Hey there Fremont County and the Wind River Reservation! All of us at Wind River Pride are proclaiming the month of June 2024 as PRIDE MONTH, CELEBRATING OUR TWO SPIRIT, LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER, QUEER, INTERSEX, ASEXUAL+ COMMUNITY.

The city of Lander has been writing a June Pride Proclamation throughout the years. However, it's usually super watered down. This year, the mayor didn't even respond to our email to talk about this year's proclamation. We are choosing to not fret though! This just means it's finally time to take matters into our own hands. Community celebration and safety start from within. (And WRP also exists outside of Lander)! So we are leading the efforts ourselves to proclaim how we can exist openly in rural Wyoming. 

With that... this isn't a petition per se, as we have already proclaimed it ourselves :) But if you do want to sign in for support, we'd love to see your name! We believe in the power of community. We keep each other safe. 

Here is OUR Wind River Pride June Pride Proclamation

The 11th annual Wind River Pride (WRP) June Pride Celebrations will be held throughout the month of June to support people of Wind River Reservation and Fremont County. For the following reasons WE PROCLAIM June as PRIDE MONTH, CELEBRATING OUR TWO SPIRIT, LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER, QUEER, INTERSEX, ASEXUAL+ COMMUNITY.

1. WRP hosts advocacy, educational, and celebratory events throughout the year to uplift an intersectional approach to liberation that centers Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) and Two Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex and Asexual + (2SLGBTQIA+) people. WRP June Pride Celebrations are the most visible event in Fremont County for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, their friends, and their families to express Pride in who they are and who they love.
2. The boundaries of Fremont County and the Wind River Reservation were made from the colonial taking of lands. The taking of lands across what many Indigenous people refer to as Turtle Island– commonly today known as the United States– has resulted in practices, standards, and governance that have deeply harmed BIPOC, 2SLGBTQIA+ people, and really, every living thing. WRP hopes that all people can engage in repair and understanding to build capacity to mutually correct for a vibrant, loving, and inclusive society.
3. The WRP community and allies/accomplices/comrades are dedicated to ensuring that Wyoming’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community has a safe and inclusive environment to celebrate and honor their sexual orientations and gender identities and invite the broader community into our network of love and growth.
4. The Wyoming’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community faces increased attacks on our physical safety and mental health. Locally, two very public oppositional actions occurred in the past year. First, during the WRP June 2023 Pride, the celebratory Drag Show a homophobic, transphobic, and white supremacist organization, the Patriot Front, tactically intruded upon the public space. There were fifteen protesters wearing white masks, holding signs and banners with hate speech, and carrying baseball bats while shouting hate with a bullhorn; and,
5. Secondly, on March 23, 2024, during a WRP fundraising and celebratory drag show, people showed up in opposition to protest and threaten the welcoming space. 50+ protesters came indoors and on the outside sidewalk to sing religious hymns and engage in anti-2SLGBTQIA+ prayer.
6. Despite consistent reminders of transphobic and homophobic hate that is supported by the governing structures on the lands called Wyoming and the United States, WRP continues to educate the broader community while advocating and celebrating its 2SLGBTQIA+ Wyomingites. 

THEREFORE, WRP and all the signatories of this proclamation , do hereby proclaim the month of June 2024 as PRIDE MONTH, CELEBRATING OUR TWO SPIRIT, LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, TRANSGENDER, QUEER, INTERSEX, ASEXUAL+ COMMUNITY  in Fremont County and the Wind River Reservation (and congratulate the 11th Annual Wind River Pride Celebrations.)