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SPEAKER: And this year marks the 50th anniversary of Pride in Minnesota. So we thought we'd talk to two people who've played major roles in shaping these celebrations throughout the years. First, I want to go back to 1972 and talk to one of the organizers of the first Pride March in Minneapolis, Jean Tretter. Thanks for coming in and joining us. It's a pleasure to have you here.

JEAN TRETTER: Well, thank you.

SPEAKER: Now, how did the idea for a Pride Festival here in Minnesota initially come about?

JEAN TRETTER: We were jealous.

SPEAKER: Of?

JEAN TRETTER: Chicago.

SPEAKER: OK.

JEAN TRETTER: Because we had recently elected Jack Baker as the president of the student body, University of Minnesota. We were the first place in the United States to elect an openly gay person as the president of the student body. And when Chicago had their first Pride celebration in about '71, they elected Jack Baker from Minnesota to be their grand marshal and brought him to Chicago, and we're celebrating him in the parade and all that kind of stuff.

And Steven Dean, Kerry Woodward, and I got together, and we said, we can't have Minnesotans going to Chicago to be grand marshals and not even have a Pride Festival in Minnesota. So we decided that we were going to form a Pride celebration in Minnesota.

SPEAKER: And tell us about that first march, 1972. What was the Pride celebration like?

JEAN TRETTER: Well, there were about 50 people that we got to attend. We were absolutely positive we were going to be arrested. So we split into two groups, and we left 25 of them in Loring Park with enough money to bail each one of us that was marching out. So 25 of us marched down Nicollet Mall all the way to Fourth Street, crossed across the street at Fourth, and then came back to Loring Park, where we met our friends and had a picnic. And that was about it.

But--

SPEAKER: It all went smoothly, peacefully.

JEAN TRETTER: Went smoothly and peacefully because everybody at that time had no idea what we were talking about. It was, oh, they're gay and proud. Well, that's nice. They're happy to be happy.

[LAUGHS]

They didn't realize they were a little bit more confused by the women that were talking about being lesbians. But they let it go.

SPEAKER: Correct me if I'm wrong. In those days, there was real risk showing up. People could lose their jobs, they could lose a lease on their apartment, right. I mean, there were--

JEAN TRETTER: If they understood. But when we went down Nicollet Mall, I don't think we ever used the word homosexual in that march. In those days, if you carried literature that was about being a homosexual, the police could arrest you just for having literature on you.

SPEAKER: So here we are 50 years later. And I want to know, as someone who was there at the time, at the beginning of Pride here in Minneapolis, what are you thinking? Reflect for me and what this means at this point.

JEAN TRETTER: We have survived AIDS. We've survived COVID. We've survived police brutality. We're still here. We have our history. We're preserving it. And we're showing that we're everywhere. And that we have an ability of kindness and forgiving and gentleness that the rest of society needs to learn from us, with all the brutality and all the meanness and the difficulties and you name it. And we've been through it and we've survived.

So that's what I would say, that we've not only proven ourselves. But the important thing is, is we've proven ourselves to ourselves. And if the rest of the world doesn't want to accept us, you know what, there's going to be a Pride Parade in 25 years on our 75th anniversary.

SPEAKER: Well, Jean Tretter, who was there for the first one in 1972 as one of the organizers, it's been a pleasure talking to you. Thanks for coming in.

JEAN TRETTER: Well, thank you. And have me back in 25 years. I'll only be 100.

SPEAKER: All right. We will do that. Thank you, Jean.

JEAN TRETTER: Yep.

SPEAKER: Well, Pride hasn't just gotten bigger and more accepted over the years. Like many movements, it's had to address discrimination and infighting from within. In the late '70s, bisexual people fought for better representation at the festival. And in the '90s, people of color took a stand and established an area at the festival called Power to the People.

Earlier this week, I asked one of the founders, Rox Anderson, how it got started.

ROX ANDERSON: The Power to the People area started because there was a trans woman of color who felt like she wasn't getting the stage time and the respect that she deserved. They cut her in the middle of her act, and she came to our tabling area with the Minnesota Men of Color. And said, this is something that happens frequently. That Black, Indigenous, people of color often don't get the same stage time or the recognition. And they wanted something to be different. And so challenged us to create a space for people of color within the framework of Twin Cities Pride.

SPEAKER: Talk us through those early conversations and what it took to make this happen. And if there was any resistance, what it looked like.

ROX ANDERSON: Well, I think before that time, people of color certainly participated in Pride, but didn't really have a place to go that was theirs within that framework. And so what we would witness is a gathering of people around those tabling areas, like the Minnesota Men of Color, like Twin Cities Black Pride, like the Women of Color Building Project. Without a real way to participate in the larger group.

And so I think what it looked like was seeing people of color, acknowledging them as you walk around the path. But really no place to meet up and hang out and really witness our culture being expressed.

SPEAKER: When you look at Pride in general for as long as you have been involved with it, in what other ways would you say it has changed, evolved, become more inclusive, or what else have you observed about how it has developed?

ROX ANDERSON: Well, what I see now with Pride in general is that it's just a lot bigger. So a lot of folks come out and participate in Pride. I think the numbers circle somewhere between 400 and 500,000 people come to Pride. And then I think Pride, like lots of organizations, has done really well in serving people of color and also very poorly in serving people of color.

And so I think that there's a lot of room for growth when we start talking about white supremacy and racism within the larger LGBT community. Sometimes we can just really acknowledge that there's still a lot of work to do.

SPEAKER: This year, unfortunately, we saw the specter of violence, the threat of violence that was foiled in Idaho at one Pride gathering. And I'm wondering when you see something like that happen, what do you make of it, and what do you think of it moving forward for this year's Pride in Minneapolis? What does it signify?

ROX ANDERSON: What it signifies to me is the bravery that folks that face discrimination in a whole bunch of ways have to show up. This is a rally call, a call to unite, a call to get informed. Policy impacts people. And the policies that we have against the LGBT community happening all across the nation really give lift to those people who want to do harm.

It spreads hate. And so I think that is a call to action for everybody to really have an understanding of what LGBT people experience in their day-to-day life.

SPEAKER: Rox Anderson, one of the founders and director of the Power to the People area of Twin Cities Pride. Thanks so much for your reflections. I really appreciate it today.

ROX ANDERSON: Thanks so much for having me. And everybody, come on down to the Power to the People area. It's at 15th and Willow, and we'll be happy to see you.

SPEAKER: Twin Cities Pride runs tomorrow and Sunday in Loring Park in Minneapolis.