And there’s pride in my heart ‘cause I know where I’m going - yes I do. “There’s a struggle that we have yet to win. “There’s a dream in the future,” Jasinya Sanchez, a beloved drag performer in Grand Rapids, belts out, the words to “I Know Where I’ve Been” filling a space where hundreds of people from Grand Rapids’ LGBTQ+ community, and their allies, stand, swaying to the acapella rendition of the “Hairspray” tune.
There, outside Michigan’s oldest gay bar, people from all walks of life stand shoulder to shoulder, raising candles towards the darkening night sky and begin to sing. As the sun sets this past Sunday, a day that begins with one of the worst mass shootings in the history of the United States, the people of Grand Rapids start to descend upon the streets around the Apartment Lounge.
