For LGBTQ+ families in the metro-east, Belleville is a place of refuge

For Beth and Paige Vinson, being around other queer people in downtown Belleville on Saturday was a welcome respite for their family.

“I didn’t come out until I was 42,” Beth said. “I knew three gay people, and I was like, ‘Yeah, they get picked on a lot. I’m not doing that.’ So, it’s nice to be in an environment like this where nobody’s judging you, everybody’s got their kids and the energy is so nice.”

The pair drove nearly an hour from Wentzville, Missouri, to attend the Metro East Pride Block Party at Shoehorn Brewing and Paderborn Square on Saturday night.

The party had drinks, food from local vendors and a drag show for all ages, as it has every year since it began in 2021. But the Vinsons came to the metro-east so their children, ages 15 and 12, could join in the festivities.

“I want (my daughter) to be whoever she wants to be: straight, gay, a marshmallow, whatever she wants,” Paige said. “I don’t want anyone to tell her who she is. So, I think that for her to do that, she actually has to experience more than just white straight people in Wentzville, Missouri.”

Out in STL Magazine listed Belleville’s Abend Historic District as the best community for LGBTQ+ families in the St. Louis region. The ranking says the city is a “rare refuge” near St. Louis for LGBTQ+ residents facing more restrictive policies from the Missouri government.

But while Belleville’s annual Pride Fest is the oldest Pride event in the metro-east, it is still one of the only such events scheduled this year on the Illinois side.

Metro East Pride President Kristen Broyles said the team has spent a decade building family-friendly LGBTQ+ spaces to preserve that refuge for metro-east families.

“You’re never going to feel bad for just existing as whoever you are in this space,” Broyles said. “It’s just love. That’s it. Our festival is just love.”

Next year marks 20 years of Metro East Pride and 19 years of the annual festival. Saturday’s event was the last summer block party for Metro East Pride before the annual Pride Fest moves back to June, Broyles said.

But fear not, block party fans. Broyles said the event will take Pride Fest’s place in the fall and keep its emphasis on kid-friendly programming.

“For a kid to come out here, maybe a 13-year-old kid that has not known what’s going on, and see themselves in us or don’t feel bad for existing in this space — that’s just what this is about,” Broyles said.

Organizers moved the festival to the fall during the pandemic and introduced the block party as a more informal gathering space for queer metro-east residents. But Broyles said the city of Belleville is struggling to keep pace with the slew of fall events downtown, so Metro East Pride offered to move its biggest event back to summer.

“Belleville and St. Clair County have been so very good to us,” Broyles said. “I feel like we’re in this really unique pocket of southern Illinois, that’s it’s just a really good place for the LGBT to be.”

That is why Shiloh resident Chris Rogers’ family settled in the metro-east permanently.

“We ended up here as a family on military order seven-and-a-half years ago,” Rogers said. “But we love the feeling and the atmosphere so much, and how safe it feels for our kids, that we’ve decided this is our forever home.”

Rogers’ ex-wife and co-parent, Andie Rogers, said the family relies on St. Clair County to be a safe space for their children.

“Our daughter is trans, so it’s super important for us — for her — to be able to be out here with a kid-friendly event that can support people like her,” Andie said. “We were thinking about putting her in any other school zone, and I’m just like, that’s terrifying. None of them make accommodations. (Being in) this area is the only way I feel comfortable with everything going on.”

The last autumn Pride Fest in Belleville is slated for Oct. 6.