Summers Street in Charleston WV was flooded with rainbows last Saturday, June 3, 2023 for the annual Rainbow Pride of WV Festival. Members and allies of the LGBTQIA+ community gathered downtown to celebrate their culture and resilience with performances, vendors, resources, and other activities.
World famous drag artists Lady Bunny and Manila Luzon took the stage as well as many local favorites throughout the course of the day. It was a full spectrum of creatives, many of whom can be seen right here on any given day in the Mountain State.
Celebrating Pride feels more important than ever as conservative right-wing attacks against the LGTQIA+ community, specifically transgender and drag artist communities, have become more prevalent. Several pieces of anti-trans and anti-drag legislation have passed in various states across the country. Pride is a reminder that the LGBTQIA+ community will not be erased or silenced.
Pride month commemorates the Stonewall Riots, which is widely known as the turning point of the queer liberation movement. On June 28, 1969 police raided Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village. As police officers began to arrest patrons of the bar for simply being queer, the crowd started to fight back erupting in a six day riot. This is why Pride exists. Pride is a symbol for queer resilience, strength, and joy so that we never forget those who have fought for us and we can honor their legacy by continuing that fight.
I have lived in West Virginia all 35 years of my life and to see queerness being celebrated on such a large scale in the state’s capital city gives me hope for the next generation. Seeing queer youth wear various Pride flags as capes, holding hands with their significant others, seeing a drag artist for the first time never gets old. Pride is a place for LGBTQIA+ people to know that there is a place for them where they can be celebrated for all the reasons they were condemned by the rest of society. A place where they can see their queerness as a gift, not a burden. A place where we can all feel the hope that one day all Mountaineers will be free.
