Even as more than a thousand Bendites came together to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community in Drake Park on Saturday, others weren’t as happy about promoting inclusivity.

No matter. Bend’s Pride participants formed their own line in the sand, using brightly colored rainbow flags and themselves to shield 2024 Bend Pride revelers from protesters who told them they were going to hell.

“Do you need more flags?” asked two Central Oregon Community College students as the line formed.

“We could always use more flags,” said Tracy Skittle, who had seen what was happening and volunteered to help.

Most of the Pride participants ignored the protestors. Instead, they browsed booths full of art, watched performances by enthusiastic drag queens, listened to music and enjoyed the pleasant spring day by sipping beer on the grass.

Most of the counter-protestors forming the line of flags didn’t know each other.

They weren’t part of the event’s organizers — The Bend Pride Coalition — nor were they there to represent any other LGBTQ+ advocacy group.

They were all simply nearby when the small group of protestors started waving signs with religious messages, anti-abortion slogans and bloody photos and decided to jump in, said Skittle.

Before long, the shouts of the two groups melded together, though the protesters weren’t deterred by the queer community’s show of force.

“In this nation, we have embraced all kinds of wickedness, including the abomination of sodomy, homosexuality and lesbianism,” said Nicholas Heald, one of the protestors who was quickly being obscured by a wall of rainbow flags. “This lifestyle killed my uncle. He died blind on his deathbed of AIDS, and if he didn’t repent, he went to hell.”

A rainbow crosswalk with black rubber stripes

There was evidence of discord in Bend that went beyond just the protests in Drake Park Saturday.

To show solidarity with the event, the city of Bend painted a rainbow crosswalk along NW Riverside Boulevard on Friday. But someone had defaced it with tire skid marks within a few hours.

“The vandalism? It’s not surprising,” said Jordan Isaacson, vice president of Bend Pride Coalition. “I have so much admiration for our city in tackling that (crosswalk) … I love hearing that the city is behind us and keeping it going. It’s not something that’s just gonna go away, right?”

Mayor Melanie Kebler was also not surprised by the tire marks on the rainbow crosswalk. She said she’s pushed for a semi-permanent display of Pride for years and the celebration Saturday was the perfect opportunity to get everyone involved.

But as mayor, she knows her stance on LGBTQ+ rights won’t be accepted by everyone.

“It just shows we still have work to do in the community to understand why it’s important to have this visibility for our queer community. We will take care of (this crosswalk) just like we would any other,” Kebler said. “If people want to help us — there were some complaints online (that) we spent taxpayer dollars on this — you can help us by not doing that so we don’t have to keep putting paint down.”

As of right now, the crosswalk isn’t permanent, but Kebler envisions changing that. All it would take is a decision from the city manger to keep it going, she said.

Growing solidarity

Despite the discord, Isaacson said Bend Pride Coalition is encouraged by how the event grows each year and that they would even characterize this year’s protester presence as “a little small.”

“The most important detail to me, is that year after year, we are getting more and more support for the right side of this conversation, for equal rights and human dignity,” Isaacson said. “If you don’t feel the support now, as a queer person, you’re going to. It’s coming.”

Evidence for growing support was all around Drake Park. There were families, young adults, seniors and public officials who had all come to celebrate the occasion.

Nowhere else was this solidarity more evident than the counter protestors, who, by 2 p.m. had formed an entire circle around two groups of protesters.

“I want people to be able to enjoy pride,” said James Petersen, as he held a rainbow flag. “I just feel like that would have made me feel very unsafe, especially as a kid coming to my first Pride. I just want them to all know that they’re loved. This is not this is not how it works.”