The

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Pride Parade A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer culture, queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...

and Festival is a week-long celebration of the city's

Lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

Gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

Bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

Transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

Queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...

, and other identities ( GBTQ+ community. The festivities are typically held annually at the end of June but have happened as early as April and as late as July in various locations of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Parade

Cincinnati Pride started in 1973. In 2018, the event had approximately 120,000 attendees. The

pride parade A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer culture, queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, LGBT rights by country o ...

serves as the anchor event. The event has corporate and non-profit sponsors, including presenting sponsor

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...

, as well as others including P&G,

US Bank U.S. Bancorp (stylized as us bancorp) is an American bank holding company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and incorporated in Delaware. It is the parent company of U.S. Bank National Association, and is the fifth largest banking institution ...

Fifth Third Bank Fifth Third Bank (5/3 Bank), the principal subsidiary of Fifth Third Bancorp is an American bank holding company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. Fifth Third is one of the largest consumer banks in the Midwestern United States, Fifth Third B ...

, The Kroger Co., and

TriHealth TriHealth is a unified health system based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was originally formed in 1995. Currently the system comprises four general hospitals: Bethesda North, Good Samaritan In most contexts, the concept of good den ...

. Various LGBT and affinity groups are involved, too, including

Human Rights Campaign The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is an American LGBTQ advocacy group. It is the largest LGBTQ political lobbying organization within the United States. Based in Washington, D.C., the organization focuses on protecting and expanding rights for LGB ...

PFLAG PFLAG is the United States' first and largest organization uniting parents, families, and allies with people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+). PFLAG National is the national organization, which provides support t ...

GLSEN GLSEN (pronounced ''glisten''; formerly the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network) is an American education organization working to end discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expres ...

, Dykes on Bikes,

Imperial Court System The International Imperial Court System (IICS) also known as the International Court System is one of the oldest and largest LGBT organizations in the world. The Imperial Court System is a grassroots network of organizations that works to build ...

, and various

BDSM BDSM is a variety of often erotic practices or roleplaying involving bondage, discipline, dominance and submission, sadomasochism, and other related interpersonal dynamics. Given the wide range of practices, some of which may be engaged ...

groups. Churches, entertainers and politicians are also involved.

Festival

The festival formed out of a

political rally A political demonstration is an action by a mass group or collection of groups of people in favor of a political or other cause or people partaking in a protest against a cause of concern; it often consists of walking in a mass march formati ...

held in

Fountain Square A fountain square is a park or plaza in a city that features a fountain. It may stand alone or as part of a larger public park. In the United States, there are numerous fountain squares, many of which are actually called "fountain square." Ther ...

in Cincinnati. Today, the festival takes place at Sawyer Point Park and Yeatman's Cove. Traditionally held the last weekend in June, the

Pride Festival, along with the

, commemorates the 1969

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous protests by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began in the early morning hours of Ju ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In addition to the parade and festival, the event's organizers have expanded the celebration to include numerous

fundraisers Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

, gay-themed city bike rides, movie screenings, fashion shows featuring the work of local designers,

brunch Brunch is a meal eaten between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., sometimes accompanied by alcoholic drinks (typically champagne or a cocktail). The meal originated in the British hunt breakfast. The word ''brunch'' is a portmanteau of ''breakfast'' a ...

es, and local events at the

Cincinnati Art Museum The Cincinnati Art Museum is an art museum in the Eden Park neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1881, it was the first purpose-built art museum west of the Alleghenies, and is one of the oldest in the United States. Its collection of ov ...

Administration

After the 40th anniversary of the festival, in 2013, Cincinnati Pride incorporated as a non-profit organization in the State of Ohio and was granted its tax exempt status as a public charity in November, 2015 by the IRS. It is governed by a volunteer

board of trustees A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

and ran entirely by volunteers. Before becoming an independent Pride organization, the event was run by various local LGBT groups, including the Greater Cincinnati Gay & Lesbian Coalition (1978-1993) the Gay and Lesbian Center of Greater Cincinnati (1993-2009) and the Greater Cincinnati Gay Chamber of Commerce (2010-2013).

History

Pride festivities across the country serve as commemorations of the

(the first organized resistance of the

gay community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a common culture and social ...

against

police harassment The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and ...

) which took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the

Stonewall Inn The Stonewall Inn, often shortened to Stonewall, is a gay bar and recreational tavern in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City, and the site of the Stonewall riots of 1969, which is widely considered to be the s ...

in the

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

neighborhood of

. These events are still widely considered the single most important event leading up to the

gay liberation movement The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoffman, 2007, pp.xi-xiii. ...

and the modern fight for

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , 33 ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

today. The

Anti-Vietnam War movement Opposition to United States involvement in the Vietnam War (before) or anti-Vietnam War movement (present) began with demonstrations in 1965 against the escalating role of the United States in the Vietnam War and grew into a broad social mov ...

and "

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

" culture was in full force by the early 1970s and out of these sentiments gave rise to other politically-leftist organizations. By 1972,

’s first gay organization, The Cincinnati Gay Community (CGC), was established by Michael Weyand, Terry Flanagan, Carol Kipp, Richard (Dick) Jazwinski, Ronald Carter, Jack Ferguson, and Karl Owens. In April 1973, four years after the initial events surrounding the

, CGC organizers planned and carried out Cincinnati’s first gay march through Over the Rhine (OTR) and rally at Fountain Square. Although some of the original details are unclear, most reports state that initial attendance ranged from 12-40 individuals. Shortly after the 1973 rally and march, the CGC disbanded and the next city-wide Pride was not revived until 1978 when it fell under the auspices of the newly created Greater Cincinnati Gay Coalition. The GCGC became the Greater Cincinnati Gay and Lesbian Coalition in 1984. Subsequently, the GCGLC became the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Greater Cincinnati (The Center) in 1993. In 1993 when

passed the notoriously anti-gay Issue 3 (Article 12). Because of the city’s new ordinances,

LGBT activism Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movements are social movements that advocate for LGBT people in society. Some focus on equal rights, such as the ongoing movement for same-sex marriage, while others focus on liberation, as in the ...

dropped sharply and a city-wide Pride event no longer seemed feasible. As a result, smaller events popped up in more liberal neighborhoods across the metropolitan area including festivals in Lunken Playfield in Mt. Washington from 1996-1999. In 1999, Michael Blankenship, a local activist, held a small rally at City Hall. From 2000-2009,

Northside Northside or North Side may refer to: Music * Northside (band), a musical group from Manchester, England * NorthSide, an American record label * NorthSide Festival (Denmark), a music festival in Aarhus, Denmark * "Norf Norf", a 2015 song by Vinc ...

(Cincinnati’s first "

Gayborhood A gay village is a geographical area with generally recognized boundaries that is inhabited or frequented by many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBT) people. Gay villages often contain a number of gay-oriented establis ...

"), began holding a parade, rallies at Burnet Woods, and a festival at Hoffner Park as an independent committee chaired by Chris Good and then Ken Colegrove all advised by Michael "Goose" Chanak. In 2004, The Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Greater Cincinnati carried out the two-day festival until 2010 when, in an effort to make the event more accessible to the Greater Tri-state area, organizers moved the parade to downtown

and the festival to

under the stewardship of the Greater Cincinnati Gay Chamber of Commerce. Although

did not host the official Cincinnati Pride Festival after 2009, Northside Pride continued to host its own event, later in the summer the years 2010-2012. As Pride Parade and Festival attendance surged (an estimated 120,000 now attend annually), the Greater Cincinnati Gay Chamber of Commerce worked with city officials to move the event from Fountain Square to Sawyer Point Park and Yeatman's Cove (on the banks of the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

) in 2012. Following the 2013 festivities (the 40th anniversary of the city's first Pride event), Cincinnati Pride registered as an independent, non-profit organization becoming Cincinnati Pride, Inc. The 2014 festival marked the first celebration executed entirely under the organization's newly incorporated board of trustees and planning committee. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Cincinnati Pride was canceled in 2020. Initially, the event was scheduled for June 27, 2020, and then reset for October 3, 2020. Both were canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. The annual fundraiser, Pride Night at Kings Island held generally on the first Friday of September each year was also canceled due to the pandemic. On February 1, 2021, the Cincinnati Pride committee announced that the in-person 2021 Pride Parade and Festival has been canceled due to COVID-19 but other events will be planned, as appropriate.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Cincinnatipride.org

Facebook Cincinnati Pride

Cincinnatipridehistory.org Updated: Pride History new site from Ohio Lesbian Archives collaboration replacing old GLBT Center site

2013 Fox19.com

2018 WCPO Coverage

Cincinnati Enquirer June 2019 - Stonewall 50 yrs later
Festivals in Cincinnati Pride parades in the United States