FAIRBORN — Fairborn’s inaugural event celebrating the local LGBT community is set for this Friday. Inclusive Fairborn and PFLAG Dayton will host Fairborn’s first annual Pride event from 5-9 p.m. at the amphitheater in Community Park.
The event has a slate of speakers and performances, including “drag queen storytime,” food trucks, and other entertainment. Speakers from Daybreak Dayton, an organization that fights youth homelessness, will be addressing the effect of homelessness on the LGBTQ community. The City of Fairborn will also read a proclamation at the event.
“We’re here to celebrate diversity and bring people together,” said Ri Molnar, vice chair of Inclusive Fairborn. ““We have had an outpouring of support, which has been so uplifting.”
About 15 organizations will be attending the event, Molnar said, mostly to provide community resources. United Church Homes and ACLU Ohio are also cosponsors.
“We’re not trying to sell things,” they said. “We’re trying to celebrate the LGBT community, uplift these resources and bring people together.”
Inclusive Fairborn, otherwise known as the Fairborn Diversity and Inclusion Committee, is an all volunteer group that formed in June of last year.
“We got together and said ‘what kind of things do we want to see happening in Fairborn to celebrate the diversity that does exist in Fairborn?’ ” Molnar said. “There’s a stereotype of Fairborn in the common attitude, but there’s a tremendous amount of diversity, just in our neighborhood.”
Speakers will also address Ohio House Bill 61 and Senate Bill 132, anti-trans bills which are currently being considered by the Ohio legislature.
Pride Month is celebrated in June across the United States to uplift LGBTQ voices and honor their experiences. It’s also an opportunity to shed light on the problems facing LGBTQ people today.
Pride Month is held in June in recognition of the Stonewall Riots, which happened on June 28, 1969 in New York City. Transgender activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera are credited with sparking the uprising that led to a new wave of LGBT activism today.
