A collaboration of LGBTQ+ politicians and advocates from around the state gathered Friday in Columbus ahead of the city's Pride parade and festival this weekend where 700,000 people are expected to gather.
Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin said Pride started as a political movement fighting for rights, and while the community has seen gains with commercial acceptance, Pride needs to remember its roots.
"We can't let it become sterile or sanitized. It needs to stay political," Hardin said.
Hardin said the events this weekend will be "safe," but Pride events were initially held as a response to acts of violence.
"The origins of Stonewall were a riot against police raids. Early Prides were somber and secretive, with folks wearing masks or paying in cash to make sure they couldn't be tracked. As our movement has grown, though and became mainstream, Pride has become a party and a celebration of disability. But today, we face attacks from certain politicians and extremists who back them," Hardin said.
Hardin said the collaboration is an important tool to share resources with colleagues across the state as the Republican-led General Assembly advances targeting trans youth and drag queens.
"Our right to exist is challenged weekly in the place where I work in the Statehouse by folks who would send us back to the closet. There is no closet big enough to contain us, and hell, no, we're not going," said State Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood). "Those were dark days. And the reason for Pride. The reason why Pride even started. It was a riot. It was a response to brutality and to a society that did not want to see us. Even though we are part of the fabric of this state, of the city, of this country."
Hardin said the anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric hurts the state's economic prospects.
"We know that Ohio is losing workers because people are scared to come here to bring their wholesales and their whole families. And that's why this is not just an altruistic thing that we talk about. It's an economic, dollars and cents conversation," Hardin said.
Antonio expressed her agreement.
"If Ohio wants to move forward economically and participate in a global economy, then we need to be a place that welcomes everyone," she said.
People don't want to live in places where people aren't accepting.
"Young people, whether they're from the LGBTQ community or not, want to live in a place where they, their families and their friends are welcome. They want to raise their children in a place that's safe for all children, that welcomes all children to be their authentic selves," Antonio said.
This is the second year the group has come together ahead of Pride. The collaboration has about 40 people in elected positions all over the state.
"We have state senators, we have council members. We have school board members. We have healthcare providers. We have township trustees all coming together to have a robust discussion about how we can, what we can do locally to protect one another, and about the advocacy at the state level," Hardin said.
Reggie Harris, a member of Cincinnati City Council, said discrimination against LGBTQ+ people isn't acceptable.
"LGBTQ people across the United States are a key economic population that is targeted by businesses (and) targeted by brands in marketing. And yet we face a disproportionate amount of discrimination. And we have all collectively decided that that is unacceptable," Harris said.
"You can tell the measure of a country, of a city, of the state by the way it treats its most marginalized. And if we can create an opportunity in which we show compassion and smart economic investment that uplifts the most marginalized, then we just have better cities. We have better states. We have a better country," Harris said.
