(crowd cheering and applauding) (upbeat music) - It is amazing just to see all of the Pride in Howell and everyone coming together, especially, you know, during these trying times.

It's really, really wonderful to see in 2025.

- Coming here, you get to meet more people like you, and know that you're not alone.

It's so important for minorities, people who are marginalized to know that they have a community, that they have people that care, that we have allies that are standing up for us.

- Every year, more and more people get involved and wanna show their support.

- I feel very seen.

♪ Pink pony club - [Chris] Pride has become an annual tradition in many Michigan cities.

Detroit's first Pride March took place in 1972, and Ferndale has been home to Pride Festivals since 2003.

But new Pride festivals continue to pop up all over the state.

One of those newer Prides is in Howell, in Livingston County.

- We started this five years ago as just kind of an idea, and we said, why not Howell and why not we downtown Howell?

And I think a lot of people were very surprised for the first one.

- [Chris] Howell Pride is organized by Pride Alliance of Livingston, which is part of the Livingston Diversity Council, a grassroots nonprofit organization formed nearly 40 years ago to address acts of hate in the county.

- The Livingston Diversity Council began in 1987 as a grassroots group of folks, in response to the existence of the KKK in Livingston County.

There would oftentimes be cross burnings that occurred in the community, and the leaders in the community got together and wanted to ensure that that did not become our legacy, that didn't represent who we were in Livingston County, specifically in Howell.

In 2018, we invited the community to come together to have some conversations around how we support the LGBTQ community.

And it was really determined at that point that there wasn't a lot of support.

And so we formed what was supposed to be kind of a committee, so to speak.

And what has ended up being really its own organization under the umbrella of the Diversity Council and Pride Alliance of Livingston.

(attendees cheering) - Being a member of the LGBTQ+ community, I just thought it'd be great to build awareness in this area.

The more we bring the awareness, the more we do these events, the more the city is accepting it.

And that to me is what's really cool.

- [Chris] When moving back to Michigan after some time out of state, Pride Alliance of Livingston co-chair, Marilyn Waxberg, chose to settle in Livingston County, in part because she discovered the website of the Diversity Council and Pride Alliance.

- When I go to a community, I wanna be able to do something to impact that community, to do something positive.

- In Howell, you don't always expect things like this, so when you get them, they're a gift.

And I've found living in Howell, that when I came out and started walking around, I had more support, and I didn't have any detractors, which a lot of people might not expect for this community, but it's a beautiful community.

- Hi.

Hi.

- [Attendee] Come here, man.

Come here, Yippy.

- I grew up half of my life in Ypsi and then the other half around Chicago.

And then I recently came back and we've been here maybe about two or three years into the Howell area.

So I'm learning about the history of Howell, which is a little bit different than what I was expecting.

But I think that especially seeing stuff like this in Howell of all places has been a really, really great opportunity.

- I've been visiting some of the smaller Prides in Michigan as I can.

- [Chris] Michigan State University historian and professor, Tim Retzlof, is one of the foremost authorities on LGBTQ+ history in Michigan.

- It's just really inspiring to see smaller communities coming out, kind of from the grassroots, kind of showing support and community and love.

And the diversity that you see at the smaller Prides, you know, it's genuinely heartfelt.

(crowd cheering) - [Narrator 4] Howell Pride has support among city officials.

Mayor Bob Ellis has been a champion for the event since the beginning.

- I've been a member of the Diversity Council for years.

And one year I gave a big speech at the event, but every year I've marched in it and been here to support everybody.

- So this is the first time I've got to be part of this event.

I've got friends who are part of the Pride community.

I've got cousins, friends.

And just want to be here to show my support for them and also for everyone else in the community.

We do have a history here that we're working to overcome.

We want everyone to understand that Howell is a great place to be, it's a great place to live, it's a great place to visit.

We're doing our best to support everyone.

- [Chris] This is also the first year that the Howell Police Department have been official participants in the event.

- Okay, that's awesome.

- Up until this year, we have not had a presence of law enforcement at Pride.

And that's been an ongoing discussion with our committee.

Not all marginalized communities feel comfortable with law enforcement presence.

And so for us it was, it needed to be a very intentional decision.

And this year, as safety gets heightened, you know, with everything that's going on in the country, we wanted to reach out specifically to law enforcement this year and engage them in our security measures.

We felt that if there's a way to bridge the gap, to address fears, misconceptions, real fears or misconceptions, that really bringing the law enforcement, City of Howell Police into the fold, like, that's gonna be our opportunity to maybe make those connections for folks.

- I'm happy that we've been welcomed to this event to be a part of it.

Us being a part of the community is important.

Not just us being here for law enforcement and so that they know that we're here to be their protect and serve, if you will.

- Yeah.

- It just takes time to get that trust and relationship with everybody.

- [Chris] Howell Pride was also about connecting LGBTQ+ people in Livingston County and beyond, with important resources that they may need but may not know how to find.

Among the organizations who had booths at Howell Pride to do community outreach, Stand with Trans.

- We educate, empower, and celebrate trans youth and help educate their families and learn acceptance and things like that.

We do that through a variety of ways, like our community support groups, our ally parents, and through like our volunteers, we also just launched our first ever mental health services in-house.

So I'm actually one of the therapists and we see folks ages nine and up.

And you don't have to be queer, LGBTQ.

You just have to need a therapist.

Representation is always important, especially in smaller rural communities, given the statistics of, you know, youth suicides and self-harm and mental health, depression and anxiety.

We're here to provide hope and sustain that hope.

- Especially as a trans non-binary person myself, I think that seeing that I'm not alone even in places like this, and especially after learning the history and how scary that can be as someone who's living here, I think that seeing all these people here, seeing the range of ages as well, seeing older people that live here, younger people that live here, who are all coming together and making sure that I feel safe and I'm able to make sure and help that they feel safe as well.

- I love how communities, even in marginalized communities, even in small communities where there might not be many people, I love how they can come together and do kind of events like this.

It's always great to have a community to be able to be a part of.

♪ It's forever long time club ♪ Pink pony club