped and bagged items are encouraged but we welcome whole cakes, pies, loafs of bread, anything your imagination can dream of.

If baking is not your thing we encourage you to:  

  • Bring your family and friends for a taste of the most fabulous, funky, fun, and festive fundraiser in town. 
  • Help at the Taos Pride Booth to organize and sell our fabulous baked goods. 

We invite you to join us at Cid’s Food Market on Friday, June 3 from 10am to 5pm.

For more information or to volunteer please reply to this email, email katy.ballard3@gmail.com, or call her at 806.559.943.

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Taos Pride Events 2021 https://taospride.org/taos-pride-events-2021/ Thu, 22 Jul 2021 22:58:35 +0000 https://taospride.org/?p=19570 After a pandemic inspired-hiatus in 2020, Taos Pride is back to present some of the gayest events ever in Taos. 

In 2010, Gay Pride Taos founder Robert Quintana wanted to bring a real sense of gay celebration and joy to his hometown. While 2020 would have marked the 10th anniversary of the modern LGBTQIA+ celebrations in our area … things really didn’t work out in the world to allow that to happen. 

This year, there are three days of events planned in the heart of our community. 

The kickoff event will be at Revolt Gallery on Thursday, August 5. Owner Steven McFarland and artist Laurel Taylor are collaborating with Taos Pride and several other groups to spark a youth centric, all ages event. Teen drag performers from Taos and Santa Fe will strut their way down the beautiful boardwalk. It will be a celebration of queer and trans visibililty. Local drag performer JOJO first took the stage for Taos Pride in 2018 and is excited to walk the runway again. There will also be a young romantic poetry reading and musical performances by Banjo Billy, including dance and chill beats by local DJs. Doors to the event open at 6 p.m.

Returning to Pride is the Taos Pride Short Film Festival – 26 short films packaged into one night of screenings. One of the most validating feelings is seeing your community on screen or having your story told. The LGBTQIA+ community has been represented in modern media to a degree, but it typically is not shown as a raw reality. When a global corporation celebrates your existence with one hand, but with the other hand can’t risk acknowledging you in its current movie without fear of losing international sales … things aren’t quite as rosy as they seem. The film festival is a rare opportunity to see queer stories created by queer filmakers. Films in the 6 p.m. screening are suitable for most audiences. Films chosen for the 8 p.m. screening are a bit more revealing. 

Saturday is home to two main events: The brand new Pride on the Plaza and the remarkable Gayest Drag Show Ever at the Alley Cantina. This year, Pride comes to Taos Plaza with featured guest Katy P and the Business playing from the gazebo. We intend to throw the most colorful and joyful public dance party Taos has seen in a while. Mixed through the afternoon will be drag performances from local queens. Please bring single dollars to cheer on their work for this free event. There will be a mix of bands and entertainers leading up to the headliners. Event starts at 6 p.m. and runs through 9 p.m. 

The Gayest Drag Show Ever is returning to the Alley Cantina. This is a night to dance and experience dramatic drag performers from across the Southwest. The ravishing Emologie Raven will lead her troup of four drag starlets through the night. This will be Emologie’s second appearance with Taos Pride. Also headlining that night will be Donnie Dee Jay, a Native American dance and club DJ with an international following. He will bring the beats, lights, and revolutionary spirit to Taos for one night only. The show gets started at 10 p.m. at the Alley Cantina and runs through the night. There will be a cover charge at the door. 

EVENTS

PRIDE KICKOFF on August 5 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Revolt Gallery, 222 Paseo del Pueblo Norte
FREE

TAOS PRIDE SHORT FILM FESTIVAL on August 6, first screening at 6 p.m., second screening at 8 p.m.
Taos Community Auditorium, 145 Paseo del Pueblo Norte
Each screening is $10, or $16 for tickets to both screenings
Tickets available at TCAtaos.org

PRIDE ON THE PLAZA on August 7 from 5  p.m. to 9 p.m.
Taos Plaza
FREE

GAYEST DRAG SHOW EVER! On August 7 from 10 p.m. to close
The Alley Cantina, 121 Teresina Ln
PAY TO ENTER

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Short Film Festival Selections https://taospride.org/short-film-festival-selections/ Thu, 22 Jul 2021 22:54:25 +0000 https://taospride.org/?p=19572 Films selected for the 2021 Taos Pride Short Film Festival

HUGO : 6:30      
Queer Drama Comedy
Hugo, a young actor is asked to improvise narrating a story where he’s the actor and director at an audition. He unfolds a tale that explores sex, disease, and self-emancipation.

EVERYONE HAS MY JACKET
Queer Biography Animation
“One of us has to change‚” takes a whole other meaning in this short animation about fashion, gender dysphoria and acceptance as we follow a singular protagonist narrating an internal struggle when a brown corduroy jacket makes its way into his closet.

FROM TIME TO TIME, I BURN     
Bi Drama
Louise is a photographer who seeks the symbiosis of bodies. Her encounter with Tereza, a young girl who shows up at her studio for a photo session, will disturb them both more than they imagined.

COLOURS 
Queer Music Video
Nick Saanto and their dancers go to a strange Queer Museum. People of the LGBTQIA+ community are locked-up in rooms where visitors can look, scrutinize, and judge them. Nick releases them one-by-one and gives them the freedom they’ve always deserved.

ONE DAY  
Lesbian Biography
A narrative piece about coming out, based on my personal experiences and inspired by the following short poem:

“In another life, I’ll reach for her hand and no one will wonder if we are friends or something more. In another life, I’ll kiss her in the streets to our favorite song and no one will look at us like we are doing something wrong.” – Courtney Peppernell

SOL SOL    
Gay Romance
Xavier is a Menorquín teenager that doesn’t feel comfortable at home. When a Catalan tourist visits the island, he will try to solve his problems by exploring his sexuality, to grow up in the natural space of Sa Mesquida beach.

SHINE ON
Queer Drama
Sofia, a girl evades her complex family reality in social networks.

Together with “La Jisus” her favorite influencer will be transported to a musical world full of glitter and glamour.

SUNDOWN TOWN     
Gay Horror
Bryce & Mitchell’s trip home is disrupted after making a pit stop in a mysteriously unwelcoming town.

DON’T LET GO   
Lesbian Drama
When Sam and Reggie get engaged, their future seems bright–until a terrible car accident leaves Reggie in a coma. And Sam must confront Reggie’s homophobic mother to fight for a place at her hospital bedside before it’s too late.

MEN IN BLUE : 12 STORIES
Animation Documentary
Mapping of what it is to be a man today, through portraits of 12 men, of all genders and from all backgrounds. Facing Francisco, each protagonist strips off in front of his camera and speak about themselves in a documentary format, animated in rotoscope with more than 500 blue ballpoint pen drawings.

DEMISEXUALITY
Demi Drama
Bea and Jorge met that same night and would never think that they would end up going to bed together. Social pressures and their own special way of understanding relationships will make this a somewhat uncomfortable sexual encounter… or maybe not?

FURIOUS SAINT JACK & OTTER, ALONE        
Gay Drama
A lonely young man rhythmically narrates his leap from isolation to ecstasy when he meets a beautiful stranger at a bar.

Juxtaposing self-consciousness and fear with the joy of liberation, FURIOUS SAINT JACK & OTTER, ALONE dynamically explores the visceral, breathless poetry of a sudden romantic connection.”

SUDDEN FLASH 
Trans Experimental
A dive in the river takes a trans man on a journey back to his past.

POTATO BUG    
Lesbian Romance
The story of a girl in love.

BEAT 97    
Gay Romantic Comedy
Alvaro has been quarantined for 97 days without leaving home. He and uses delivery apps to order everything he needs. When the delivery man arrives at the building with another meal, an unexpected situation imposes a difficult decision on Alvaro.

From the flow of consciousness of the character when dealing with his dilemmas and original beatbox compositions, the film explores the difficulties of social isolation and Alvaro’s attempts to creatively occupy time.

MADONNE        
Lesbian Romance
What happens if in a normal tram two teenagers decide to fall in love?

WHAT KIND OF HELP?        
Queer Biography
What Kind of Help? follows a woman in lockdown in her apartment. We see her living her isolated days over and over while trying to cope with the pressure of a pandemic lockdown on a extrovert. As we watch her move about her new confining life, we hear her calling for help, but what kind of help.

FATHOMS
Queer Music Video
SHA Remix follows pop artist Vegas Valentine as he faces off with his anxiety, depression, and rage in the form of giant monsters, played by drag artists and dancers.

FELT RIGHT THEN, FEELS RIGHT NOW 
Trans Animation
Felt Right Then, Feels Right Now depicts the childhood memory of Blyth trying on his father’s boxers at age eight, before leaving for Brownies still wearing them under his uniform. This memory is one of many that have contributed to Blyth understanding that his gender identity did not align with the sex he was assigned at birth, leading to the artist coming out as transgender at eighteen. The artist intends for this to be the first of many animations in a series titled Defining Moments of a Trans Experience, which will portray Blyth’s experiences pre and post transitioning from female to male that contribute to his continued understanding of the fluidity of gender.

The animation consists of 728 unique cels, shot at a rate of 24 frames per second. It was hand-drawn using fine-liners and coloring pencils, using a live-action video for reference of the artist’s eight-year-old sister trying on a similar pair of boxers to that which he remembers. The audio accompanying the animation is from the live-action reference and features the voices of Blyth’s parents, bringing a personal reality to the animation of this intimate moment.

THE FLAG 
Queer Experimental
A meditation on the creation of the pride flag.

Lioness 11-year-old Leo must deal with her depressive father, while secretly falling in love with her best friend Isabell. Slowly she realizes that she deserves to be free despite her father’s illness.

FAIRYOCIOUS   
Trans Drama
SIMON : “I want to be a girl, mommy.” Alma freezes. She doesn’t know how to react: from now on, her 8-year-old son wants to dress up like a fairy to go to school. She asks for help from her neighbors. Soon the whole building is debating on Simon’s choice for gender orientation.

XY    
Intersex Drama
Lísa is fifteen years old and lives with her mother in the suburbs in Iceland. She is different from girls her age, but she hasn’t reached puberty. She is isolated and has a big secret about herself. Regular uncomfortable medical visits and struggling with her self-image demonstrates her everyday life. She avoids her peers, especially the girls who she feels very disconnected from. One of these girls is her childhood friend Bryndís, which Lísa has pushed away over the years. When Bryndís is being bullied by some boys in their class Lísa decides to reach back out to her, the two reunite, leading her to tell Bryndís about her secret. Bryndís’s curiosity and bluntness leads Lísa to discover more secrets about her body and even darker about her medical history.

GOING STEADY 
Lesbian Fantasy Comedy Horror
A short film about a young woman’s wild imagination about the relationship she truly desires in 1950s Kansas.

ANNA       
Lesbian Drama
Obliged by her mother, Elsa must go to her grandmother to make her a touchy revelation, which will upset her.

I LIVED A LIFE WITH YOU   
Lesbian Drama
Chloe begins to work in a new plant of his hospital, hematological oncology. She is a nurse and at first, she is overcome by the situation until she meets Laura, a patient who will leave her mark.

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Land of Enchantment https://taospride.org/land-of-enchantment/ Mon, 28 Jun 2021 13:31:11 +0000 https://taospride.org/?p=19540 New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment, is a distinctive state in the Southwest. Initially a Spanish colony after conquistadors arrived in the 16th century, then a Mexican colony till the Mexican-American War of the 1840s, after which an American territory until New Mexico attained statehood in 1912, New Mexico still maintains a large native Spanish-speaking populace in addition to many Native American communities, providing a unique culture that definitely is distinguishable from that of other states. Spanish is the official second language. A visitor to New Mexico will also uncover outstanding natural scenery, a major fine arts scene focused on Santa Fe and Taos, great outdoor leisure options available, and a distinctive regional cuisine.

Gay Taos

This tiny town of 4,700 in is a long-time home to artists and free spirits and a popular vacation spot for GLBT visitors. About 90 minutes outside Santa Fe, Gay Taos offers great art galleries, top-notch restaurants and plenty of cultural and outdoor pleasures. A mix of Indian, Spanish and frontier themes, the town has been home – or home-away-from-home – to the likes of Ansel Adams, D.H. Lawrence, Georgia O’Keefe and Aldous Huxley. More recent residents have included Julia Roberts and Val Kilmer.

There are several distinctive art museums to visit in town—the Blumenschein Home & Museum and the The Hardwood Museum of Art – as well as the Millicent Rogers Museum, an adobe house filled with decorative arts and crafts. Outdoor activities include white-water rafting, golf, world-class skiing and hiking. Among the prime sites to visit are the Rio Grande River and Carson National Forest. While in town, you also can visit an ancient “living” Indian village that has remained unchanged for centuries – Taos Pueblo. Or you could just linger in one of the region’s spas.

There are plenty of overnight options, from hotels and inns to gay-friendly bed-and-breakfasts and guesthouses.

The Gay Scene in Taos

There is no central gay scene in Taos but there are many gay-friendly establishments and the town is a safe, accepting and welcoming destination.

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LGBTQIA+ New Mexico https://taospride.org/lgbtqia-new-mexico/ Mon, 28 Jun 2021 13:15:47 +0000 https://taospride.org/?p=19534 Original article by Carolyn Carlson at The Paper.

Dr. Jordan Biro Walters and Dr. PJ Sedillo are two college professors who researched and shared their writings about our unique New Mexican and Burqueño gender landscape.

Queer New Mexico

Biro Walters was born and raised in San Francisco and came to the University of New Mexico to do her dissertation, which ended up being on the history of gays and lesbians in New Mexico. Her paper titled Uncommon Knowledge—A History of Queer New Mexico 1920s-1980s is set to be a book soon. 

Walters said in an interview with The Paper., from her assistant history professor job at Wooster College in Ohio, that she became interested in the famed New Mexican artist R.C. Gorman while working on his papers as an incoming grad student. She learned that Gorman moved to San Francisco to come out before coming out to his family here. Gorman’s sister shared the coming-out letter the artist wrote to his father with her. This made Walters think about what it must be like to be LGBTQ in a rural environment. What she found was that New Mexico has had a long legacy of tolerance for LGBTQ people connected to the state’s rich artistic history and geography and artistic communities.

“The stark and beautiful landscape of the state has long inspired the diverse peoples of the region to make art and literature that evinced their sense of sociocultural distinctiveness,” Biro Walters said. “Two-Spirit pueblo potters and Navajo weavers created the earliest pieces of queer art. By the 1920s Taos’ and Santa Fe’s reputations as art colonies influenced the migration of white gay and lesbian artists and writers to forge networks among themselves—the rural desert landscape, land communes, bohemian art circles and university classrooms, for example.”

Walters interviewed more than 30 people for her dissertation/book, with all of them inspiring her in one way or another. One inspired her to become ordained to perform marriage ceremonies, which she did for her brother and his husband. She said one surprising fact she learned is that New Mexico has ranked as first in the nation for the highest concentration of Latinx same-sex couples and in the top 10 for same sex couples. “Clearly, members of the LGBTQ+ community continue to gravitate toward the state and have place-made fulfilling lives in the high desert,” Walters said.

Burque Pride

PJ Sedillo is a professor in the Special and Gifted Education Department at New Mexico Highlands University. Sedillo wrote the book, Solidarity Through Pride—40 years of GLBT Pride In Albuquerque 1976-2016. His book looks at how Albuquerque’s most colorful celebration came about, the struggles and the successes.

Sedillo says that Albuquerque’s first Pride march was the summer of 1976, seven years after the Stonewall Riots in Greenwich Village that launched the Gay Pride marches across the United States. After the march some of the protesters gathered at Morningside Park, which has since become the location of an opening night candlelight vigil.

Sedillo said, in these early days, there were about 100 people marching. Some spectators would throw eggs and hurl insults. By 1989, when Sedillo joined the marches, there were several hundred marching in the parade. He recalls hiding from the reporters covering the event for fear he would be fired from his teaching job. He worked hard to change school district policy for other educators. In the early 1990s, Sedillo took an active role in making sure the Burque Pride events were sustainable by working to form a nonprofit to carry it forward. He has since passed the responsibility for Albuquerque Pride and helps organize the Los Ranchos de Albuquerque annual Pride event. 

LGBTQs Just Wanna Have Safe Fun Too!

We also talked with Sedillo about where LGBTQs in Albuquerque may have hung out over the decades. Sedillo said the road to unity has been rocky at points. There were times he said where gay males and lesbians didn’t always get along with each other. But, he said, as time went by, Burque’s gay and lesbian community, along with all the Pride participants, became a unified force.

Some of the historic social gathering places where LGBTQ people felt comfortable over the decades include: in the way back days, the old yet elegant Franciscan and Alvarado Hotel bars and the Old Hilton hotels, the LimeLight, Adam’s Den, the Pulse, Heights Bar (which became the Social Club), the Downtown Newsroom, Crickets, the Rusty Cork, Foxes Booze and Cruise, Okie Joe’s, Pelican Bar, Climax Voyager, Nines (a.k.a. Albuquerque Mining Company), Champagne Taste, Exhale, Gulp and Graze, the Ranch and Cuffs (which morphed into Sidewinders), to name some of the most popular. Sedillo said that many other entertainment venues also welcomed LGBTQ folks, yet were not known as “gay or lesbian.” Sedillo said it appears the late 1980s early 1990s were when there was the highest number of bars known to be for LGBTQ patronage. These days the only remaining bars are Sidewinders and the Effex Dance and Nightclub. The city’s oldest established gay bar, the Albuquerque Social Club, is trying to fundraise to get itself back to good after the pandemic.

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Taos Farmers Market https://taospride.org/taos-farmers-market/ Mon, 28 Jun 2021 00:55:15 +0000 https://taospride.org/?p=19508 The PASEO Project sponsored a great event that focused on local Taos nonprofits. We were invited to share local community information about what we do and when our events will be. It was great to be out in the sun and with the fantastic people of Taos. The farmers market is a bustling place to pick up locally produced goods. If you stopped in to say hello, it was great to see you!

Chalk Rainbow
Chalk rainbow in front of information booth
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Giving Thanks https://taospride.org/giving-thanks/ Mon, 23 Nov 2020 15:41:39 +0000 http://taospride.org/?p=19467 We are coming to the end of the year. It has been a wild one. We have all been challenged by these weird times. I am not sure we are all getting through it as well as we would like.

I feel that it might be helpful to spend a few moments reflecting on the people and events that I am thankful for. First off, I want to thank the amazing friends that have put in their precious time to make Taos Pride happen over the last few years. Katy Ballard has worked tirelessly to pull out some of the best events we have ever had here in Taos. As president of our organization, her dedication to providing a place for the queer people of Taos is unmatched.

Taos Pride group photo from 2019.
A few of the great people who make Taos Pride happen. Thank you!

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Rocky Horror Picture Show 2019 https://taospride.org/rocky-horror-picture-show-2019/ Fri, 18 Oct 2019 01:18:55 +0000 http://taospride.org/?p=1482 The Rocky Horror Picture Show is back in town! A frightful fest of fierce Frank-n-furter finesse. Bands kick off the night. Chi Chi Les Fleurs, Wives With Knives, and Babelshack play their bloody hearts out. The cinema experience is at 9. The first 100 ticket purchasing zombies get their own “prop bag” filled with inappropriate party gear.

Chi Chi Les Fleurs
https://www.facebook.com/Chi-Chi-Les-Fleurs-975098652670108/

Wives With Knives
https://www.facebook.com/Taoswwk/

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