2020 Issue 6 Nov/Dec - Focus Mid-South Magazine

Pride is a feeling.
You cannot cancel a feeling.
We had to find a way
to make that happen
at home for people.
— Rodley on cancelling the live Pride week
versus producing a virtual Pride Week
do, and why they need our
support. I personally learned
so much about our nonprofits
than I ever knew before.
What other events do y’all
have besides the annual
festival and parade?
For years, I’d been trying to
bring our community a 5k, the
first LGBTQ 5k in our region.
We went virtual and hit our
target goal for our first year,
which was great. We’re
bringing it back for 2021. Also,
we did the Drag N Drive this
year, it sold out almost ten
days before the event. We had
people begging for tickets and
we couldn’t give any more,
because the health
department was strict about
the number of cars. For next
year, we’ll just do two screens,
or even more. We tried to run
a poker tournament, but the
legalities were too hard to deal
with. We hope to do it in the
future.
What is Mid-South Pride
doing as an organization to
serve the Black and POC
LGBTQ community in
Memphis?
A lot of people don’t realize
we have Tri-State Black Pride.
They have more of an
education base, so their
platform is more hosting
things for people to learn.
We’ve teamed up with
Headliners Memphis, they did
a virtual pull-up event for
pride about sexual health. We
shared My Sistah’s House on
both Thursday and Saturday to
help share their message and
help with their funding. The
PAIGE [The Project of
Advancement in Gays’ Efforts]
is amazing, and we shared
their video on Thursday as
well. We hope to start teaming
up with more organizations in
the future and sharing what
they do.
I was raised in Los Angeles,
so I have a more forwardthinking
upbringing than most
people here in the south. Not
saying that my thinking was
better, but I was raised
differently. When I got here, I
saw the division. We went out
of our way this year to make
sure we had equal parts Black
to white, try to bring brown
and Asian into this as well, so
we can show diversity across
the board. I joined the board
eight years ago and there have
been an average of two Black
or POC board members ever
since then. We are all in.
Do you plan to keep having a
virtual component for the
future? How will pride look in
2021?
Even if we do have in-person
events in the next few years,
there will be people who can’t
be there because of health
issues, but they still want to
celebrate. Now that we’ve
learned how to do it virtually,
we’ll use aspects of that every
year. For 2021, we’re moving
Mid-South Pride to the first
weekend in June. We’re calling
it “Going Home to June.”
Hopefully it can be physical, if
not, it’ll be virtual.
Above, Rodley at the 2017 Pride Fest in Memphis. Below left,
Rodley with Pride staffer Matt Doyle, at the 2019 Pride Fest.
Rodley
©Kevin Reed Photography
Upper right group: For the virtual Pride this year, the Pride
volunteers prepared ‘Pride Packs’ for those watching the
streaming show. Pick ups. From left, Rodley, and board
members Kelly Carpenter, Matt Doyle, Jennifer Murry
Lower group: Board members Lexie Hatcher, Jennifer Murry,
Jr Stone, and Rodley, close the Pride Festival with a Grand
Marshals Sunday Brunch.
Rodley Rodley
GO! / NOV+DEC 2020 / focusmidsouth.com / Page 15