During Monday night’s Fishers City Council session, 5 people spoke out against the Fishers Pride event and the drag show.  Those 5 objected to the presence of children at the drag show.

Stephanie Hunt, Fishers Pride President, defended the event.

“Parents who love their children, and embrace them just as they are, deserve a community that also loves and includes their children as they are,” said Hunt in a written statement. “They deserve leaders who acknowledge that, though they may not understand other’s lifestyles, there is no reason to fear or hate them. The children deserve to be able to attend a public event, held out in the open because there was nothing to hide, and not be ridiculed by adults who unfairly judge them out of hate and fear.”

You can read Ms. Hunt’s entire statement below.

Fishers PRIDE held its first Fishers PRIDE Fest this weekend. We had approximately 1200 attendees, 50 vendors, and our silent auction brought in over $3200. The best part of our event wasn’t any of those statistics though. The BEST part was seeing people, adults and children, being free to live as their authentic selves without fear of hate or bullying. Fishers One now wants to spin an event based on love and inclusion into something that scares people. They are determined to bully their way into positions of power in this community by controlling its people with fear.

I invited every single city council member and Mayor Fadness to our event. No one cared to show up to see for themselves what a PRIDE festival is all about or how it makes their constituents feel. Mayor Fadness told me in a recent meeting that even though a part of the community voted him in, he must fairly represent the ENTIRE community. A small contingent of Fishers cannot control every single narrative, no matter how much money they have to give to politicians.

The attacks on Sarah Parks-Reese, a school board member with HSE, are immature and abusive. Sarah has been a fully inclusive and affirming board member, and her presence at our event was not surprising or scandalous. She cares deeply for the students of HSE; their mental health and well being have driven many of the reasons she has voted for or against agenda items. With September being Suicide Prevention month, she is spending her time building others up and embracing their unique qualities without judgement. Rather than attacking children on social media, she showed up and embraced them. THAT is a quality we need in our leaders.

Parents who love their children, and embrace them just as they are, deserve a community that also loves and includes their children as they are. They deserve leaders who acknowledge that, though they may not understand other’s lifestyles, there is no reason to fear or hate them. The children deserve to be able to attend a public event, held out in the open because there was nothing to hide, and not be ridiculed by adults who unfairly judge them out of hate and fear.

We had a BEAUTIFUL day with a BEAUTIFUL event that left our LGBTQIA+ family and friends feeling loved and included. Try as they might, Fishers One will not take that away from our Fishers community. Fishers PRIDE stands by our mission, and in the end… Love ALWAYS Wins.