2010 F-M Pride

By Joshua A. Boschee
Staff Writer

Anthropologist Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Her words couldn’t be truer when we look at how much the face of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and allied (LGBTQA) community has changed in Fargo-Moorhead. This year’s Pride celebration marks 10 years of progress since the founding of the Pride Collective & Community Center (PCCC) and the organization planning F-M Pride.

While this is an important milestone in our community’s history, we cannot forget about the work and progress that occurred prior to PCCC or where our community will be 10 years from now. Prior to the PCCC’s existence, there were a number of individuals and entities working to create a more inclusive Fargo-Moorhead and to celebrate the LGBTQA community.

For a number of years a group of individuals would gather on a regular basis at local parks or in a backyard to network, support each other and celebrate. My Place was the first gay bar in Fargo, which was resilient, hosting dances and drag shows, as well as a place for many people to meet and be themselves. The bar was even visited by Jon Lindgren the night he was elected Mayor of Fargo.

Kurt Keifer and Mark Amon opened the I-Beam in Moorhead and hosted Pride celebrations in the late 90s at the bar. The Beam continues to be a staple of the F-M LGBT community, hosting dances, drag shows, Pride events and the annual Rainbow Christmas.

The Professional Issues Conference served as a professional networking conference that discussed the needs of serving the LGBTQ community. LGBT-identified professionals, students and community members, in collaboration with allies, facilitated workshops for employers, social workers, educators and health care professionals.

Many individuals opened up their homes to small gatherings for book clubs, dinner groups and game nights to provide social opportunities for the LGBTQA community.

Area colleges and universities began to provide support to LGBTQA students through the development of Safe Zone training programs, educational programming and student organizations.

According to conversations and e-mail discussions that I have had with some of the first PCCC Board members, Dr. Christine Smith, a psychology professor at Moorhead State University, was the impetus for the creation of the Pride Collective & Community Center. She recruited other interested community members at the Professional Issues Conference and then hosted some initial community meetings in the spring of 2000.

In the meantime, Dr. Smith and Dr. Robert (Bob) Uebel, a German professor at North Dakota State University made arrangements with the People Escaping Poverty Project (PEPP) to serve as the new group’s fiscal agent so that they could apply for grants and receive donations.

In October of 2000, the PCCC opened its doors to the world in a small office leased in the PEPP building in Moorhead. Based on the first recorded minutes of a PCCC Board meeting, the initial Board was comprised of seven community members, including two college students. The founding mission of the PCCC, which continues today, is “To create a sense of community and promote education and social activities aimed at furthering the social, emotional, and physical well-being and development of the GLBT community in the Red River Valley.”

The PCCC began to develop an extensive book and video library built from donations of local community members and strangers from throughout the United States. A computer was donated to allow people an opportunity to access the internet during office hours.

More importantly, the PCCC served as a gathering space for individuals and organizations including Tri-State Transgender, Rainbow Recovery, the Tri-College Ten Percent Society and many informal coffee and card groups.

PCCC Board members and volunteers planned their first Pride, supported the Professional Issues Conference, provided guidance to queer and questioning youth, identified partners in the faith community and provided educational session to local employers and the community at large.

The PCCC played an integral part in a number of local policy and state legislative activities, most notably in attempting to defeat the 2004 ballot initiative that was successful in defining marriage as being between one man and one woman and during the 2009 Legislative session’s introduction of Senate Bill 2278 that would have amended the North Dakota Human Rights Act and Fair Housing Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected from discrimination in workplace, housing and public accommodations.

In the spring of 2009, the PCCC Board took a leap of faith and moved to an office space on Roberts Street and Second Avenue in downtown Fargo. With great appreciation for the support that PEPP had provided the PCCC, the Board decided it was time to take the next step and become more independent.

After a year in the downtown location, the PCCC Board found an opportunity to move to its current location in the Townsite Building in South Moorhead. The Townsite space was renovated to the Board’s requests and offered additional opportunities to serve as a more accessible and visible community center.

Over the past few years, the PCCC has provided support for “grassroots” organized groups such as the People of Faith Alliance, Family Fun Night, men’s coffee group and the Female and Female Identified Wrenching at the FM Community Bicycle Workshop.

In addition to these groups, the PCCC has collaborated with Theatre B, the Fargo Theatre, NDSU, MSUM, Concordia, M State (MSCTC), the F-M LGBT Film Festival and Minnkota Health Project.

As the current Board settles into the new space in Moorhead, we are looking to be more proactive in meeting the needs of the community. In early June of this year, we completed a one-year strategic plan to focus us on more specific goals so that we can move into a community-developed long term strategic plan that will guide the Board in how it interacts with the community as well as what it works to accomplish.

The one-year plan identifies four areas of focus; Board organization, volunteer capacity, fundraising and community assessment. Each of these areas will allow us to be more visible to the community by engaging the community in a proactive and goal-focused manner.

Some recent results of the one-year plan and discussion with community members include a recent grant proposal submitted to obtain funding to assist with a formal, scientific-community assessment and facilitation of a community-developed three-year plan, the ongoing development of a volunteer and donor recruitment program, and increased opportunities to hear from community members at our monthly Board meetings or through other means of communication.

As we celebrate 10 years, I encourage you to reflect on the progress that has been made along with the challenges we still face. What role have you played to change the world? What resources do you need to continue to make positive change? How can the Pride Collective & Community Center assist you in the next 10 years?

Thank you to the Pride Collective & Community Center’s founding visionaries, the past, present and future Board members and all the amazing volunteers, donors, community partners and sponsors who have made the PCCC an integral part of the Fargo-Moorhead community.

Here’s to another 10 years of progress in making Fargo-Moorhead a great place to live, work, learn and play for all people!

Questions and comments: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)