Amid sunny skies and soaring temperatures, hundreds of people gathered Sunday to attend Pride Frisco 2024, which was created to uplift and recognize members of the Dallas-Fort Worth LGBTQ community, organizers said.
Jon Culpepper, co-founder and vice president of the Pride Frisco Resource Center, said the event, which was held at Toyota Stadium from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., was an attempt to bring residents and service providers together.
“We bring those high-trusted resources and trusted organizations for the community to have access to them, all in one place, such as legal equality types and so many other resource vendors and artists,” he said.
Jessica Bass said she and her partner, also named Jessica, were pleased to participate in the gathering because it raises awareness about the LGBTQ community.
“Always be open minded and accepting of all different people, all different cultures, all different religions, backgrounds, ethnicities,” she said. “We’re vegan, we’re lesbians but compassionate and empathetic. Like we just love life and we love to spread awareness.”
“We’re all people, no matter what color we are (or) what race,“ Bass’ partner said. “We all need love and connection.”
Founded by husbands Jon and Justin Culpepper in 2021, Pride Frisco was designed to create an inclusive resource center for the LGBTQ Frisco community. It is the first LGBTQ-focused resource center in the Collin County suburb.
Throughout the year, Pride Frisco offers support to those in the areathrough social and educational programs, professional resources, scholarships and collaborative efforts, officials said.
“A lot of them are members of our own community as well,” Jon Culpepper said. “And so it gives our community a chance to patronize and socialize each other.”
This year’s event included guests such as Corry Williams with Dallas Voice; DJ Shane Allen; Nico Lang, author of the book American Teenager about eight trans and nonbinary teens across the country; Vishal Rajpal, founder of Masala Nights; and Natasha Howard, forward for the Dallas Wings.
“Events like this, everyone is so loving and able to open up and talk to each other and just have a good time, everybody smiles, because we all understand the struggle we go through, you know, just to be, to exist and say, ‘Hey, I’m a lesbian,’ ‘I’m trans,’ ‘I’m gay’, so that’s why it’s so beautiful,” Bass said.