Students and community members attended the annual North Carolina PrideFest, a parade and festival held Saturday on the Duke University campus.

The event was intended to provide the LGBT community with an opportunty to “come together and celebrate everything [the LGBT community has] accomplished,” as well as to, “continue building positive positive bridges with the non-gay community,” Keith Hayes, spokesperson for the event, said.

The N.C. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transexual community started the parade in reaction to a 1981 killing in which a man was beaten to death in Durham because he was thought to be homosexual, according to Hayes.

“You can see how far we’ve come,” Hayes said, “It’s because of events like this that [we can] move out of those times.”

Members of N.C. State’s LGBT student organization, Unity in Progress, marched in the parade held during PrideFest.

Other participants included Mr. Gay USA, the Queen of Mardi Gras, N.C. political figures, churches supporting the gay community and other LGBT student groups from around the state.

Brandon Stephens, a junior in political science, said he noticed there were a lot of same-sex parent couples present with their children. It was “really really great [to have] a strong family presence,” he said.

Stephens said it would help if members of the non-gay community saw families with same-sex parents.

“It’s the most natural-looking thing,” Stephens said.

Some participants voiced their appreciation for the support from the non-gay community.

“It’s still nice to have an event where everyone can come together,” Lee Sartain, a senior in religious studies, said. He said he liked to see, in the midst of the N.C. Gay religious movement, non-gay religions from the area voice their “diversity of spirit.”

Guy Broome, a junior in English, attended his second PrideFest this year.

“I’ve noticed that … it keeps getting larger and larger each year,” Broome said. He said the increase in attendace was not only due to LGBT persons, but non-gay community members.

Late in the morning, an anti-homosexual preacher set up across the street from the festival with pickets and a loudspeaker. According to Hayes, this is the first year there has been any kind of protest.

“He can say what he wants to say,” Hayes said, “We’re not going to engage in malicious dialogue.” The Durham Police Department made the preacher turn off his sound system as he was lacking the proper permits.

According to NCPride.org, approximately 10,000 people attended PrideFest in 2005. The Pride Committee expected the 2006 attendance to be even greater.

“It’s been a great event,” Hayes said, “Look at all these people here.”

This will be the sixth consecutive year Duke’s campus has hosted PrideFest. In previous years, PrideFest moved around the state each year.

“It’s just easier to keep it in one place,” Hayes said.

He said Duke, the Durham Police Department and the Durham community have been extremely supportive. “At an institutional level, Duke and Durham want us here. They feel we add to the quality and character of downtown Durham.”