MARFA — Pride Marfa, an annual local celebration of LGBTQ+ individuals that for the past two years has coincided with national Pride month in June, is set to take place this weekend from Friday, September 6, to Sunday, September 8.
The event includes a welcome mixer from 8 p.m. to midnight at Planet Marfa on Friday, a dance party from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. at Planet Marfa on Saturday, and a pool party from noon to 5 p.m. Sunday at the Hotel St. George pool. The lineup features both DJs and drag performers.
After it became clear no other formal plans were in place to see the festival into its third year, Prepney, a DJ originally from Van Horn who moved to Marfa a couple of years ago, stepped up to act as the event’s primary organizer.
Prepney likes the fact that the celebration is out of step with national Pride month in June. “I kind of wanted to push back on the insistence that Pride should be celebrated at one time, and that’s like, the end all be all,” Prepney said.
Prepney also saw an opportunity to keep the town’s busy festival season going despite Trans-Pecos Festival’s hiatus and Art Blocks annual gathering, which traditionally occurs in September, being delayed to November. “In broad terms, I knew that there was going to be some space where there wouldn’t be anything, and I was like, okay, that’s something that I can maybe aid in,” Prepney said.
Many of the DJs and drag performers hail from El Paso; they include Angel Doll, BB Gunn — Prepney’s stage name — Benny Q Barker, DJ Toughassputa, Deathbynoize, Dick Johnson, Fish the Clown and Stephania Elegonza.
It’s a talented, “sonically diverse crowd” of artists Prepney is proud to be associated with. “You can expect a lot of club oriented music, lots of references to pop culture, queer culture, techno, drum and bass,” Prepney said. “The drag performers, I would call them eclectic.”
Both new and returning performers are stoked to be included in Pride Marfa’s third annual celebration, Prepney said, recognizing the importance of LGBTQ+ representation in Texas’ rural towns.
Current events — like the Texas Department of Public Safety’s new policy that it no longer accepts court orders to change the gender marker on a driver’s license or state ID — underscores the significance of the event, Prepney said. A memory Prepney has kept in mind throughout the planning process is that of drag performer Salem Purchase wielding a trans pride flag scrawled with “the first Pride was a riot” in Sharpie at Pride Marfa 2022.
“It’s important, just for visibility’s sake, for us to have this,” Prepney said. “I’d like to facilitate a safe space for other queer people to celebrate themselves.”
Locally, Prepney said the level of support for Pride Marfa 2024 is “refreshing.” Sponsorships from Planet Marfa, Jota Living, Art Blocks, Ranch Candy, Big Sandy, Bitter Sugar, The Pool and Cactus Liquors are allowing for all performers to be housed and paid.
For more information, follow @bbgunn__ on Instagram.
