The Pride Tree: Committed to Diversity

With a commitment to diversity, the Pride Tree’s Board of Directors primarily includes people identifying as LGBTQ+, people of color, and bilingual people.

“I’m the only straight, white guy on the board,” Frailich reported. “We are intentional about creating an inclusive board that represents the diversity of Southern Nevada.”

Frailich also shared that The Pride Tree was recently described in a recent podcast as “constructing the most diverse LGBTQ+ organization in Las Vegas” by Jake Gallen, host of The Guest List, in an episode earlier this month.

Angelique Burton

While at the Juneteenth celebration event downtown at Ferguson’s, I spoke with The Pride Tree’s Director of Advocacy, Angelique Burton. She shared with me how she became involved with The Pride Tree. Also a board member of the Young Nonprofit Professional Network Southern Nevada, Burton met Grant through working with that organization. 

“He told me about the idea, and I loved it,” she said. “I wanted to jump right in and be a part of everything.” 

Burton became a founding member of The Pride Tree’s inaugural board with over five years of working with nonprofits and low-income families. She spoke of how important youths are and why providing these services and programs is so helpful to them. 

“They’re the foundation of our future. And we need to pour into them and allow them to figure out who they are, comfortably,” she said. “Society tells us to do so many different things and act in so many different ways; the messaging is all mixed up. It can be very confusing to navigate on your own and define yourself.” 

Holding Space and Facilitating Conversations

Burton added that these conversations used to be much more difficult to have in the past. However, despite this shift forward, we still have a long way to go and the conversations still often go unsaid. 

“In middle school and high school, that’s the age where kids start finding out who they are, and we provide a space for them to do that,” she said. “We also think about allies in our programming and as part of our progressive movement. We feel it’s important to have that level of inclusion, so they’re there for those conversations too.”  

Coordinating the organization’s events, Burton said that she loves seeing the community come out in support and wants to see more of that in the future. To encourage this, she collaborates with their many community partners and promotes the growth of the volunteer program. In particular, she’s seeking people interested in volunteering as guest speakers at events for the youths in the different programs. 

“Those who have a story they want to tell, an area of expertise, or an opportunity to be part of the community and make a difference, we welcome them to join us,” Burton said. “We also always look for a way to incorporate art into things, so that’s another area of opportunity.”

She added that The Pride Tree doesn’t want the youth or their parents to be burdened financially for these resources, so volunteers are essential to that mission.

“There’s so much room for growth and so many opportunities for events; I don’t even completely know what I need volunteers for yet,” she said. “There’s no shortage of opportunities available for those who want to help.”

Burton concluded by sharing how much she loves working with The Pride Tree and is proud of what they’ve accomplished so far, and looks forward to what they’ll accomplish moving forward.

Emma Anderson

While at the Juneteenth event, I also had the pleasure of speaking with 13-year-old Emma Anderson, a youth that volunteers with The Pride Tree. She shared that she helps out at events by selling things to raise funds for the organization. 

“Mr. Frailich was one of my teachers,” she said, explaining how she learned of the program. “I see Pride Tree as a good opportunity for kids my age to get involved.”

Issues in the Community

Discussing the biggest issues she sees, Anderson shared there’s a problem with how people respond to the idea of pronouns. Oftentimes people will brush someone off if that person tells them that they go by different pronouns. They might not take them seriously, make a mockery of someone’s identity, or even become hostile.

In addition to this problem, Anderson shared a problem that she regularly faces-how people often look at certain people. 

“People look at me weird for using the restroom,” she said. “I’ve seen people double-take at me when I walk in, or even full-on stare at me.” 

In situations like this, Anderson and other people who experience this reaction have to worry about whether those staring at them or looking at them a certain way will question their right to be there. And for a teenager like Anderson, it can be scary sometimes not knowing how someone might react to them. 

“The looks, the staring, what people say; you have to be aware,” she said. “I always say to treat people how you want to be treated.” 

She added that situations like people staring at her are one of the many issues The Pride Tree tries to address. 

“The Pride Tree helps raise awareness and start these kinds of conversations that often get ignored or mistreated when discussed. And we need to talk about these things; it’s important,” she said. 

Moving Forward

Overall, Anderson said she’d like to see more acceptance for the LGBTQ+ community. And she’d like to see an increase in education and awareness about the community. That way, more people develop a deeper understanding of their experience and history. 

“Kids, teens, and even adults come out to their family and end up being mistreated or worse,” she said. “We need to work on just letting people be who they are, be what they want to be, and let them love who they want to love. How is it affecting anyone else for them to do that?”

Anderson concluded by sharing why she enjoys working with The Pride Tree. 

“I like working with them because it’s a new opportunity to get LGBT+ conversations out there and get more people involved,” she said. “Teens like me need a support system like Pride Tree; they need programs like these to help navigate through everything, get necessary resources, and to know they’re not alone.” 

Pride Month

30 Days of Pride – June 2021

Honoring Pride Month, The Pride Tree partnered with several local businesses and organizations for their ‘30 Days of Pride’ event. 

During Pride, they conducted a virtual fun run, a movie night, a student-led discussion on “The Prom,” and a virtual art show with local artists. 

“We also spotlighted 30 different people in Vegas who are LGBTQ+ or are otherwise strong allies,” Frailich said. “I’ve been extremely conscious of who we picked as honorees. We wanted Black people, people of color, trans folks, people working directly in the community; everyone.”  

These honorees included Reverend Jamie Lee Sprague-Ballou, founder of Las Vegas Trans Pride and Pastor of Affirming God’s People UCC. Frailich shared part of her story, saying she tried to get a job as a pastor for over a year. 

“All these churches that talked about being inclusive turned her away,” he said. “So, she started her own church.”

A few days ago, Sprague-Ballou officially opened Las Vegas Trans Pride, a center for the trans community, attached to her church. Their mission involves “Standing in resistance as our authentic selves.”

Frailich added that in the future, The Pride Tree may do a session focusing specifically on Trans issues. Though, they don’t have anything planned at this time. For now, they’re focusing on working with other organizations so that they can work their way up to offering more programs and resources. 

30 Days of Pride Partners 

The Pride Tree also partnered with several local businesses throughout the month for various promotions to raise funds for camp. Some of the businesses included restaurants like the following: 

• Oming’s Kitchen: Donated 20% of their chicken combo sales to The Pride Tree;
• Luciano’s Bistro: Donated 10% of all sales when people mentioned “Pride Month or “Pride Tree” while ordering;
• Tarantino’s Vegan: Donated 50% of proceeds from cheesecake sales (*This special is still available through July 7th*);
• Tacotarian: Created a special drink for Pride called the ‘Pride Pina Colada’, donating 20% of the proceeds from those drink purchases. 

Besides restaurants, a few local retailers also partnered with The Pride Tree:

• LV Plant Collective: Created two stickers for The Pride Tree, and are donating 100% of the proceeds to the organization. They also sold planters and wine racks on behalf  of The Pride Tree, also donating all of the proceeds to them; 
• Wendy Joy Designs: Designed rainbow coasters and bookmarks made from resin, sold to raise funds for The Pride Tree, donating 100% of the proceeds;
• Pallet Planter: Donated 100% of proceeds from purchases of their wine racks and planters (sold through LV Plant Collective) to The Pride Tree.