Blog

2017: Over 37,000 people attended Phoenix Pride in April of this year; the largest attendance ever. Almost every Pride Celebration across the country had record numbers attending. We certainly have come a long way over that last few years to celebrate who we, without fear and with PRIDE. We as a community must cherish this freedom we have and cannot ever forget the road we all took to get here.

1989: This was the year Cleveland, Ohio celebrated for the first time and it was my first time at a Gay Pride Celebration. This type of gathering was new and somewhat strange to all of us. Just the thought of marching down a main street or even just watching from the sideline brought on emotions of stress and fear. Read More

I remember the first time I saw two men holding hands was back in the year 2001.  My family had taken us to visit my Uncle (also former Godfather) in Jersey City, NJ.  We went to New York City, NY to see times square, the statue of liberty and a few other tourist attractions.  It was around 8:30 pm on a Friday night when two men were walking down the street, smiling, laughing and holding hands.  The reaction from my parents was one of pure disgust.  My birth father nearly stopped breathing at that moment and my birth mother started to pray (I think that’s what you call her actions at that moment).  My brother, sister, and uncle didn’t even give it much attention at all.  My uncle, noticing the reaction from my parents looked at them and said, “at least when they hold hands they are happy.” Read More