Boone County’s first ever Pride event “was a big success,” said organizer Joetta Prost.
By Prost’s estimation, about 250 people came out to Union Presbyterian Church on Saturday for the event, which featured booths from various organizations and public institutions. At least three churches were in involved with the event: Union Presbyterian, Florence Christian Church and Bullittsville Christian Church.
The event also featured music, drag performances and family activities. It coincided with Pride History Month, which is celebrated in October.
The event proceeded from of the efforts of a planning group, which formed in the hopes of passing a fairness ordinance, which is a local law banning discrimination based on sex and gender identity in employment, somewhere in Boone County. Fairness ordinances get their name from the Fairness Campaign, a Louisville-based advocacy group that lobbies for the passage of such ordinances around the commonwealth.
The ordinance effort has been largely unsuccessful, but the event gave the local LGBTQ population an opportunity to “be really visible,” said organizer Jenna Van Laningham.
Many of the organizers on the planning group are also members of local political and advocacy organizations, such as the county branch of the Democratic Party and Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, which advocates for various progressive policies.
The organizers originally wanted to have the event at Stringtown Park in Florence, but the city denied their application to hold it there. Although some of the organizers wondered if there was political pressure involved in getting the event moved, LINK nky did not uncover hard evidence of this. Instead, the denial seems to have stemmed from inadequate parking.
Josh Hunt, Florence’s director of business community development, told LINK nky that Stringtown Park only has about 35 parking spaces–much too few for an event that eventually drew over 200 people. There are few crosswalks over KY-18, the street on which the park is located, and the organizers were unable to secure a private business partner nearby who could have provided additional parking. Hunt said the city could have moved the event to the Florence Nature Park, which has more parking spaces, but it was already booked up. Hopefully, they can secure it next year, Hunt said.
A group of protestors showed up briefly, toting flags and praying the Rosary, but there wasn’t any commotion or disruption, said Rev. Sam Combs of Florence Christian Church.
“It was very peaceful,” Combs said.
Protestors at Pride events aren’t new, but the presence of Boone County Commissioner Chet Hand among the protestors perturbed some of the organizers.
Prost, who’s from Atlanta and has helped organize many such events, said although she’s encountered protestors at events before, she’d never encountered a local elected official among them.
She described it as “not just discouraging, it’s disgusting.”
LINK nky has reached out to Chet Hand for comment but have not heard back. We will update this article if he responds.
Combs said he encouraged some attendees to join the event’s drag queens and stand in front of the protestors.
The point, Combs said, was to show “that love wins. Every individual is beautifully created in the image of God, and God’s love is for everyone.”
The protestors dispersed as people were approaching, but Combs said it was unclear if they left because of the crowd or if it was a coincidence.
After that, “Pride went off without any other interruptions from protesters, and it was an absolutely spectacular day,” Combs said.
The other organizers affirmed this point of view and said they were looking forward to future events.
Van Laningham said the attendees “weren’t really swayed around a handful of protestors.”
“We will be back next year,” Prost said.