Yesterday's HR Pride event came off without a hitch and enjoyed a very, very large turn out. Not that one would know it occurred based on the near total silence about the event in the local mainstream media coverage. Other than a tiny paragraph in the Virginian Pilot yesterday morning stating that the event would be taking place at Chesapeake City Park there was no coverage whatsoever.*
The lack of news coverage is symptomatic of LGBT rights in Virginia: we have none and far too many residents either wish we would disappear or seem to not even know that we exist. Meanwhile, all kinds of inane and ridiculous stories get coverage. That is one reason that this year's Pride event included a history project that tracked local LGBT history via archive copies of "Our Own" - a LGBT newspaper that ceased publication more than a decade ago. The project starts with coverage of the Stonewall Riots and then follows local LGBT community events ranging from police raids at bars to stories about members of the local LGBT community. It is a great educational piece and we hope to expand it further in the future.
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Thank you to all those who came out and enjoyed the event.
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