🏺RIC Queer Spaces 3/6
Richmond’s first official Pride event — the earliest in the South besides Atlanta — took place on June 23rd 1979 (I edited the original poster with this year’s prides date), the tenth anniversary of Stonewall. A caravan of decorated cars left Azalea Mall and rolled through the streets to Byrd Park, where banners were raised with the theme “Death of Denial … Birth of Pride.” The day featured folk singers, a picnic, and speeches from early leaders like Barbara Weinstock, Beth Marschak, Stephen Lenton, Don Clarke, Bruce Garnett, Bill Harrison, and Rev. Paul Cline, capped off with a dance that night at the Sheraton Motel. For the first time, Pride in Richmond was visible, public, and defiant.
Two years earlier, Richmond’s Pride story began not as a parade but as a protest, when nearly 200 brave LGBTQ Richmonders gathered in Monroe Park to stand against Anita Bryant’s anti-gay crusade and to demand recognition in their own city, which still criminalized homosexual gatherings. That rally was rooted in years of slow organizing, including the trailblazing Gay Liberation Front at VCU, which gave Richmond its first taste of open queer activism. (They had to take VCU to court to get their group allowed)
Pride didn’t become annual right away; it took a couple of years. By the mid-1980s, however, Pride had become an ever-growing tradition. Each summer, thousands more gathered, carrying forward the spirit of that first small motorcade.
Today, Virginia PrideFest is a major operation, drawing tens of thousands downtown and backed by dozens of nonprofit community groups as well as national and state businesses. What began as a protest and caravan in Byrd Park has evolved into a major festival of visibility, drag, joy, and activism. Now, Richmond’s Pride is more necessary than ever: as most corporations and politicians shift their superficial support, we must come together to carry the voices of those who first stood in Monroe Park.
Virginia Pride is this Saturday. We are holding the Pride After Dark Kink Party the Friday before (karaoke is canceled), but it is definitely NOT for everyone.