2024 Pride Season Events!
Mike Doughty, June Newsletter ‘24
Instead of the Ally Tips & Self Care section, this month I wanted to bring attention to all of the Pride Season events and other events happening during the month of June that the LGBTQ Center will either be hosting or participating in!
Pride Prom-
We kicked off Pride Month with a blast with our Pride Prom! This is our second Prom post-COVID hosted at the YMCA here in Cortland. This year we had 41 students register from 14 towns covering 5 counties! We have some pictures in the newsletter, but a huge thank you to our volunteers and partners who helped put the event together, and to the students who came out to enjoy the first day of Pride Month! Those of you who were at the Prom can expect the pictures from our photographer in about a week or so.
Pride Workshops-
This year the LGBTQ Center is also hosting a series of community-led workshops in the second half of the month. Last year, we had workshops during our Pride Festival but wanted to let the workshops have their own space this time around. We have FIVE workshops to pick from, with a wide range of topics. Some will be available over zoom as well as in person, so if traveling is a barrier for you, take a look at the registration form and see if you are able to Zoom in! We are also looking to record the workshops for folks to watch in the future! Register here for the workshops, and take note that some have limited space or require registration.
Food For Thought-
In a similar vein as the workshops, the Center’s Sexual Health Educator, Regina Cuddeback, will be hosting a Food For Thought on Wednesday June 26th from 12:30 - 2pm. Food For Thought is a lunch and learn series from the Mental Health Association, and this month Regina will be presenting Talks Saves Lives: An Introduction to Suicide Prevention in the LGBTQ Community at Access to Independence (ATI) at 26 North Main Street in Cortland. Talks Saves Lives is a suicide prevention training from the American Foundation of Suicide Prevention (AFSP), so come get some food and register quick, as in-person seats are limited! You can also register to watch the training over Zoom if you are not able to make it in person. Register for Food For Thought here!
SafeTALK-
Our partners at the Rural Health Institute are working with Tiffany Bloss from the Suicide Prevention and Crisis Services of Tompkins County for a SafeTALK training on Friday June 28th from 5:30-8:30pm at the Port Watson Mini Conference Center here in Cortland. SafeTALK is another suicide prevention training program to help recognize thoughts of suicide and connect people to first aid resources. Register here for SafeTALK, and read more about the training to see if it’s a right fit for you!
Community Events-
The Center will be tabling at two upcoming events here in Cortland. We’ll be at the Empire State Senior Games Wellness Fair on Thursday June 13th at SUNY Cortland’s Park Center Ice Arena from 9am to 3pm. Then on Saturday, June 15th we’ll be at Courthouse Park for the Celebrate Juneteenth festival hosted by the Cortland County Community of Color (C4) from 12pm to 3pm. If you are at either event, come say hello, learn more about what the Center offers, and get a pride flag or button!
Monthly Events-
The Center will be holding our regular monthly events-
GEAR (Trans, Nonbinary, or gender-questioning adults 18+) - Thursday June 6th from 6-7pm. I will be doing tarot readings this month! GEAR in July will be a day early on Wednesday, July 3rd due to the holiday!
Q-munity WIP (Community Craft Night, open to anyone 13+) – Thursday, June 13th from 5:30-8pm.
Out of the Box (Community Board Game Night, open to anyone 10+) – Friday, June 21st from 4-7pm.
Wavelengths (LGBTQ+ or questioning adults 18+) – Thursday June 27th from 6-7pm. Weather pending, we’ll meet at the Frosty Caboose at 107 Homer Ave in Cortland to enjoy the summer weather with some hot dogs and ice cream!
Cortland Pride Festival 2024-
Now the big event! On Saturday, July 13th from 10am to 2pm we will be at Courthouse Park here in Cortland for our Second Annual Cortland Pride Festival! We will have 40+ agencies and vendors showing off what services they offer or items to sell, a drag show, games, and more! We are looking to continue to grow our Pride Festival year and year and can’t wait to see everyone for our event and to see how we can grow year after year.
If you work for an agency that would want to have a space at Pride, or are a vendor (no alcohol or THC products!) and want to bring some of your wares, you can register until June 14th. I want to fill up as much of the park as I can this year! If you are interested, check out our Linktree: linktr.ee/cortlandlgbtq for the registration form link or email myself, Mike, at mdoughty@familycs.org.