Thousands turn out for Columbus' first Pride parade in three years

Thousands of people lined the Downtown streets Saturday as Stonewall Columbus held its annual Pride March.

“The People’s Pride” parade was the first in-person event since 2019 and was a welcome return for many, including Kat Kinch, 38, of Columbus.

“We are here because there are people who can’t participate,” Kinch said. “So we do this for them.”

Between the sounds of techno music from loudspeakers, the drums from marching bands and the chants –– from paradegoers and protestors alike — the parade was not only a moment of joy, it was also a moment of reflection, Kinch said.

“We marched for all the people, like back when it (the movement) started in ’69, they were wearing bags over their heads because of the fact that they couldn’t be out, and that’s a reason why we’re out –– for them,” they said. “I was thrilled to be back after two years.”

The parade lasted two-and-a-half hours and included hundreds of floats and contingents, from local and national organizations such as the city of Columbus, the Columbus Metropolitan Library, The Buckeye Ranch, Ohio State University and Central Ohio Transit Authority, to political candidates and companies such as FritoLay, Columbia Gas and Big Lots.

Togetherness was a common theme among attendees, like Gillian Hall, 50, who brought her 12-year-old granddaughter, Jane, to the parade.

“I’ve come to Pride every year for 20 years, and I’ve missed it,” Hall said. “I’m not a big crowd person, so I don’t stand 2 miles up the road, but I just love to see everybody’s here, see everybody that’s in the community, everybody that supports the community and watch some women on bikes.”

Chels Caslow, 30, of Columbus, marched with The Buckeye Ranch, holding a sign that read “All Kids Deserve Affirming Care.”

“What would excite me is if someone asks me what it means,” Caslow said. “A lot of people immediately think that it’s like hormone treatments and surgery, and the reality is using the proper pronouns and people’s chosen names and just making sure that people feel safe enough.”

This year’s parade was held amidst a political backdrop of an imminent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, which has protected abortion rights nationally since 1973, and Ohio House Bill 616, which would bar educators from teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through third grade.

Signs and shirts with slogans such as “Say gay,” and “Abortion is health care,” were seen among the crowd in response.

Sabra Aaron, 53, of Wooster, hoped the parade would mobilize potential voters in response to the legislation.

“It’s great that we have the freedom to be out in the streets like this, but people should be really, really cheesed off and should be voting because that’s the only way we’re going to protect our right to be like this,” Aaron said. “People should wave a rainbow flag like in June, but you need to vote rainbow every election.”

Baker O’Brien, 67, of Grand Rapids, agreed such issues are important when it comes to the ballot box.

“I’m hoping that we can turn the tide of politics by a big show of solidarity,” O’Brien said. “It makes me feel, really, like there’s hope.”

Other paradegoers, such as Ron Snyder, 58, of Whitehall, recalled the event in its infancy.

“I’ve seen it from when it was radical –– with feds guarding the buildings, and ACT UP was considered a terrorist organization — to what it is today, where Kroger, GEICO, Chase Bank … you know, it shows the normalcy,” he said. “You would see protestors lining the streets, violent, rock-throwing protests, nothing like today. It’s a great step forward — even though the atmosphere outside of this is not exactly conducive to freedom right now, but hopefully that will change.”

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus' first Pride parade in years a welcome sight for supporters