He said some people opposed to having a gay rodeo tried complaining to Washoe County commissioners to have them stop the event. “It wasn’t real big then, but by 1980, it grew to draw over 40,000 people,” Lachoy said. The Reno Gay Rodeo started with the Silver Dollar Court, the oldest LGBTQ organization in Nevada. 2, 1976, the first Reno Gay Rodeo was held at the Washoe County Fairgrounds in Reno, according to, a site that tracks historical moments within the LGBTQ+ community. “In the last 10 years, things have greatly changed in a positive way. “It has changed where you could probably get away with that now,” Lachoy said. “We had several people dressed in what we felt was inappropriate for Reno, and they were asked to go home and change. It’s one of the reasons Reno celebrates Pride Month in July. Lachoy, who was on the planning committee for the first few Pride festivals, said Northern Nevada Pride has become a part of Artown. The Northern Nevada Pride has been around for eight years.” “One has gone away because the person who put it on has passed,” he said. “In fact, for a little bit, we had two pride celebrations three weeks apart, which really confused people. “In Reno, we used to celebrate in August,” Lachoy said. Then, the first parade was held in 1999, he said. The event eventually evolved into what Lachoy calls “the modern-day Pride,” which was first celebrated in 1997. 'Love always trumps hate': Tire marks cleaned from Reno Arch rainbow crosswalk The community has become more out, sort of speak.”
“They had a little Pride Parade around a bar using decorated shopping carts back in the 80s. “It was kind of private, and it was kind of quiet,” Lachoy said. The first Pride event was held in 1987 at Rock Park in Sparks, according to Lachoy. “A lot of people don’t know that because it’s been, as you would say, in the closet for a long time and it’s just now coming out.”
“Reno has a really strong gay history,” Lachoy said. Lachoy has been sharing stories on the LGBTQ+ community for nearly three decades in the region's first and only gay newspaper, now an online-only website.