Jenny Boyts (she/her) was born in Fort Worth and lived a few places before settling down in Indiana, which has been her home for just over ten years. After serving as a board member of Indy Pride for a year, Boyts is now the board president. This month, she spoke at March’s CreativeMornings in honor of Trans Day of Visibility. In addition to speaking about her life and career, Boyts also gave a platform to two trans artists to center their voices and art to the audience—Sylvia Thomas, a poet, and Jody Galadriel Friend, singer of the band Public Universal Friend. Throughout the event, Boyts talked about how LGBTQ+ Hoosiers are everywhere. To represent this, PATTERN met up with Boyts and ten other LGBTQ+ individuals at 10 East Arts for a quick group photo shoot followed by a sitdown interview with Boyts. We couldn’t help but drum up excitement for this year’s festival and parade, which will take place in Indy on June 10. In the meantime, look out for the full lineup dropping later this month, and enjoy our conversation with Boyts for all of the current details!
Mikaela Helane: What’s something new about Indy Pride this year that people can look forward to?
Jenny Boyts: We’re continuing to intentionally create spaces for intersectional identities. Last year, we launched a really beautiful, vibrant community that is leading the Latinx Pride committee. This year, we are bringing in Asian American Pacific Islander Pride. We are continuing to expand in a way that feels relevant and authentic, while keeping our legacy events that people feel really excited about every year, like our big festival and our big parade.
MH: Tell me a little bit about Girl Pride. Is that going to happen again this year?
JB: The origin of Girl Pride is that historically, girls or femme-identifying folks did not see themselves in many of the events that Indy Pride has been creating for about the last twenty years. What we know and recognize is that there are a number of ways in which people identify across the gender spectrum; we want to celebrate those that either identify as female or femme but also continue to be expansive and all inclusive. This year, we’re calling it Girl Pride Presents Femmes and Them. We have burlesque aerialists, musicians, spoken word, comedy, and we continue to value and appreciate the partnership with The Vogue to host that event every year.
MH: What does Pride month mean to you?
JB: I grew up in a city, a state, and ultimately a family where this identity—my queer identity—was not seen and certainly not celebrated. I believe that continuing to elevate, celebrate, and empower queer folks year-round is important. Having one month to celebrate our own identities and collective joy, and to be together and build community and awareness around who we are, is also important. We deserve spaces that are joyful, spaces that are celebratory, and that is where we invest quite a bit of time, money, and resources for Pride month. Personally, my joy comes from celebrating the many kinds of people that come together in the month of June during Pride month.
MH: For people wanting to support businesses or organizations that support the Pride community, are there any that you can recommend?
JB: There are a ton of queer organizations in the city that are doing really good work, specifically with trans and gender nonconforming youth right now: Indiana Youth Group, Trinity Haven, the Damien Center, Trans Solutions, BU Wellness. We want to celebrate and elevate organizations who continue to invest in the queer community during Pride month as well.
MH: What about restaurants that support Pride?
JB: Mass Ave continues to be a space that not only is central to our Indianapolis queer story, but continues to create safe spaces. Some of those places are Metro, Forty Five Degrees, Mass Ave Pub, and Almost Famous. There’s also Helm Coffee Roasters out in Garfield Park. There are other coffee shops that are not necessarily queer-owned, but are queer-welcoming, like Chalet and Provider.
MH: What’s an issue the LGBTQ+ community is facing right now that not many people know about?
JB: There is a very real fight right now at the policy level related to access to gender-affirming care, which is essential health care for minors and families who are making those decisions together. There’s also bills on the table right now that are putting a damper on the ways in which the queer community and queer families show up in schools, in books, in history. There are real needs for folks in the queer community that continue to pop up. Things like food, rental assistance, all of the basic needs that the barriers to access those resources do still exist. Pay attention to No Questions Asked, a black and femme queer led organization, while they continue to build internally. They are still addressing the needs of our community as they arise through mutual aid resources and food. They need capital and time to be able to provide these essential resources full force again, so visit the Indy Pride donation page, select No Questions Asked in the drop down and give today.
MH: Who are some of your LGBTQ+ role models?
JB: I have continued to be encouraged, impressed, and influenced by queer organizations and specifically, the trans and gender-nonconforming leaders in the city. I think about folks who have been here fighting this fight for a long time and who continue to lead with bravery, like Chris Paulsen or Zoe O’Haillin-Berne at the Indiana Youth Group. Or the many folks that are continuing the policy fight, like Kit Malone at the ACLU of Indiana who has given literal blood, sweat, and tears to ensure every queer Hoosier feels valued, worthy, and loved. Eli Gering, who is ensuring there is queer representation in the legal field. Ruth Hawkins, who centers queer humans through their gracious hospitality. Angie Martinez, who is working to ensure queer folks have access to essential health services.
I draw a lot of inspiration and grounding from trans poet, author, and activist, Alok Vaid-Menon, who is continuing to share their art and their creativity for the queer community. I’m deeply inspired by trans and gender non-conforming leaders like Audrea Lacy (Tia Mirage Hall), Jayne Walters, and Camden Oslund who continue to show up for community on the Indy Pride team. I’m inspired by beautiful artists like Sylvia Thomas, Greg Rose (HayKidd), Jody Galadriel Friend, and Rai Caraballo (Dahlia Desire.) Local trans and gender non-conforming leaders continue to beautifully contribute to the vibrant fabric of the queer community here in Indianapolis—they make me want to be a better human.
MH: At your CreativeMornings talk on Friday, you mentioned how when you were six, you already knew you liked girls. What advice would you give to your six-year-old self?
JB: In that talk, we had a 13-year-old present in the audience who asked the question, “What can I do as a young person right now in Indiana to continue to support the queer community?” What I think was a really brilliant response by Sylvia Thomas, whose performance we got to experience at CreativeMornings, was her encouragement for that young person to be themselves, to not have to conform or live in the shame of what it means right now to be a queer young person. I would give myself that same advice, which is to continue to be yourself and find the best ways to connect with people who are curious about you, who love you, and will continue to empower you.
MH: How can non-LGBTQ+ people be better allies?
JB: Reach out about policy issues, find ways to connect with the ACLU of Indiana, write your legislators, write the Governor to veto some of these bills that we see moving through the statehouse. Some of what I think about that we experienced on Friday with CreativeMornings is allies offering up space for queer folks to gather safely, both emotionally and psychologically safe, but physically safe, too. Open up your pocketbook. Find ways you can support the queer creative community, whether that’s through art, purchasing merchandise, or attending their concert, etc. Continue to interrupt really hateful misinformation in all kinds of spaces. There’s a lot of lies that are being told about the queer community, more specifically about the trans and gender non-conforming community. Educate yourselves and have compassionate conversations where you’re interrupting the lies from continuing to spread, because there are real consequences to that narrative.
