by David Butler, President, Buffalo Niagara Proud Alliance
It is, with a great deal of excitement and gratitude, that I welcome you to Buffalo Niagara PROUD Alliance’s first issue of Proud Voice. I want to introduce this first issue with a brief explanation of why this magazine exists and how this new coalition of amazing people formed.
For me, this new journey of community began 12 years ago when Lenore Pawloski and I took over what now is known as the LGBTQ Friends of WNY Facebook page. That journey with Lenore, working to clean it up and watch it grow into 4,800+ members, has been something I am proud of.
In that process, I met new people, was part of countless conversations and began to see some frustrating issues in our LGBTQ+ community. The LGBTQ family that I had come out to, the friends and peers that held my hand through the coming out rite of passage, was no longer the same. It was time to try and find a way to bring that community experience back.
There have been many factors at play: after the absolute joy of achieving marriage equality, the apparent need for some kind of community dissipated. We had achieved something monumental when marriage equality became
a reality. We could finally have that house with a white picket fence some folks had always dreamed of having. We eventually separated, siloed and segregated into smaller groups. Our incredible, pride-filled achievements deteriorated into dating apps, smart phone online groups and health care branding.
And yet there are still parents throwing their gay kids out. There is still violence in the school hallways and othering in conservative churches. As I write this our trans* family is being shamefully discharged from the military. The result has been a rash of depression, suicide and substance abuse; all symptoms of a lack of community engagement and loneliness… and there are few resources to put a stop to it. Among the largest of oversights, our elders have been left behind. The very people who fought for our rights and created the concept of pride have been abandoned with an unfortunate lack of respect or proper care. The more I talked to others in the community, including many grassroots LGBTQ+ leaders, the more I began to see not only a need for change but enough support to make it happen.
Over the summer of last year, I met in the backyard of transplanted Texas native and mentor Cannon Flowers, and with the legendary activist and organizer Carol Speser to brainstorm about how we might reimagine what pride is in Buffalo. These summer meetings in this beautiful garden were the beginnings of Buffalo Niagara PROUD Alliance
(BNPA).
Sometime last August, the first meeting of what would become the Buffalo Niagara PROUD Alliance took place. We met in the basement of Jack Rabbit, and we were joined by representatives of Ron Piaseczny from Niagara Pride, Jordan Velazquez and Amber Martinez from La Cultura, Levi Galbreath from WNY LGBTQ Chat Rooms LLC, designer Rafiq Flowers, Rev. Sue Frawley and I (from Pride Inside), and Mickey Harmon. There was a spark of something new here, a feeling we had not felt in a long time. I think even our waiter knew something exciting was beginning.
Since the November elections, there were rumors that Evergreen Health might
be pulling back from Buffalo Pride events. An opportunity was forming that begged us to speed up the process. Sam Nordquist’s horrific murder in Canandaigua added urgency. By February, we had grown to 19 organizations each with their own place in our community. We organized our first event, a community gathering to honor Sam. We packed Westminster Presbyterian Church and we knew we were on to something. Our long-term goal? To re-establish a centralized place to network, plan events, share marketing and celebrate our amazing and diverse community in a new way.
This magazine is a symbolic start to that process. I hope you will enjoy this first issue. It is full of smiles and real pride. The region-wide calendar of WNY Pride events, put together by Robert Kyne-Guzman, will enable you to check out a whole month of Pride events in one location.
Please also read over the fabulous list of volunteers that put our first issue together and the names of the current members and organizations of the Buffalo Niagara Proud Alliance. Just to be clear — we are not a club.
We are bound to grow.
In the coming months it is vital to be out and visible. It’s time to participate in every Pride event that you can, especially the small town pride events that would love to have you. Follow us as we evolve in this new journey, as we create and produce together and as we support and recognize you. The one thing I know, everyone in this Alliance is PROUD and we want you to be too.
Click HERE to view this article, and others, in the Summer 2025 issue of Proud Voice.