June is LGBTQ+ Pride season in many countries, and Columbus has a long history of being welcoming to the LGBTQ+ community. The Stonewall Columbus Pride festival, which is being held this weekend, is an event that draws attendees from all parts of the community, and from all over Central Ohio.
During last year’s Stonewall Columbus Pride parade, four individuals staged a peaceful protest asking for a pause in the parade to honor the disproportionate violence and marginalization which people of color in the LGBTQ+ community face, as well as longstanding issues with police brutality towards people of color. They were met with police violence and criminal charges.
Out of that event grew Columbus Community Pride, the first festival of its kind in Columbus: a Pride festival with a truly intersectional focus, one which foregrounds groups who are marginalized in the mainstream LGBTQ+ community (such as people of color and people with disabilities), and one which aims to be for the community, by the community, without corporate sponsorship and police presence. The increasing incorporation of police (whose harassment of LGBTQ+ individuals instigated the original Stonewall Riots) and corporate sponsorship into mainstream Pride events around the world has been under criticism in recent years, as has been the erasure of transgender people and people of color from LGBTQ+ history.
Columbus Community Pride’s celebration culminates this Saturday with a Pride festival at Mayme Moore Park. All are welcome.
