Important: All Pagans Advised to Attend

Why should I go?

There are lots of reasons to attend this year's
Las Vegas Pagan Pride Event!  

First of all, you don’t need to be Pagan to be welcome at this event.  Friends and family of Pagans, those who believe in equal rights for all persons regardless of their professed faith, and those who are just curious are equally welcome. 

The purpose of Pagan Pride Day is to show, like the Gay Pride Day it is modeled after, residents of the area the best of what the Pagan sub-culture has to offer.  By putting our best foot forward in a public way, we as a group are educating people.  

We are PROUD of who we are and what we believe!

We refuse to hide!

Like our GLBT brothers and sisters before us, we are coming out of the broom closet to make our presence known.  We Pagans have been maligned for the last two thousand years or so, and as such, there are a lot of negative stereotypes that continue to be believed as fact by the American culture at large.  Every time we participate in a public event, we are showing the world we are proud of who we really are.

If you don’t show your face, negative stereotypes will continue, and you will witness a deterioration of your civil rights because people from the larger culture will believe that the stereotypes are archetypes, and by majority vote, limit your freedom.

It is the squeaky wheel that gets the oil.  If we want to be treated as equals, we must show non-Pagans that we are equal to them.  The greater Las Vegas metro area needs to see how many of us there are.  

They need to see our happy, healthy children.  

They need to see that we don’t sacrifice animals in our rituals.  

They need to SEE that we believe in and worship God and Goddess in ways that are not so different from them.  They need to experience the best of what the Pagan culture has to offer.  This can only happen if every person who self-identifies as Pagan, or Witch, or Druid or Shaman comes to this event. 

But, I’m afraid someone I work with will recognize me and that as a result I will loose my job.  

These Pagans are not afraid.  WHY ARE YOU?

Is this fear is proof that we as Pagans, Witches, and other adherents to minority religions have not escaped the persecution of the Burning Times?  Just like our GLBT brothers and sisters, we face the real possibility that we will be ostracized by our family.  What other members of a religious community fear the loss of their livelihood?  Do Hindus worry that if they are seen at a Diwali festival, they will loose their job?  Do Jews fear that if they tell their employer they need time off to attend a Bar Mitzva they will be fired?  Why do we live in fear?  We live in a free country, but it is only as free as we ourselves make it.  If we continue to hide in the shadows and allow ourselves to be marginalized, the culture at large will believe that the discrimination against Pagans is acceptable to us. 

Still not convinced?

The Pagan Community needs to 

take a stand, 

like the GLBT Community. 

The bigger our event is, 

the more anonymity it can afford us.  

If you are afraid of being recognized, wear a mask, and join us!  There is a long standing tradition of Masked Shamans, Masked Witches, Masked Pagans of every stripe.