June is National Pride Month, and Columbus' annual Gay Pride Festival opens this afternoon at Goodale Park. A host of events are scheduled through tomorrow night. The festival's highlight will be the Pride Parade along High Street tomorrow morning, with "Star Trek" actor George Takei serving as grand marshal. Karla Rothan of the advocacy group Stonewall Columbus remembers the first local pride march in 1981, when 100 people took part. She says acceptance of the LGBT community and support for equal rights has grown since then.
Rothan says marriage inequality is one of the issues facing the LGBT community and America as a whole.
Rothan says Ohio hate-crime laws do not cover sexual orientation or gender identification, and Ohio still lacks protections in housing and employment. Pride events are being held throughout the state this month. They include a march in Cleveland next week and the first annual 5k Pride Fun Run and Walk today at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton. Pride Month commemorates the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, regarded as the impetus for the LGBT rights movement. More information on local events is online at columbuspride.org.