For the past three years, EcoTours naturalist Sage Howk has led wildlife outings for Jackson’s LGBTQ+ non-profit, JH Pride.
This June, the Sandhill Crane fan bridged both worlds again, this time at the South Park Feedgrounds.
“They are just kooky little animals,” Howk said of the cranes while leading a binocular-clad crew under tall cottonwoods. “They’ve got an amazing call and they’re such great parents.”
Though none were spotted, the twenty or so attendees observed more than two dozen other birds. A list compiled by the end of the night included ruddy ducks, Canada geese, cinnamon teals and northern shovelers.
The cedar wax wing was another favorite.
“That one was cool,” said Alexis Cariddi, also an EcoTours guide who attended the event to learn more about native birds. “It was a perfect gradient from the gray into the yellow. It was very pretty.”
Birding was just one event in a jam-packed June with more than a dozen events put on by JH Pride. The global pride celebration pays tribute to the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in New York City, when LGBTQ+ bar-goers resisted police raids.
A wide range in local programming is intentional, according to JH Pride Board Chair Cheyenne Syvertson-Hagestuen.
JH Pride organizers say birding is one reminder that the outdoors are for everyone. (Jenna McMurtry / KHOL)
“We hope that there is something for everyone and we’re always striving to make that more and more true,” she said.
Pride events have come a long way since Syvertson-Hagestuen first moved to Jackson almost a decade ago. The organization became an official nonprofit in 2024.
In the early days, a picnic and a dance party were Pride month mainstays. This year’s line-up was more robust: from a drag show with a dance afterparty to craft nights, a town square banner walk, dance classes and a clothing swap.
In recent years, Pride month in Wyoming came with a tide of anti-trans legislation that first took off in 2022 and has accelerated since the Freedom Caucus presence took hold in state politics.
This year, Teton County’s LGBTQ organizers are pushing back against a federal bill co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, a Wyoming Republican. It aims to prevent public school money from being spent on books deemed “sexually oriented.” In a recent newsletter, Hageman said the bill should stop funds for books like “Gender Queer” and “All Boys Aren’t Blue.”
Syvertson-Hagestuen said it amounts to censorship.
“We don’t think a member of congress reading passages out of context is a better judge of a book’s value than the people who do this for a living,” she said.
Hageman maintains the bill is not censorship. Private dollars could still fund books she considers “sexually explicit content materials.”
In May, the Teton County Public Library adopted a resolution that opposed Hageman’s bill. Other critics include the American Library Association and the Wyoming Library Association.
JH Pride recently introduced “safety volunteers” who are trained to de-escalate should any events become unsafe.
For Howk, organizing events in a red state like Wyoming is important with current political context. The birding event is just one reminder, they said, that the outdoors are for everyone and pride isn’t monolithic.
“There’s more to the LGBTQ community than just drag shows and dance parties,” Howk said. “We have those and they are fantastic and so much fun, but we are a multifaceted community.”
