LGBTQ+ celebrations are kicking off for Pride Month across Northeast Ohio, including one in Medina on Thursday evening.
With growing cutbacks to diversity, equity and inclusion practices in schools, businesses and government programs, organizers of Pride Month celebrations said these events are even more important, including OutSupport, the LGBTQ organization behind “Pride on the Square,” taking place on the Downtown Medina Public Square.
“It's important to remind people that the LGBTQ community is everywhere, and Medina is no exception,” said Amy Demlow, vice president of OutSupport. “We want to make sure that if you're in Medina, you don't feel alone.”
Pride celebrations — often held during the month of June — recognize LGBTQ+ people and their allies.
In June 1969, a raid and a series of riots outside the Stonewall Inn, a bar in New York City. The riot became a galvanizing moment for resistance against social and political discrimination against LGBTQ+ people. A year later, organizers held the first "Pride" event to commemorate the event.
This year, Pride feels especially significant, said Demlow.
“Even though there may be pushback and people may feel more emboldened to push back and comment in a negative way on Pride events, we still need to be here because our community is still here,” she said.
Demlow spent Thursday morning hanging rainbow Pride flags on the square ahead of the event.
Hanging flags up on the public square became a point of contention in Medina three years ago. According to Medina Mayor Dennis Hanwell, the city had previously allowed organizations to hang flags for special occasions — Pride month, Juneteenth, winter holidays, etc. — on the flag poles around the public square where U.S. flags normally hang.
City council determined these flag poles would only be for U.S. flags, moving forward over concerns that the then policy wouldn’t allow the city to prevent hateful flags or images from being flown.
The council changed the policy to allow special event flags to be flown on the day of special events — like Pride on the Square — but only on the four archways around the park, according to Hanwell.
Northeast Ohio hosts Pride celebrations all month, including the inaugural Youngstown Community Pride on Saturday, the Stark Pride Festival in Canton June 14 and Geauga Pride in Chardon on June 21.
In Cleveland, the “Pride in the CLE” march and festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary Saturday. The LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland, which organizes the event, is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
“We all as Clevelanders should be really proud that our city has supported an LGBT community center for 50 years,” said Gulnar Feerasta, managing director of the LGBT Center. "We are the third oldest LGBT center in the country."
Like the celebration in the Medina, the LGBT Center said these celebrations stand up for DEI practices, but also stand against anti-LGBTQ legislation, such as Ohio’s transgender school bathroom ban or the Ohio “Parents’ Bill of Rights,” which requires school employees to inform parents of “sexuality content” or if their child has gender identity questions.
“While Pride has always been a protest and a celebration, it's also been a sanctuary and a call to action,” Feerasta said. “In the midst of all of this, you have to take time to celebrate. Queer joy is so important because when you have joy, you have hope.”
