About Payne County Pride

Bridging Families and Communities

Our Mission

The Payne County Pride Association sets as its mission to connect communities through promoting, advocating for, and celebrating persons who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, or queer and their allies in a family-friendly way. We promote visibility, education, and diversity of queer issues and members of the queer community.

In bridging communities, education plays a major role. We have assembled a small educational page on LGBTQ+ topics. We have also assembled a page of helpful links and resources for LGBTQ+ persons, their families, friends and allies.

Who we are

The Payne County Pride Association is a 501(c)(3), not-for-profit corporation incorporated in the state of Oklahoma founded in 2018. We are comprised of members of the Payne County community. We represent an array of backgrounds, experiences, identities, and aspirations.

We hope that Payne County Pride is more than just a mere celebration in Stillwater, but is an event that can unite the entire county and Northern Oklahoma region. We hope to see folks from Cushing, Perkins, Yale, Ripley, and Glencoe - and we also hope to see folks from Drumright, Ponca City, Pawnee, Guthrie, Pawhuska, Enid - and beyond!

Payne County Pride Leadership

Chris Rinke, Executive Director & Chair
Mikeala Taylor, Vice Chair
Bryan Langford-Loftis, Treasurer; Trustee
​Yuki Clarke, Secretary
André Durham, Founder; Trustee
Angela Simon, Trustee

2020 Pride Committee

André Durham (Founder, Trustee)
Angela Simon (Trustee)
Asher Cole
Aubrie Bowlan
Bryan Langford-Loftis (Treasurer, Trustee)
Cassie Herndon
Chris Rinke (Executive Director, Chair)
David Rose
Erin Langford-Loftis
Heather Rose 
Kristy Self
Mikaela Taylor (Vice Chair)
Sami Simon
Yuki Clarke (Secretary) 
Zeke Simon

Contact Us
Email: paynecountypride@gmail.com
Postal Mail:
             PO Box 2544
             Stillwater, OK 74076
Social Media:
             Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paynecopride/
             Instagram: @paynecopride
             Twitter: @paynecopride
Our contact form
Our donation form

Why "Payne County"? Why target all of Northern Oklahoma?

Why Payne County?
We want to be inclusive of the entirety of Payne County because we want to bring the entire county together in supporting the LGBTQ+ community regardless of where someone may live. Each of our towns, Yale, Glencoe, Cushing, Ripley, Perkins, and Stillwater, have LGBTQ+ persons. By choosing the name "Payne County Pride" we highlight this fact and celebrate all persons across this beautiful county of ours, regardless of which town they call home.

Why target all of Northern Oklahoma?
The same reason we choose our name - we celebrate LGBTQ+ folks everywhere, regardless of their hometown. Our region has some amazing towns, but only Enid currently has a pride festival. Together with our friends to the west, we want to inspire our fellow Northern OK communities to hold their own prides.