MANDEVILLE, La. — History was made Saturday, as hundreds of people decked out in rainbows marched down the Mandeville lakefront in on-and-off-again storms. It was the first time there had ever been a Pride parade on the Northshore, and organizers say it was both a long-overdue gathering and a symbol of resistance against increasingly anti-LGBTQ policies.
The parade began at Lakeshore Drive and Jackson Avenue and traveled west along the lakefront. “Just to see the people line up in the rain and they’re yelling and they’re celebrating,” said Stephanie Williams, representing the Gulf South LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce in the parade. “Honestly it just brings tears to your eyes.”
Queer Northshore organized the parade. The group was founded in 2022 by Mel Manuel and Jeremy J.F. Thompson, and during Carnival became the “first LGBTQ krewe to march on the Northshore,” according to Thompson.
They said a full-fledged Pride parade was always in their plans. “The best way to be visible is with a parade, right? And that’s a very ‘Louisiana’ way to be visible,” said Manuel.
Nearly everyone WWL Louisiana spoke to at the parade grew up on the Northshore. Many said they experienced discrimination or knew others who had. The parade was intended, in part, as a powerful symbol that the environment can change. “I think we’re in a generation now that we’re very proud of who we are and we’re not gonna back down anymore,” said Williams.
That’s especially true for young LGBTQ people, many of whom do not have family support and cannot transport themselves to out-of-town Pride events where they may find solidarity. “Looking around and seeing these people, their faces are lit up,” said Niah Cavalier, “you don’t know what happens when they go home but in the moment they can be themselves.”
Organizers also say the parade is a symbol of opposition to several bills passed by the legislature this year affecting LGBTQ rights in schools, including one involving pronouns and another involving bathroom use. There is also a battle in St. Tammany Parish itself over access to LGBTQ-focused library books.
“What really hit it home for me was when we were at these library meetings,” said Thompson, “and people were saying we were being bussed in from New Orleans like people like us don’t live here. And it’s like… I’ll happily show you and introduce you to your neighbors.”
The event was advertised as family-friendly. Only one group of protesters gathered. The leader, Ross McKnight, identified the group as “La Nouvelle Vendée,” whose website describes one of its goals as “to resist… sexual degeneracy.” McKnight told WWL Louisiana the group was there as a “counter-demonstration” to the parade. They faced the bar where paradegoers had gathered for an afterparty and sang and chanted. They left before the event was over to loud cheers from the crowd.
Queer Northshore has more events on the calendar for the remainder of Pride month. It also plans to host another parade next year. “This is probably the first of many to come,” said Williams.
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