Political pressure over 'Drag Kids' event rocks Boise Pride
At the first Boise Pride Festivals roughly three decades ago, Joseph Kibbe and his friends had to hide their faces and were greeted by protesters holding nooses
By REBECCA BOONE
Published - Sep 10, 2022, 12:34 AM ET
Last Updated - Jun 24, 2023, 11:51 AM EDT
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — When Joseph Kibbe attended the first Boise Pride Festival in 1989, he and about two dozen other participants wore paper bags over their heads to hide their faces from potentially violent onlookers.
At the first festival parade two years later, Kibbe and his friends were greeted by protesters with nooses in front of the Statehouse.
“Boise was a very different place back then — it was not a safe time to be LGBTQIA,” he said.
Still, for Kibbe — then a gay junior high student who faced frequent beatings at school, now the vice principal of the Boise Pride Festival board — the event was the one place where he felt like part of a community.
