Pride Month began as a testament to the 1969 Stonewall riots following the New York City uprising. The six days of protests against the unjust raiding of gay bars was an influential part of the fight for equality and is now celebrated every year with month-long celebrations around the world. In Athens, Pride Month kicks off with a four-day long festival and is followed by a series of events throughout June.
One of the many organizations in Athens that are responsible for these events is the Southeastern Ohio Rainbow Alliance, or SEORA, led by Chris Nevil. Nevil has worked with SEORA for over six years and witnessed the birth of the organization through the merging of the Southeastern Ohio LGBT Center and the Southeastern Ohio LGBT Coalition.
“Our organization is very much focused on the LGBTQIA+ community, but also the community at large,” Nevil said. “A couple of years ago, one of the board members and I came up with a new tagline which was ‘Community for All.’”
SEORA is responsible for numerous events throughout the year, including toy drives and back-to-school assistance. The group aids the community financially through the Emergency Assistance Fund, the SEORA Scholarship and donations to gender-affirming surgery crowdfunding. Although all of these events help make up the essence of SEORA, the biggest event of the year is Pride Fest, which Nevil said has been in the works since March.
Pride Fest took place June 6-9, including a kickoff event, dance party, pride parade, drag show and pool party. According to Nevil, SEORA tries to make a majority of the events family-friendly to encourage everyone in the community to attend.
•“Since it’s summertime there really aren’t that many students here, so almost all of our events are exclusively attended by locals, and we love that,” he said. “We always pride ourselves on our Pride Fest being very community-oriented.”
The Ohio University Pride Center partnered with SEORA on a few of its events, in particular the last Sunday’s pool party. According to Sarah Doherty, the assistant director of the Pride Center, the changing rooms at the pool party will be all-gender so those who don’t fit into a gender binary category can be comfortable. Additionally, the Pride Center will be represented in the Pride March and at the resource fair following the parade.
In addition to sponsoring events in town like the “I Love Gay 90’s” film series at the Athena Cinema, the Pride Center exists as a resource for people to learn about different pride-related events in town.
“All of the events are community-driven and largely community-led, and we’re supporting OU engagement and we’re trying to facilitate the things that make it possible for people to participate,” Doherty said. This includes spreading the word and providing an accessible vehicle for those unable to walk in the parade, she said.
Doherty recognizes the history of struggle behind Pride Month celebrations and is inspired by the way the community exemplifies those themes.
“I love witnessing the beautiful, glorious, huge community tapping into the ways that pride comes out of the struggle for liberation and justice and how queer and trans folks … are engaging in struggles for liberation now, all of it feels really rich,” she said.
Some of these struggles manifest very close to home; according to Nevil, SEORA’s plans for Pride Month weren’t always met with support and excitement. In recent weeks, Nevil dealt with some negative community responses from people who disapproved of the celebration.
“That’s why we try to make these events louder and bigger every year, to make it known that we’re not going anywhere, in fact, we’re going to stand in our power and exist,” Nevil said.
Nevil grew up in Athens and was never exposed to the type of celebration he hopes to facilitate, which is part of what drives him to organize events during Pride Month.
“Having grown up here my whole life, I want to make sure the LGBTQ+ community has resources and things that I didn’t have growing up that I probably could have benefited from having,” he said.
Both Nevil and Doherty emphasize the importance of community engagement in Pride Month festivities and encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to come participate in the celebration.
“It’s a really delightful time for folks to make connections with each other whether they’re officially associated with the school or not,” Doherty said. “We’re in the community, we are the community.”
