PRIDE March on
Last year, OKC Pride celebrated the 30th anniversary of its yearly parade and LGBTQ pride month celebration. The event has grown a large local following through the years. Some in the city’s younger generations probably could not imagine a year without the observance, but as recently as February, it appeared to some within the community…
Primary preview
It is not difficult to find something to get excited about this primary season in Oklahoma. With a major state question in play, a logjam of candidates in the gubernatorial primaries, numerous state House and Senate seat openings and remnants of political tension from the April teacher walkout underscoring it all, intrigue is not lacking…
PRIDE Pride groundwork
The birth of the national gay liberation movement is often credited to the 1969 protests led by patrons of Stonewall Inn to police harassment in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. Oklahoma City’s formation for gay rights as a political force didn’t begin until 1978 — not because the city didn’t have a large LGBTQ community — according…
PRIDE Perennial parade
OKC Pride Parade 6 p.m. Sunday 39th District NW 39th Street between Classen and Youngs boulevards facebook.com/okcpridefan 405-652-9561 Free As its name suggests, the plot for J. J. Austrian’s children’s book Worm Loves Worm is pretty straightforward. “You don’t know if they’re both boys or both girls, but they’re in love with each other, and…
Holiday adventure
Stars & Stripes River Festival 8 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday Riversport OKC 800 Riversport Drive riversportokc.org 405-552-4040 Free Riversport Adventures hosts its annual Stars & River Stripes Festival full of action, adventure and a day of water fun you won’t find anywhere but Oklahoma City. The event starts 8 a.m. Saturday and is a celebration of…
Helpful bounty
Four years ago, gardener Jenn Mabry looked at the vast array of gardening plots near the Chesapeake Energy Corporation campus off 63rd Street and Shartel Avenue and thought, “There is no way I can do this.” After sitting neglected for a year and a half, the garden that employees once used to grow produce was…
PRIDE Civic union
On one hand, Freedom Oklahoma and Women Lead Oklahoma advocate for two distinct constituencies — the former promotes civil engagement in the LGBTQ community while the latter concentrates on those who identify as women. But the two groups have more in common than they have separate — a shared board of directors and office space,…
PRIDE King of drag
At age 17, Damian Matrix-Gritte became a king. But when he first began performing at drag shows in Oklahoma City, Matrix-Gritte, now 34, had very few people to pattern his monarchy after. “It was interesting,” Matrix-Gritte said. “There weren’t really drag kings, so I didn’t really have anything to go off of. I’m sure there…
Third wheel
Adam & Kizzie album release show 8 p.m. June 29 Tower Theatre 425 NW 23rd St. towertheatreokc.com 405-708-6937 $12-$15 The second installment in Adam & Kizzie’s Book of Eedo album series was released in 2014 with 12 songs and more than one hour of music. The duo’s newest third edition, given the alias THREEDO, is…
MARIJUANA ‘Release the Kraken’
Editor’s note: This article is part of a series examining cannabis and cannabinoids in Oklahoma leading up to the June 26 medical marijuana referendum. As the media spending increases in the final days before the June 26 primary that will also decide the fate of State Question 788, Oklahomans will go to the polls with…
Fore-course meal
The Golf Club Diner 4491 S. Lake Hefner Drive 405-843-1565 What works: The hollandaise on the eggs Benedict is light and airy, and the home fries are perfectly crispy and seasoned. What needs work: One vegetarian sandwich and meat-heavy salads leave little room for a plant-based diet. Tip: The diner is open from dawn until…
Gazedibles: From the grill
Summer is now officially here, and for many people, nothing symbolizes the season quite like firing up the grill. What if you don’t want to wash your own dishes, though? These seven restaurants allow you to enjoy fresh charcoal taste without having to clean up afterward. by Jacob Threadgill | Photos by Jacob Threadgill, Gazette…
Chicken-Fried News: You got ratio’ed!
On Twitter, there is a phenomenon called “the ratio,” and depending on the balance of that ratio, any given tweet can be mathematically judged as an overwhelming success or a crashing failure. For example, if rapper Meek Mill tweets that he is “taking over” BET on the weekend of the BET Awards and he gets…
‘Hypersexualized’ environment
The alleged sexual misconduct of University of Oklahoma (OU) emeritus professor and former donor John Scamehorn has garnered a lot of attention recently, but some former students are saying the university’s school of drama fostered an environment that might have been conducive for such harassment. Scamehorn’s donor status with OU’s Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine…
PRIDE Proud notes
OKC Pride Music Lineup 9:30 Friday-6 p.m. Saturday 39th District NW 39th Street between Classen and Youngs boulevards facebook.com/okcpridefan 405-652-9561 Free From hip-hop to hair metal, long-lived scene vets to talented teens, the diverse music lineup for OKC’s 2018 Pride hops genres nearly every hour. The common thread throughout is that all of the acts…
PRIDE District goals
Depending on when you visit, Oklahoma City’s version of a “gayborhood” might seem like a far cry from the bustling shops of New York City’s West Village or the sand-laden streets of Provincetown. In a major revitalization project, a community of hard-working individuals are banding together in an effort to change that. Sandwiched between Youngs…
PRIDE Boom! brunch
When Out magazine named The Boom! one of the top 200 gay bars in the world in 2013, it singled out Sunday Gospel Brunch as the one event you don’t want to miss, and for good reason. The show has been led by drag queens Rev. Kitty Bob Aimes and Rev. Norma Jean Goldstein since…
Chicken-Fried News: No GOPride
The Oklahoma Republican Party hasn’t been an ally to the state’s LGBTQ+ community over the years, which was again highlighted in the most recent session as the GOP-controlled Legislature put a law into effect allowing faith-based adoption agencies to deny prospective parents based on their religious beliefs. Oklahoma County Republicans inquired about space in the…
Chicken-Fried News: Ghosts busted?
An Oklahoma City-based rapper is wondering whether hip-hop megastars Kanye West and Kid Cudi sampled — or perhaps plagiarized — one of his own songs on their new and incredibly popular collaborative album Kids See Ghosts. And while the claim sounds audacious, he actually makes a pretty compelling case for it. In a guest editorial…
All sizes
Bissy Swim founder Allie Ayers was beginning to think her modeling career was never going to take off. Tall and lean with hazel eyes, long dark lashes, olive skin and a body many women would all but kill for, Ayers, who grew up in Snyder, has brains, beauty and confidence, but because her build included…
Next Issue: Oklahoma Gazette celebrates the nation’s 242nd birthday
P. 23 Oklahoma Gazette celebrates the nation’s 242nd birthday with a list of the best local Fourth of July events, including fireworks, parades and music. By Jeremy Martin Photo by Megan Cherie Cover models Mark, Danyelle, Bella, and Evan Assante
