Rainbows for everyone!
Yes, even you
Ameina Qazi-Ludahl isn’t slowing down. Not now. And there won’t be nagging doubts standing in her way this time.
When I wrote about Whidbey Island Pride celebrations last June, Ameina was nervous. She said so herself. She was planning Oak Harbor’s first Pride Walk, with no idea how it would play out: big crowd or an empty park? Happy citizens, or crickets? A day of unity or loneliness?
Turned out, she didn’t need to worry. The Pride Walk was full of love and togetherness, and the open-mic event that followed gave guests a chance to share stories and feel their neighbors’ support. The common threads among the speakers that day? Joy. Kindness. Safety. Community. Gratitude.
So… what’s next? What’s on her mind for an encore?
Baby steps, Ameina told me. She’ll talk with city officials next week, with a projected event on the first weekend of June. Pride 2026 will again feature a walk through town, and an open mic time. She hopes — pending city approval — for an expanded event at Flintstone Park, with exhibitor booths and food trucks.
What motivates a straight woman to be so passionate about Pride, when she has a full-time business to run at Wild Ophelia’s on Pioneer Way? A business that takes her full attention as she plans to expand to a second location?
It’s really pretty simple. Ameina loves and respects her LGBTQ friends and family. She has seen them struggle to find their place, to acknowledge their true identity, in a world that often seems aligned against them. So she gives her time and energy and love to make people — all people — feel welcome. And the effort has been worth it. The response in Oak Harbor has been overwhelmingly positive, she says.
Chatting with Ameina, there’s an intense power in this woman’s eyes, in her voice, in her manner. It’s a gentle power. The power of wide-open arms, of sincerity, of genuine caring. But you don’t want to cross her. A question came up: what about people who don’t support Pride Month? You know, the folks who ask why we can’t have Straight Pride?
“Oh, I say bring it on,” she says. But she doesn’t say it like she wants to punch anyone in the mouth. She won’t back down from speaking her truth and demanding justice in her community, but she wants to do it by changing minds. By throwing those arms open.
We talked about the rainbow flag and agreed that, by definition, the whole spectrum of light, the whole of nature itself, is in a rainbow. Straight people can find their color too. The rainbow really does represent all of us. Old, young, gay, straight, every race and nationality. It brings us all together with a place for everyone.
“It’s time for the younger generation to step up and be heard,” Ameina says, referring to her own contemporaries. “We can make a difference too.” She appreciates the progress her boomer elders made, yet sees the need to take up the torch. At her words, my mind flashed back to last year’s open mic when someone was glad they could marry who they wanted. And two gray-haired women, way in the back, raised their fists and hollered “you’re welcome!”
Seems like Ameina has already made a difference. Seems like she’s living out the classic Edwin Markham poem:
He drew a circle that shut me out
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout
But love and I had the wit to win
We drew a circle that took him in
