BY KELLY DOLESJI
Board Member
Los Alamos Prode

Many Los Alamos businesses — including many Friends of Los Alamos Pride hasn’t had a chance to speak to in depth — stand behind Los Alamos’ LGBTQ+ residents.

The owners of Aspen Copies (https://www.aspencopies.com/), Dawn and James Cline, have a sign in their front window that James said expresses their feelings. It reads, “Hate has no business here,” followed by statements of respect for and allyship with women, people of color, immigrants, refugees, people of different faiths and different abilities, and LBGT community members. The sign includes welcoming messages in several languages besides English.

“We want people to feel comfortable and safe in our store,” James said. 

Aspen Copies also helped Friends of Los Alamos Pride by printing promotional materials free of charge.

Katherine Bruell, executive director of the Los Alamos Nature Center (https://peecnature.org/), said, “We at PEEC are thrilled that Los Alamos has such an active and vibrant Pride-supporting community! It’s been great to see this festival blossom and grow over the past few years, and we’re looking forward to being a part of it however we can.”

Attorney Wendy Marcus (wendy@wendymarcus.com) is an LGBTQ-friendly attorney who writes estate plans, wills, trusts, and other legal documents for Los Alamos residents.

“I had my first LGBTQ+ couple clients about 15 years ago here,” Marcus said. “At that time, LGBTQ couples’ estate plans had to look very different from a married couple. Even now with gay marriage, there are still some issues that have to be handled differently. My LGBTQ+ clients almost always remark that they have felt judged and humiliated when working with other attorneys. They appreciate that I treat them the same as everyone else. Love is love!” 

The New Mexico Consortium (https://newmexicoconsortium.org/) and the Los Alamos Co-op Market (https://losalamos.coop/) have also expressed support for Pride and the LGBTQ+ community.