MANSFIELD — The second annual Gay Pride Festival will begin July 22.
Organizers are boosted by the success of last year’s event. This year’s schedule of activities includes speakers, entertainment and a parade, said board member Samantha Hypes.
The parade route will begin on Maple Street and take a turn on Brinkerhoff Avenue before finishing at South Park, where the festival will take place.
“We just started last year in February, and we kind of pulled people together out of nowhere to start working on it. All of us wanted to reach out to community members that are here that might want a place they can meet, get together, celebrate what’s going on,” said Monique Hypes, Samantha’s wife.
Samantha added she wanted to help others seeking an open, diverse and accepting community.
“We (didn’t) have anything like that here. There’s Columbus and you go to the bigger cities and what not and they’ve got Stonewall in Columbus, but we’ve got nothing,” Samantha said. “Even though it’s just a festival, it’s nice just knowing the gay community can come together and celebrate and get to know one another.”
The 2016 festival, board member Monique Hypes said is to bring awareness of discrimination issue members of the LGBTQ face.
“Our big platform this year is bringing light to discrimination issues, the fact that you can still get fired for being gay,” Monique said. “Last year we focused on marriage equality and that got passed while we were doing this. That was a big deal.
“So this year we are just trying to find local places that provide support for the gay (community).”
Board member Josh Kohler said the group also wants to let those of the gay community they have yet to reach, know they have a fun and safe place for them to meet others.
The Hypes said this community for the most part has been supportive of the gay community. However there were a few people last year who drove past yelling slurs as they were setting up for the festival.
“We weren’t faced with a lot of what we expected (at last year’s event),” Monique said. “You get a lot of it in passing, but they’re not really willing to be up in your face.”
With the festival more than a month away, Samantha said she would like to see more vendors show support for the festivities.
“I would just like to see more people participating in it,” she said. “If not for the community, what are we doing this for?
“We’re looking to kind of negotiate with local people. We want to bring in more local people because this is about this community and engaging businesses and the people that are supportive and want to participate.”
