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VA Pride Announces the Endless Summer of Pride

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In a time where abortion rights are seemingly coming to an end here in the United States, and the repressive forces taking them down are making clear that marriage equality and the right to privacy are next on the chopping block, wouldn’t it be nice to get at least a little bit of good news? Luckily for all of us here in Virginia who are trying to maintain our Pride through difficult times, Virginia Pride is here for us. This week, they announced Endless Summer of Pride, an initiative that begins on June 1 — the first day of Pride Month — and will continue all the way through the summer, culminating in VA Pridefest 2022, the first Pridefest since 2019!

Endless Summer of Pride will consist of over 20 events, from ceremonial commemorations of Pride Month to family-oriented celebrations and, of course, opportunities for the adults to party. The whole shindig will kick off on June 1 with a public proclamation of Pride Month at City Hall by Mayor Levar Stoney, who will also raise the Progress Pride flag over City Hall. That night, the city will also light up Main Street Station in Pride colors, in conjunction with other companies including Dominion Energy, Altria, Bank Of America, and the Hampton Inn Downtown. That night, Lewis Ginter will also be illuminating their Conservatory dome in Pride colors.

“June 1 will kick off what we expect to be the most coordinated series of observances of LGBTQ Pride  Month the Richmond region has ever seen,” stated James Millner, Virginia Pride’s program director. “Nearly everywhere you turn, you’ll be reminded that it’s Pride Month. We are bringing businesses, sports and community organizations and government and cultural institutions together to send a powerful message that the LGBTQ community is welcome and celebrated here.”

There will be all sorts of other events taking place throughout June and across the entire summer, from Pride Night at The Diamond on Thursday, June 23 to the annual Love On Tap event at Hardywood and the return of the Byrd Theatre’s ever-popular series MonGays. It’s more than we can possibly get cover within the confines of this article, but you can get a complete list of events with all the details over at vapride.org/esop.

“The Endless Summer of Pride has something for everyone,” Rae Berryman, Chair of the Virginia  Pride Committee, said in a statement. “We want the entire Richmond Region to join in celebrating our LGBTQ community  like never before.”

Of course, the whole thing will culminate in VA Pridefest, which will return to Brown’s Island after three years away on September 24, 2022. Expect plenty of entertainment, on two different stages, as well as activities for youth and families, and plenty of food, alcohol, craft, and non-profit vendors.

“We are gearing up for what we expect will be the biggest and best Pridefest ever,” stated Millner. “We  are making huge investments in the event to give the Richmond community the experience they deserve  and that they’ve missed for three years.”

The full details on the 2022 VA PrideFest are still to come, but watch this space — we’ll bring all of them to you as soon as we hear of them. In the meantime, get ready for the Endless Summer of Pride: because when things are at their scariest, that’s when we most urgently need to celebrate and show our Pride.

VA Pridefest 2021 Postponed

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This morning brings a sad but necessary announcement; VA Pridefest, originally scheduled for Saturday, September 25 at Brown’s Island, will be postponed until 2022. The decision was not made lightly, but with COVID numbers once again on the rise due to the Delta variant, the organizers felt that it was the right thing to do.

COVID strikes again. Back in the spring, when vaccines were all the rage and numbers were falling rapidly, it felt like we were seeing a light at the end of the tunnel where the pandemic was concerned, and at that time, a lot of plans were made for the summer, the fall, and beyond — when, we assumed, COVID would be mostly behind us. But of course, like the meme says, there was our fall plans, and then there was the Delta variant.

The news out of VA Pride today is another strong indicator that we’re not out of the pandemic woods yet. After missing Pridefest 2020 due to COVID, everyone was excited to get back to Brown’s Island for the biggest LGBTQ Pride celebration in the state. Unfortunately, it is not to be; this morning, VA Pridefest organizers have announced that the 2021 Pridefest, scheduled for Saturday, September 25, will be postponed. They tentatively hope to reschedule for June 2022, in order to coincide with the national LGBTQ Pride Month celebration.

“After consulting with our many corporate sponsors, organizational partners, and volunteers, we have decided it is in the best interest of the health and safety of our community to postpone VA Pridefest 2021 until next year,” said James Millner — program director of Diversity Richmond, of which Virginia Pride is a part — in a statement. “The data available from the Virginia Department of Health shows that cases of COVID-19, positivity, and incidence rates are projected to increase through the end of September when our event was scheduled, and we want to be certain that we are doing our part to help mitigate the spread of the virus.” 

Diversity Richmond and VA Pride — which merged earlier this year — began planning for an in-person Pridefest in June, when things relating to the pandemic were still trending in the right direction, and had done quite a bit to ensure that 2021 Pridefest would be a truly great event, on par with some of the best of prior years.

“In a very short period of time, we were able to raise record amounts of money, secure phenomenal entertainment acts, and plan an event of which our community and the entire Richmond Region would have been proud,” Millner said in a statement. “Our preparation puts us on solid footing as we postpone the festival to 2022, when we hope to hold it in June as part of the national observation of LGBTQ Pride Month. This has long been a goal of ours, and this just may give us that opportunity.”

VA Pridefest’s organizers stressed that the decision to postpone was not made lightly, and was arrived at with the help of VA Pride’s sponsors, volunteers, and community partners. Black Pride RVA co-founder Luise “Cheezi” Farmer offered her organization’s support for the decision to postpone, saying, “Posponing Pridefest is the right thing to do under the circumstances. I know I speak not just for Black Pride RVA, but for other LGBTQ and allied organizations when I say that we are grateful to the volunteers and leadership of Virginia Pride for putting the health and safety of our community first.”

VA Pride hopes to be able to hold some smaller events in September that will have more limited attendance, and at which they can require masks and/or proof of vaccination. Still, losing the big VA Pridefest throwdown at Brown’s Island for another year is a big blow to Virginia’s LGBTQ community — and no one knows this better than the organizers of VA Pridefest.

“We know this is not the outcome that we, nor anyone in our community, had hoped or planned for,”Millner said. “But we are also firm in our conviction that is absolutely the right thing to do.”

Photo from VA Pridefest 2018 by Sara Wheeler

Two LGBTQ Organizations Merge; In-Person Pridefest On The Horizon

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Diversity Richmond and VA Pride are now one organization, and they are currently hard at work to bring us the first Pridefest of the post-pandemic era this fall.

Decades ago, it was hard to imagine that Virginia’s annual Pridefest would swell from 75 to over 40,000 attendees. 

The commonwealth has in recent years moved to better protect LGBTQ citizens, and much of that is due to the work of community organizations. Two Virginia LGBTQ organizations — Diversity Richmond and Virginia Pride — recently merged following a two-year long process.

“We were very intentional about the process, so that’s why it took so long,” said Luise Farmer, chair of the Diversity Richmond board. “We just wanted to make sure that what we were doing for the community was the right thing to do.” 

Diversity Richmond was founded in 1999 as a place and resource for the LGBTQ community. The organization has donated over $1.1 million to local organizations such as Health Brigade, Side by Side, and the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities in the past 21 years, according to Bill Harrison, the president and executive director of Diversity Richmond.

Virginia Pride has helped organize the annual Pridefest event since the ’70s, according to its website. After decades of organizational fluctuation, it gained nonprofit status in 2006 and expanded its LGBTQ community advocacy and outreach. Virginia Pride is now a program of Diversity Richmond.

The merger will help expand the organization’s statewide presence and fundraising ability, and amplify resources to support Virginia’s LGBTQ community. Or as Farmer stated when the merger was announced, “we hope to take one and one and make three.”

Harrison said the merger will increase fundraising for Virginia Pride events and help fund salary and office space for staff. Corporate sponsors are more “comfortable” making donations when a staff is involved, not just volunteers, according to Harrison.

“Now, with the fundraising ability of Virginia Pride combined with us, both of us will just be able to do more for the community, now that we’ve combined forces as opposed to once separate,” Harrison said.

(L to R) Anonymous, James Millner, Stephanie Merlo, Luise Farmer and Bill Harrison announce Diversity Richmond’s partnership with Virginia Pride. Photo by Eric Russell.

June is celebrated nationally as Pride Month, in honor of the Stonewall riots, though Richmond’s Pridefest is held in September. Pridefest was cancelled last year in the thick of the pandemic. 

The 2021 event will be held in person, according to James Millner, the program director of Virginia Pride. Organizers are still uncertain what parameters will be in place for the festival but said they will follow local, state and federal guidelines.

“One thing the pandemic has taught us is that nothing is the same anymore,” Farmer said. “We are very conscious about how we put on Pride this year. Very, very conscious, because we would never want to put anyone at risk.”

The Centers for Disease Control announced Thursday that vaccinated individuals don’t have to wear masks or social distance unless a law or regulation requires it.

Millner said organizers will consider factors such as the number of vendors, vaccination rates, negative misconceptions from social media posts and how corporate sponsors could be affected. No corporate Pridefest sponsors have been announced this year. Past sponsors include Capital One, Facebook, Nissan North America and SunTrust.

“We know that people in our community look to our organization for leadership, and we want to be good stewards of that trust,” Millner said.

PrideFest and similar events are important to Richmond’s LGBTQ community for many reasons, Millner said. It helps affirm a sense of community to have representation in a historically conservative state and to have companies supporting LGBTQ employees. 

His ultimate goal is to create a safe space for people to express and be themselves — whether it’s wearing leather, rainbows and glitter, or simply holding their partner’s hand in public.

“It’s very important that we come together in large numbers, in big waves, and say: ‘We are here,’” Millner said. “We are part of the fabric of this community, and we deserve every opportunity, every bit of equality, we deserve to be treated just like everybody else.”

Written by Aaron Royce, Capital News Service. Top Photo by Brianna Swank, from Pexels.

Stronger Together

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In order to increase their impact in the Richmond Region and the Commonwealth, Diversity Richmond and VA Pride have joined forces and will officially merge on April 1.

On Tuesday, they made it official. February 23 saw the announcement by Diversity Richmond and VA Pride, two of the leading LGBTQ organizations in the state, that they will officially merge into one organization as of April 1. VA Pride will become a program of Diversity Richmond, and will continue to produce its annual PrideFest and other events supporting the Virginia LGBTQ community throughout the year.

One big change resulting from the merger will be a paid, full-time Program Director for VA Pride, which previously operated in an all-volunteer fashion. In the past five years, VA Pride’s budget quintupled and it has continued to increase its work putting on events and advocating for the Virginia LGBTQ community throughout the year. Merging with Diversity Richmond will give the organization a boost in the form of providing staff and organizational structure that will allow Virginia Pride to avoid potential growing pains.

“Virginia Pride enters into this merger with Diversity Richmond at a time when both organizations are thriving,” Virginia Pride President Stephanie Merlo said in a statement. “In recent years, Virginia Pride has experienced exponential growth of our events, including an annual PrideFest that attracts more than 40,000 people, and has seen the significant impact of our advocacy efforts to make the Richmond region a better place for LGBTQ people to live, work, and visit. Merging with Diversity Richmond will ensure we continue to build on our legacy of success.”

Diversity Richmond has also been on a growth streak in recent years. Having distributed more than $1.1 million in grants for LGBTQ and LGBTQ-aligned programs and organizations since its founding, it has really stepped up to the plate since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since last March, Diversity Richmond has held three food drives, hosted press conferences with Governor Ralph Northam and Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, and served as a COVID testing site for the Virginia Department of Health.

“By joining forces with Virginia Pride, we hope to take one and one and make three,” Diversity Richmond Board President Luise “Cheezi” Farmer said in a statement. “We are confident that this merger will amplify the impact of the work of our organizations and allow us to better serve not just the LGBTQ community, but the entire Richmond Region.”

While the two organizations just announced their merger this week, it’s been in the works behind the scenes since 2019, and has involved leaders within the local LGBTQ community, who were consulted to ensure that the combination of the two organizations would have community support.

“I think it’s great that Virginia Pride and Diversity Richmond are merging,” Zakia McKensey, Founder of Nationz Foundation, said in a statement. “They are two of the most visible and respected LGBTQ organizations in Richmond and I think that our community will be very well served by them working together.”

James Millner, who has held multiple leadership positions with Virginia Pride and is currently the interim Executive Director, will transition to the role of Virginia Pride Program Director once the merger is complete. “This new structure will allow our volunteer leadership to have the support of full-time staff, and will ensure that we are able to continue to produce the fantastic events and provide the support to our community that we are known for,” Millner said in a statement.

“I remember when the first pride festival was held in Richmond 42 years ago when 75 people attended,” Bill Harrison, President and Executive Director of Diversity Richmond, said in a statement. “If you had told me then that one day we would have 40,000 people at Pridefest, I’d have laughed. But, here we are. What Virginia Pride has accomplished as an all-volunteer organization is astonishing to me. Diversity Richmond is honored that we have this opportunity to provide the support they need to continue their incredible trajectory.”

“Diversity Richmond and VA Pride see this as an opportunity to combine our resources and talent to better serve the LGBTQ and allied communities,” said Millner. “We believe, simply, that we will be stronger together.”

Top Photo: James Millner, Stephanie Merlo, Luise “Cheezi” Farmer, and Bill Harrison. Photo via Diversity Richmond.

VA Pride Cancels PrideFest 2020

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Due to concerns over COVID-19, VA Pride has announced that the 2020 edition of their annual PrideFest, originally scheduled for September 26, will not occur.

Considering everything that’s been going on over the past several months with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, it’s doubtful that it came as a surprise to very many people on Tuesday, when Virginia Pride officially announced the cancellation of this year’s VA PrideFest. However, it was still unfortunate news.

The organization cited “ongoing concerns and uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic,” and surely anyone who has been following the recent surges in new coronavirus cases across the majority of the United States knows that these concerns are very real. That includes VA Pride President James Millner.

“Our first and foremost concern is for the health and safety of our community,” Millner said in a statement. “While there was some hope that restrictions on larger outdoor events would have eased by September, we could not, in good conscience, hold an event that put anyone at risk.”

The event, held every year on Brown’s Island on the last Saturday in September, regularly draws 40,000 attendees, some of whom travel hundreds of miles to be there. This year will be only the second year in the past 40 in which there hasn’t been some sort of Pride event in Richmond. However, considering the size of Brown’s Island, a public park in the center of Richmond with multiple entrances, organizers felt that attempting to limit attendance and enforce social distancing would be impossible to manage.

The loss of the Virginia LGBTQ community’s biggest annual opportunity to gather together and celebrate our Pride is particularly tough this year, as Virginia passed sweeping new LGBTQ protections in the General Assembly this year, all of which went into effect earlier this week. It certainly would have made this year’s PrideFest an extremely festive event.

Millner acknowledged that therefore, this loss would be particularly difficult this year. However, he pointed out that, in a time of widespread protests over police violence against Black Americans, there is still a long journey ahead before we can attain equal rights for all.

“Our community has much progress to celebrate this year, but much work remains,” Millner stated. “We firmly believe that LGBTQ organizations like Virginia Pride have a role to play in supporting and amplifying Black voices and fighting for Black Lives. We, as an organization, now have the opportunity to focus on how we can best use our time, energy and resources to support those efforts.”

VA Pride recently took part in the Stonewall Rising March For Black Lives, which demonstrated solidarity between Virginia’s Black and LGBTQ communities. The organization is looking into more opportunities for smaller in-person events and larger virtual programs they can host over the remaining months of 2020.

However, the group recognizes that the loss of PrideFest will be a difficult one. Still, Millner encourages everyone in Virginia’s LGBTQ community to stay positive.

“We know this will be disappointing to our LGBTQ community and our allies,” stated Millner. “But we are resilient. We will not let this steal our pride.”

Photos from VA PrideFest 2018 by Sara Wheeler

There For Those In Need

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Captain Michael Bender, who became Richmond Police Department’s new LGBTQ Liaison in August, wants to ensure that Richmond’s LGBTQ community feels welcomed and included throughout the city.

In June 1969, police raided Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City, sparking two nights of rioting that have gone down in history as a catalyst of the gay rights movement. Today, half a century later, it’s not uncommon to encounter anti-police sentiments among members of the LGBTQ community. “No cops at Pride” becomes a mantra each June for those aware of the long history of injustices committed against the LGBTQ community by police.

In hopes of building a stronger, healthier relationship with the community, the Richmond Police Department established an LGBTQ liaison officer position in 2013. This past August, Captain Michael Bender took over as RPD’s LGBTQ liaison officer, replacing Captain Dan Minton, who had held the position since 2016.

Bender, who has been with RPD for almost 25 years, said that a big part of his responsibilities as LGBTQ Liaison is being available to the community. “A liaison role is about accessibility,” he said. “Who do you go to talk to if you have an issue?”

This falls in line with precedents that past liaisons have set. In 2017, Richmond police investigated an incident in which an individual spray-painted the words “Gay Move Die” on the side of a car as a hate crime. Capt. Minton, LGBTQ liaison at the time, was actively involved in communicating updates about the investigation to members of the LGBTQ community.

Bender says that it is important for him to help out the LGBTQ community in Richmond, because everyone should feel welcome in the community as a whole.

“One of the big things I always tell officers is ‘how would you want your family treated … if they encountered the police?’” Bender said. “If you can make somebody feel welcome and feel accepted, then they’re part of the community. And that’s what we want for everybody in the city. It’s not just certain groups or certain people that we want to be in the community, we want everybody to feel a fabric of Richmond because it’s a great city.”

Richmond Police Chief William Smith, Capt. Bender, and other members of local law enforcement agencies at VA PrideFest 2019. Photo by Christopher Brown

While Bender had never attended a Pride festival prior to becoming LGBTQ liaison, this year’s VA PrideFest, which occurred on September 28, was his first. Bender hoped to use the event as an opportunity to make his face known to the community and as a way to build trust.

“It’s just about changing people’s perceptions and talking to people like they’re people,” Bender said. “I mean, we’re all people. So there’s no difference, as far as I’m concerned, just because I’m wearing a uniform.”

It’s probably comes as no surprise that Bender disagrees with the notion of “no cops at Pride.”

“In this day and age, having an event where you have over 20 to 30,000 people, it’s a public safety issue if you don’t have some law enforcement presence,” he said. “Speaking to the president of [VA Pride, James Millner], he is very adamant that having uniformed officers there is imperative for everybody’s safety.”

Bender has only served as LGBTQ liaison officer for around two months now. He says that he has had conversations with his predecessor about how to best handle the responsibilities of the position, and seeks to continue the improvements he has seen the Richmond Police Department has made since he joined their ranks in 1995.

“It’s a new position and it’s an unknown,” he said. “I’m just hoping I can do a good job and be there when somebody needs me.”

Top Photo courtesy Richmond Police