Photo by Deb Gau Sue Morton welcomed area residents to Marshall’s first LGBTQ+ Pride celebration on Sunday afternoon.

MARSHALL — Marshall’s first Pride celebration was a few different things at once. It was a community get-together, and a celebration of identity. But it was also an opportunity to speak out in support of the LGBTQ+ community.

“We are all born with inherent worth and dignity,” guest speaker Erin Maye Quade told area residents on Sunday. She encouraged residents to celebrate who they are, but also to remember that there’s still work to do for LGBTQ rights.

Around 150 people gathered at Independence Park in Marshall on Sunday for the city’s first ever LGBTQ+ Pride celebration. While some of the speeches were cut short by a sudden rain shower that soaked the park, area residents still enjoyed a potluck, all-ages games, and a supportive environment for LGBTQ community members and allies.

“Pride has always been about community and acceptance, and finding your place,” said Julie Walker, director of the Southwest Minnesota State University LGBTQ+ Center. The LGBTQ+ Center and Marshall-Buffalo Ridge PFLAG were among the sponsors that helped organize the Pride celebration.

Sunday’s event included guests like Marshall Mayor Bob Byrnes and Quade, a former Minnesota state legislator and advocacy director at Gender Justice.

“It’s my honor to be here,” Byrnes said. When Marshall took “Cultivating the Best In Us” as the theme of city branding, it also committed to values like inclusivity, Byrnes said. The “us” part of the motto “does mean all of us,” he said.

Quade said being visible without shame is a core part of Pride.

“Pride started as a protest against injustice,” she said. It was rooted in the 1969 uprising after a police raid at the Stonewall Inn in New York City. While there is still more work to be done, Minnesota has made progress toward protecting the human rights of LGBTQ people, she said.

Marshall Pride organizers said even on a local level, it has taken a lot of work to make progress toward acceptance and inclusion for the LGBTQ+ community. They recognized Char Hmurovich, one of the co-founders of Buffalo Ridge PFLAG, as the first grand marshal of Marshall Pride. Hmurovich died this spring, but she left a legacy of advocacy, Sue Morton said.

“She was speaking about tough issues long before anyone felt comfortable doing that,” Morton said. It helped pave the way for events like Sunday’s Pride celebration. “We never could have done this 20 years ago in Marshall,” Morton said.

The people gathered at Marshall Pride included families and LGBTQ youths. One group of teens said having a local Pride celebration was good because they could be themselves — and that can be hard to do when you live in a conservative community, they said.

Most of the time, “We don’t get to do this,” one teen said.

SMSU student Nijie Nauden and recent graduate Norah King said it was good to see people have a chance to come together for Pride in Marshall. It seemed especially important after recent controversy over an LGBTQ+ pride flag displayed at Marshall Middle School, King said.

“Community and support is what youth really need,” King said.

Event organizers encouraged people to attend Marshall-Buffalo Ridge PFLAG’s next meeting on July 14 at the Marshall Adult Community Center, to give feedback and help plan for future Pride events.