Follow up after "Pride" on the Mountain

The Pride event went forward on March 21 and fell flat, thanks to so many of you forwarding this petition and otherwise sharing the news that the mountain wasn’t a family-friendly place that day, despite rainbow flags and face painting.  Pride event attendees had the mountain largely to themselves with the exception of the race awards attendees, who retreated when their event ended. (Notice the empty mountain in the attached photo.)  Schweitzer's social media posts have received many responses decrying the appropriateness of the event with comments like "I see the mountain is not the only thing you groom."

Schweitzer management is receiving our petition signatures and comments, and also our personal emails.

As regards the non-response of Schweitzer to this petition and the dozens upon dozens of letters that were sent asking for an acknowledgement of community displeasure with this event, I understand that the SAFE organization was encouraged to hold “trainings” for Schweitzer management, which taught to not engage with anyone who disagrees with Pride Day, and painting all disagreement as homophobic.  This “training” is likely part of the reason we had no response from Schweitzer management – civil discourse was discouraged and name calling was encouraged.  It reminds me of the Bible verse 1 Peter 4:4:

“In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you.”

I also want to thank one of the drag performers who signed this petition twice as the 1623rd and 1624th signee and also left a comment, using his performer name, which is an innuendo referring to male genitalia.  I am thanking him because by trolling this petition, he proved what we have been telling Schweitzer management and they have ignored – Pride Day is not family-friendly, and it is about flaunting sexual proclivities in public spaces.  

I encourage us all to continue to apply pressure to Schweitzer and other businesses that promote this depravity -- let's discourage a repeat of this event and others like it.