Thousands attend Charlotte Pride

Organizers estimate as many as 6,000 lesbian/gay/bi/trans people and their straight allies attended this year’s PRIDE Charlotte Festival in Uptown. The mission statement of the festival, printed on the program, read “Empowering all LGBT and Allied Peoples to stand as unique individuals and together as a community, with the purpose of uniting as a creative, social, economic and political force.”

The One Voice Chorus, which works to increase understanding and acceptance of LGBT people in Charlotte, kicked off the festival. They were followed by a speaker from Time Out Youth, an active LGBT youth group in Charlotte’s high schools and the community. Other speakers included Rev. Tonyia Rawls of Unity Fellow ship Church, County Commis sioner Jennifer Roberts and the co-chairs of the Human Rights Coalition-Carolinas. The crowd was entertained by several live bands and went wild when the drag troop Macho Macho Men took the stage.

The hate group Operation Save America carried their signs of religious bigotry near the festival entrance. LGBT-friendly church and spiritual groups gave out a package of information titled “The Bag of Truth—What the Hate Groups Don’t Want You to Know” as a counter to this. The hate group was prevented from entering or sneaking into the festival area by the “Enforcers of Peace,” a group of volunteers set up for this specific purpose.

The PRIDE Charlotte Festival was sponsored by the Lesbian & Gay Com munity Center of Charlotte. They plan to make next year’s event even bigger and better according to their website (pridecharlotte.com).