Springfield hosts Pridefest over the weekend

Posted on May 22, 2023
Springfield’s Pridefest Saturday was something for all ages. (Dave Dahl/WJBC)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – At downtown Springfield’s Pridefest Saturday, there were as many stories as there were people.

Scott March, a teacher at Southeast High School in Springfield, said starting and sponsoring a Gay Straight Alliance was the correct thing to do. “My big brother, who is gay, was also a Southeast Spartan, and they didn’t have a club like that for him, or for my other gay friends.”

With the SIU School of Medicine chapter of the Gay Lesbian Medical Association, Caleb Lay said a focus on, as he put it, “queer health issues,” includes sexually transmitted infections and mental health problems. “Right now there is a kind of negative (attitude in state legislatures) on LGBTQ people,” though Lay – speaking two blocks from the statehouse –  added Illinois is a kind of “safe harbor.”

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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