City officials raise the Pride flag at City Hall on May 29. (Photo by Scott Bass)
Pride month may be over, but the “Endless Summer of Pride” has only just begun.
On May 29, Mayor Danny Avula, City Council members and community activists kicked off Richmond’s monthslong celebration of the LGBTQ community with a flag raising at City Hall. This year’s theme: “Pride is a Practice.”
“Pride is not simply a celebration that we attend once a year. It’s not a company changing its logo for Pride month, or a proclamation, or a flag alone,” said James Millner, director of Virginia Pride. “Pride is the daily practice of choosing visibility over silence, inclusion over exclusion and courage over complacency. It is the practice of creating spaces where people feel safe enough to be fully themselves. It is the practice of standing up for one another, especially when it’s hard.”
During the launch, Millner and several other speakers took turns at the lectern outside of City Hall, including Aneesah Smith, the city’s equity and inclusion adviser; the Rev. Lacette Cross, executive director of Diversity Richmond; and activists Qing Imzadi and spoken-word artist Sunflower Mo.
“Pride in practice is every day; it’s waking up, looking in the mirror and being proud of the person staring back, no matter who she, he, they, you are,” Cross said. “It’s the everydayness of saying to your neighbor, ‘You are welcome here,’ and then being mindful of how we show that in the ways we actually treat each other. … It’s the everydayness of conflict that naturally arises when you are doing good work with good people that is also hard — and choosing to stay in the room anyway.”
The Summer of Pride continues for the next two months, culminating in Pridefest, a daylong festival Sept. 12 at Midtown Green. For more information, visit vapride.org.
