The second Friday of every month always attracts a crowd for the LoDa ArtWalk in Mobile, but the latest event took on additional meaning for the LGBTQ+ community.
The monthly art event often features live music and several vendors including arts centers and galleries, a book shop, Mardi Gras store and photography studio. Every ArtWalk is a different theme each month from National Tattoo Day to Disney to fashion.
However, June’s ArtWalk recognizes Pride Month, and it has for the last three years. Champagne Munroe is a Black drag queen based in the Port City and was one of several performers for this month’s ArtWalk in the Lower Dauphin Arts District. She said the Pride-themed ArtWalk is an important way to amplify Alabama’s queer community.
“There are queer people here in Alabama,” she said. “There are queer people in red states and conservative areas. We are living our truth and a lot of us don’t hide it. So, we’re not going to hide it… Queer people have always been around and we’re not going anywhere. Even if you do enact laws to try and shut us out, we’re still here, and we’re never going away.”
This June’s ArtWalk is more relevant than ever for some Alabamians since recent legislative attempts to restrict Alabama’s LGBTQ+ community. Alabama is one of several states in the nation that has enacted anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in 2023. The ACLU reported Alabama advanced six bills of this kind during this year’s legislative session, and one was signed into law late last month. That measure, House Bill 261, bans transgender collegiate athletes from sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Munroe said this month’s Pride walk is a symbol of perseverance.
“I feel like the stereotype is that we here in Alabama all we do is kind of spit and chew,” she said. “With something such as Pride Walk, even if it’s just here in Mobile, it does show that there are people here that do more than that.”
Munroe also does drag at B-Bob’s Downtown, one of only three gay bars and nightclubs in downtown Mobile. That is where we also find bartender Conner Dewees, who said ArtWalk is about challenging the legislation and raising awareness.
“To be honest, I think this ArtWalk means a lot more than any other ArtWalk because of what’s going on in the country right now with all the trans bills and all the ‘drag is crime’ kind of thing,” he said. “These big events like this show the public of how important it is for us to be who we are and how important it is to be accepting to others.”
This event also means something personal to Dewees. Growing up, he said he never had the chance to attend Pride events. In the rural Southeast, it can often be difficult finding vibrant queer communities. Dewees said he was happy to find one in the Port City.
“I grew up in a small, small town of like 500 people. I only graduated with like 50 people in my class,” he said. “It wasn’t common to be gay. I did move here from Louisiana to start a new life for myself.”
While downtown Mobile was filled with happy faces, not everyone was cheerful during this month’s ArtWalk for Pride Month. A small group of protesters prayed at the Cathedral-Basilica facing Cathedral Square, and a handful of residents visited the Mobile City Council to issue their own complaints. Residents called for the removal of drag performers and the protection of Alabama children. Dewees said he believes these demonstrations result from a lack of education.
“They don’t know what’s actually going on,” he said. “They don’t know what we’re about and what we do. Whoever is telling them these things [is] just putting lies in their minds, saying things like, ‘We’re trying to make your kids gay, or we’re trying to do this to you.’ No, we’re not. We’re just trying to show how we are as people. We’re not trying to force anything on y’all.”
Other members of the LGBTQ+ crowd at the ArtWalk echoed Dewees’ criticisms. Dr. Heidi Lyn is an associate professor and psychology chair at the University of South Alabama in Mobile. She was in attendance with her partner and said some things are better left unsaid.
“You can have your opinions, but you don’t have to share them,” she said. “Opinions are not necessarily facts. Facts are things that you can act upon. Don’t act on opinions. They’re not for everybody. Mine, yours, everybody else’s. If they don’t like it, turn away. Go someplace else.”
For Dr. Lyn and many other queer Alabamians, some of these denouncers are also family members.
“It’s been a very frustrating year,” she said. “I have a lot of family who are on the wrong side of the political spectrum. I’ve had many, many conversations with them about it. I’ve been trying to share more information.”
Despite the backlash, there are many supports who are ready to lift up the queer community. Laura, who did not wish to give her last name, said she has attended Pride events in Mobile before, and she calls herself an ally. Allies are not members of the LGBTQ+ community but strongly support its endeavors. Laura is also a mother and a local middle school teacher, offering what she calls a safe space for out and questioning teens.
“I’ve been to the June ArtWalk for a couple of years now, and I don’t understand why parents seem so scared,” she said. “Oftentimes, fear comes from the unknown. I feel like a lot of people don’t actually research or know what they’re so scared of.”
Laura said some parents are scared of what they might not understand, and many will leave their children at home. However, she said it is OK to bring children to Pride events such as the LoDa ArtWalk. In fact, her daughter was with her Friday night.
“This is not the scandalous, stripping, crazy event that some parents think it is,” she said. “It’s dressing up. It’s having fun. It’s no different than taking your kid to any kind of performance show.”
Laura said parents should consider taking the time to visit these celebrations because it shows their children that they can be whoever they are destined to become.
“My child is very young,” she said. “We don’t know who she will become, but to show your child that you do love and accept others, no matter who they are, shows your child that they can be who they are supposed to be.”
However, other parents are not as optimistic as Laura this Pride. Dr. Lyn, who works at the University of South Alabama, is also a parent but decided not to bring her children. With the recent anti-queer legislation, many Alabamians are unsure of how safe these events may be. For some parents like Dr. Lyn, it is not the drag performers keeping their children at home. It is the possible protests.
“We left our kids at home because we are unclear about the safety of Pride events at this point, which is heartbreaking and sad,” she said. “Pride events are supposed to be the place where we come to find our people and find a safe place for ourselves.”
The concern goes beyond Alabama’s children. Older members of the LGBTQ+ community said they are worried Alabama is moving backwards with how it perceives and protects queer residents. Dr. Lyn said though the younger generations are more likely to be out and proud, there has been increasing resistance in recent years.
“We came up in the [1980s]. It was gay-bashing central when we were coming up,” she said. “To see so many kids coming up out and proud from the moment and even in the Deep South, feeling like that is something they can do. We have a lot of students… but they’re uncomfortable. They’re unhappy. They’re being targeted again. They’re being demonized again, and it is heartbreaking to see that we had come so far and now we’re completely being dragged back.”
Dr. Lyn said this resistance has adapted to make everyday Americans’ lives unlivable.
“To see the AIDS epidemic take over and all of the gay-bashing in the 90s, and then finally feeling like, ‘Oh my god, things are changing.’ There was this giant turnover. They can’t go after us anymore because most of the population has accepted us. Now, they have to find something that the population still isn’t comfortable with, and it’s trans kids. It’s heartbreaking.”
However, not all hope is lost. Many visitors’ takeaway from this year’s Pride-themed ArtWalk is that the LGBTQ+ community is not going anywhere. One of these visitors was Melodia. They are asexual and nonbinary. Asexuality is a term used to describe individuals who experience little to no sexual attraction toward people of any gender. People who are nonbinary identify with more than one gender, no gender or have a fluid gender identity. Melodia said they believe this event is still a great opportunity for Alabamians to be who they really are.
“There’s no real point in criticizing [ArtWalk] because being gay or anything is not really a choice,” they said. “It’s what you are. You’re born with it, and there are some people who try to deny it but there’s no real point. It’s just who you are and that’s OK. Whether or not they’re going to be with a drag performer, they’re going to find out, [and] whether or not they choose to accept themselves is up to them.”
Melodia said though legislation and protestors lambast Alabama’s queer community, events like LoDa ArtWalk show that LGBTQ+ residents are not leaving, and they are proud to celebrate Pride.
“A Pride in a rural area like a southern area is really important because, from what I’ve been told, Mobile is more progressive compared to other places in Alabama,” they said. “I feel like if it can start somewhere, it should happen in a place where it’s well-known. Then it can kind of spread because everybody should be able to be happy in their own skin and be able to love the people they love.”
More information on the LoDa ArtWalk can be found on the Mobile Arts Council’s website at www.mobilearts.org. The council is also available on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at Mobile Arts Council.
