A second line in June!
That's how the Mobile Artwalk kicked off Friday night, as the monthly event extended a special invitation to members of mobile's LGBTQ community.
Hundreds took part in the walk through downtown, as family, friends and supporters joined in, either in the walk itself, or watching on the sidelines.
The final destination?
Cathedral Square, where the walk ended with a stage and drag show, sponsored by a local LGBTIQ organization.
A few weeks ago some members of Mobile's LGBTQ community wondered Friday night’s drag show in the park would even happen, or if someone would go to jail for doing it. Alabama's proposed bill to make drag performances in public obscene didn't get out of committee. But other bills targeting transgender healthcare did, and passed... as did other laws across the country negatively affecting LGBTQ Americans.
It put an edge on Friday night’s Pride themed Loda Artwalk.
The effect?
"It's asking us who we are, and I think Mobile is showing us that we stand for inclusion..." says Corey Harvard. He's the executive director of Prism United, an LGBTQ support group described as providing peer support for young people and resources for their families.
"I think it's certainly true we feel the impact of the state legislatures actions. But what I'm seeing in the communities rallying. I'm seeing more support for Mobile's LGBTQ community than I've ever seen before."
"Queer people have existed, we've always been around. We're not going anywhere," Says Hana Blalack . She is a lesbian and a social worker in Mobile. She says the organized opposition can be discouraging.
"But if anything I think it continues to push us forward and how much we have to continue to advocate for ourselves, how much we continue to, or need to continue to demand the space we've taken up and we continue to take up."
What kind of space?
"Like going to the grocery store with our partners, or buying houses together or buying cars together... you know, whatever that looks like. Opening bank accounts... there's just so much ore validation we need."
But often that validation runs into confrontation.
It did this week at city council, where several people spoke out against tonight's City Sponsored Artwalk for Pride.
But Michael Tyner, one of the city's LGBTQ liaisons, believes the Pride themed event carries no more weight than other themed Artwalks that highlights other cultures in Mobile.
"This is diversity well beyond LGBTQ,” he says. “Artwalk is giving us an opportunity, the entire city of Mobile and all of the people of Mobile, making it One Mobile."