Even though Pride Month ends in June, it doesn’t mean communities throughout the Northland stop celebrated the LGTBQ+ community. Several towns and cities on the Iron Range have Pride events to help people feel safe and accepted. On Saturday August 10th, people throughout the Northland traveled to the 3rd annual Range Iron Pride event.

The Range Iron Pride brings people from all over the Northland together to express themselves. Paul Skrbec, is the Executive Director of Range Iron Pride. He says many people in the LGTBQ+ community, growing up in rural towns on the Iron Range often feel isolated. Range Iron Pride can help provide resources for friends and family members of people who are gay, lesbian, or transgender.

“We’ve got an opportunity to kind of get more visibility for people who are living up here, a part of the community. That’s really what Range Iron Pride is about,” Skrbec says. “One of the really remarkable things is we have a lot of parents that come here. A lot of parents have had children that have come out and have moved away because they maybe didn’t feel that it was safe. But parents are really left without resources and without people to talk to. And so that’s one of the great things about Pride is that some of our older generations are able to reach out and connect with people. And it’s really kind of very heartwarming to see some of those connections.”

Range Iron Pride can help people make connections with other LGTBQ+ organizations on the Iron Range. Karter Starling came up from Grand Rapids representing Itasca Pride. He says smaller rural pride events are incredibly important.

“I think that solidarity between our rural, Northern Pride, is really important. So we’re trying to just like get everybody strung together. So we’re talking about Bemidji Pride, we’ll be there too,” Starling said. “All the little ones in between. It’s just really important to support each other and also to create awareness.”

Starling thinks more pride events in rural communities on the Iron Range are needed. He says people shouldn’t have to drive far away from their homes to attend a pride event in order to feel accepted and supported for who they are.

“It’s really important that when we have the message, there is a queer community in Virginia on the Iron Range. Well, we’re everywhere. We’re also in Grand Rapids, we’re also in the Bemidji, we’re also in Duluth,” Starling said. “Because people just exist, we just are. I think that an environment like this where it’s celebratory and positive and full of love is a really great place to start.”

For more information about the 3rd annual Range Iron Pride you can read more here. Also for other stories happening in Virginia you can read more here.