OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — The second June hit, Pride celebrations began in Oshkosh.
Gibson Social Club threw a party to honor its LGBTQIA+ employees and community members on Thursday evening.
The venue's event director, Kristin Kane Sonnleitner, said it was exciting to be able to celebrate her city's diversity.
“We want the community as a whole to know that these are safe, welcoming places to attend. But we also want our employees to know that we celebrate them and, you know, cherish all of the hard work that they put into making our businesses much more vibrant and exciting and inclusive.”
The party offered rainbow-themed cocktails, free face painting and booths promoting companies that are Pride-positive.
Roller derby skater Alex Blackstone came to support on behalf of the Fox Cities Roller Derby. She said Pride is a big deal for their team.
“As a part of roller derby, we one: always like to be out in our community trying to make a difference where we can, and two: we have always been supportive of pride and really just want to make that support known and make sure that queer people in the community know that roller derby is not only a safe space for them — for us — but [also] a really welcoming space.”
Another company present at the celebration was Rugged Rainbow. Greyson Seizert co-owns the company with his wife, and he said he loves that his company is able to be an outlet for himself as well as his patrons.
“I've always liked art, and it's always been an outlet for me. And it's really fun to just like create fun little stuff to like, see other people's faces light up when, you know, they see a pride sticker that has their identity on it, or you know, a saying that they really like."
A portion of the proceeds from the event went to Diverse and Resilient, an organization devoted to providing anti-violence resources to the LGBTQIA+ community.
