Help Us Raise LGBTQ Awareness in Downtown Columbus through the Banner Project!

More than 117,000 commuters drive through downtown Columbus every day and more than 44.3 million visitors come to Columbus on an annual basis. The “Downtown Banner Program”, administered under the auspices of “Experience Columbus,” allows local organizations to promote their annual events via banners that are hung throughout the city which bring attention to these organizations in a highly visible manner. This urban banner program celebrates the diversity of the city while promoting community spirit.

In the late 90’s, Stonewall Columbus participated in this program, with fifteen bold, bright banners lining the streets of Columbus, promoting and celebrating our annual Pride Festival and Parade during the month of June.

In 2011, Stonewall Columbus donor, Malcolm Riggle, generously gifted us the funds to cover the costs for creating and hanging fifteen new banners, consequently allowing us to fly a total of thirty Pride banners along High Street in the downtown area during our Thirtieth Anniversary Pride Festival. This was a compelling and historic statement for our community and served to visibly remind all the residents of Columbus, that we, as LGBTQ citizens, are a vital component in making this city dynamic, productive, authentic and so welcoming to its visitors. In 2012, Malcolm led the fundraising effort and we were able to fly 60 banners for Pride. In 2013, we hung a total of 100 banners. In 2014 and 2015, we presented a total of 125 banners. In 2017 we hit a new record with 135 banners lining the streets of downtown Columbus!

We don’t want to stop there. Help us to increase the number of our banners again this year and, even more importantly, extend our participation to other times of the year to promote other important Central Ohio LGBTQ events. We believe it is very important for our LGBTQ community to be more prominently acknowledged all year round. After all… we aren’t just LGBTQ in June!

We need your help!  In 2018, our goal is to line the downtown streets with 200 banners!  Please contribute to our Stonewall Columbus “PRIDE Banner Project” and help us reach our $25,000 goal.

Let’s make 2018 a “BANNER” year for our LGBTQ community and our continued visible presence in our beloved city and let our flags fly… proudly all year.

Karla Rothan
Executive Director
Stonewall Columbus, Inc.

Major Supporter of the Banner Project