Billings, Mont. -- A rainbow opposing discrimination fanned along a Billings street on Tuesday, June 5.
About 40 people gathered on the courthouse lawn as Billings prepares to host Gay Pride Celebration 2007. The celebration is organized by the Montana Pride Network and will be June 15-17.
Tuesday's gathering, which was capped with a "human billboard" of people holding signs along the 200 block of North 27th Street, was organized by the faith-based community and other organizations. The event started with a few short speeches and Mayor Ron Tussing reading an anti-discrimination proclamation he signed.
Speaker Darryl Olson, who is on the Montana Pride Network's organizing committee for the celebration, said the event Tuesday was about treating individuals "the right way, no matter who you are."
"This isn't about asking the community to come in and support the gay community," Olson said. "This is about people standing up for other people's rights."
Organizers asked residents and business owners to post signs in their windows through June 17. The 5-by-7-inch signs feature rainbow stripes and read, "Caring for each other because it's right."
Crystal Berg, community organizer for Montana's People Action, said the gathering was held to help decrease stigma. Discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities has leeched to those who support the Gay Pride Celebration, regardless of their sexual orientation, Berg said. The gathering and the signs are aimed at helping dispel both levels of discrimination, she said.
"It's not OK to be silent - silence is complicity," Berg said.
There has been mixed reaction, much of it negative, since plans for the Gay Pride Celebration were announced last month.
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