(Reproduction of executive director welcome at the 2023 Stonewall Columbus Brunch–June 4, 2023)
This year, we in Columbus, and across Central Ohio, recognize 42 years of leading Ohio in the celebration and recognition of the LGBTQ+ community.
Hello my name is Densil Porteous and I use he/they pronouns; I have the honor of serving as Executive Director of Stonewall Columbus.
Thank you all for being here.
Thank you to the staff (who work tirelessly for this community), the board, donors, sponsors, and volunteers who keep this organization moving forward. To each and every one of you who has joined us today. Your presence, support, and contributions make a profound difference in the lives of LGBTQ+ individuals in Columbus and across Central Ohio.
Thank you Gretta/Que for helping us get into such great pride spirit today.
For over four decades, Stonewall Columbus has been a pillar of support and empowerment for the queer community. During the last four decades, Stonewall Columbus has provided a listening ear, a friendly smile, life-saving information, connections to services and support to the queer community not only in Columbus and the Central Ohio Region but across the state. Stonewall has worked with our members and allies to lobby for and achieve political and social equality working to ensure we all thrive.
We are a part of an LGBTQ+ ecosystem that has nonprofits, like Black, Out & Proud, Equality Ohio, Kaleidoscope Youth Center, and TransOhio, working to support our various identities.
Our small organization connects roughly 45,000 people to in-person and virtual resources every year.
In addition to an array of evolving programming Stonewall produces Lavender Listings, a digital first listing of local products and services from LGBTQ+ friendly businesses and organizations, and Columbus’ Pride march and events.
I joined Stonewall in the summer of 2020…
For our country, it was a summer of reawakening to the injustices and inequalities of race that persists.
Densil Porteous, executive director, 2023 Stonewall Columbus Pride Brunch
The theme for this year’s Stonewall Columbus Pride events is “Purpose. Passion. Power.”
We are halfway into the year and over 540 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in state legislatures, a record; over 220 bills specifically target transgender and non-binary people, also a record; and this year 45 anti-LGBTQ laws have been enacted…so far.
Fifty-four years post the Stonewall Uprisings we have much to celebrate but far more left in our fight.
In the month of June as our communities gather around the country to celebrate and recognize LGBTQ+ Pride across our intersectional identities we must ensure we do this in remembrance of our purpose, celebration of our passion, and as a demonstration of our power because we know as we fight to make and maintain spaces for queer identities to be seen and thrive, at the core this fight is about our Pride.
This year as we take space to celebrate, remember, and recognize our LGBTQ+ community let us remember the purpose of Pride.
The 1969 Stonewall Uprisings were protests against police brutality; but more so protests representative of the communal frustration against the injustices enacted on a people: the LGBTQ+ community. That is why Black Trans activist Marsha P. Johnson and others stepped out…stepped out to protest so they could live freely in their truth–in their Pride.
Columbus’s first march for pride was in 1981 marching from the Ohio State University to the Statehouse not only in commemoration of the 1969 Stonewall Uprisings but also in order to draw light to the community of LGBTQ+ individuals here in central Ohio who continued to live in secret afraid to live publicly in their truth. 42 years on and during our last in-person pride march Stonewall Columbus welcomed over 700,000 individuals in celebration and recognition of PRIDE.
And while some progress has been made, we know our fight is far from over. We still face discrimination, hate, and bigotry—not in some country thousands of miles away…but right here in our own state.
The Stonewall Uprisings, which took place 54 years ago, ignited a movement for liberation that continues to this day…it’s our history–it’s our Pride!
This year as we recognize Pride let us also celebrate our passion.
Our passion for living authentically, for loving whom we choose, and for being who we truly are as it is what has brought us here today—well me anyway.
It wasn’t until I started living my most authentic life as an intersectional queer Black person that the joys of family and career as a “professional gay” found their way to me. We, the Stonewall organization and I, have come a long way from the first Pride march in Columbus in 1981, where only 200 people marched—and I was several months away from becoming a 12 month old and still living in Jamaica, West Indies. Today, we celebrate and recognize our LGBTQ+ community across Central Ohio with a festival and march that welcomes well over 600,000 people to the region—and where only a year ago I married my partner right here in Columbus, Ohio.
It was that passion to live authentically that spurred trans people and drag queens to fight back; it is that passion that propels the LGBTQ+ rights movement today…it’s what propels our Pride!
Finally, let us demonstrate our power.
As Zac Boyer, the director of programs and marketing at Stonewall Columbus, said, “images have been utilized throughout the years to give a visual narrative to our story.” Our history is rich with symbols and images that represent the strength, resilience, and tenacity of our community. Our power is in the wonderful intersectional diversity of our rainbow community and we must embrace our power and stand together to fight for our rights–for our Pride!
In me is a visual representation of the queer community’s power.
It is and will always be our community’s combined power that will make change happen, inspire generations to never stop dreaming, to empower allies to become accomplices—to save our own lives.
And we have seen that we can not do this alone; and we should not do this alone.
Our community consists of intersections and we must work together to uplift the various identities in our intersectional community. We must find ways to demonstrate our community’s capacity to make things happen, and must do so standing together–in our power.
As we celebrate Pride, let us remember that it is not about parties and parades. It is about celebrating our community, our culture, our resilience, and our ongoing fight for equality, equity, and liberation–that sometimes results in parties and parades.
With passion burning in our hearts, we embrace the legacy of those who came before us, the fearless fighters who sparked the Stonewall Uprisings and ignited a movement. We channel their fire, igniting our own flames of love, resilience, and unyielding spirit. Our passion fuels our determination to build a future where all LGBTQ+ people can thrive, unapologetically and authentically.
But we do not stand alone. We draw strength from our collective power, knowing that true change emerges when we stand shoulder to shoulder, amplifying the voices of the marginalized, and dismantling the systems that perpetuate discrimination. Our power lies in our unity, in our commitment to showing up for each other, and in our unwavering belief that love and acceptance will triumph over hate.
As we embark on this Pride Month, let us march forward with purpose, fueling our actions with passion, and wielding the power of our shared determination. Together, we will shape a world where every LGBTQ+ individual can live with dignity, where their dreams can flourish, and where their identities are celebrated.
Let us also remember that Stonewall Columbus’ annual PRIDE Festival and March serve as the organization’s largest annual fundraiser that secures the needed funds to support Stonewall’s community programs and annual operations.
So, I invite you all to join me and Stonewall Columbus on June 16 and 17 for Festival and March activities. Let’s celebrate our purpose, passion, and power together and continue to fight for equality and justice for all.
Thank you.
Happy Pride!
