Winners Announced!
Each year, the PrideWV membership nominates individuals for their impact on LGBT West Virginians, the Power of One and Grand Marshal. These awards are then granted by vote of the general membership of Rainbow Pride of West Virginia.
The Power of One is an award that recognizes an individual’s ability to increase visibility, garner support for LGBT issues and overall fight for the cause.
The Grand Marshal is granted to an individual to recognize contributions made to the LGBT community in West Virginia. This individual leads the yearly Pride Parade in Charleston.
Below is a list of nominees as proposed:
Power of One Award
Steve Tompa - is an active fund-raiser in the Bear and Leather communities. He resides in Charleston, West Virginia where he earned his master degrees in banking, business, and computers. He has helped raise money for local and national charities within the communities using the focus of “Unity in Diversity” during his titleholder years as Mr. Mountain State Bear 2004, Mr. Kentucky Bear 2005, Mr. West Virginia Pride 2006, Mr. All-Ohio Bear 2007, and Mr. Mountain Leather 2007. He was the recipient of the International Hospitality Bear Award 2006 at IBR in San Francisco and the recipient of International Leather Volunteer Award 2007 at CLAW in Cleveland . In December 2008, he was “birthed” into Mama’s Family (Mama Sandy Reindhardt of San Francisco’s national leather charity organization) as “Mama’s Mountain Bear”. He is now on the CLAW Board and the Living AIDS Memorial Garden Board. He is a member of Rainbow Pride of West Virginia, the Mountain State Knights, and a staff writer for West Virginia Queer News. He now continues his fund-raising endeavors across the Nation as the CLAW Nation Tour Manager. CLAW has donated over $200,000 to various community charities. Host a CLAW Nation party in your town. You pick the date, location, and charities. Steve will help you plan the party. CLAW, Mr. S Leather, and Recon will help you make it a success!
——————-
Grand Marshal
Seth DiStefano – submitted by Seth DiStefano – “Thank you. Truly its an honor to even be considered. About me, I am orginally from Randolph county, WV where i started my work in politics as an organizer for the Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign. I continued my politcal work as chairman of the Randolph County Democrat Executive Committee during the 2006 midterm elections. In august of 2007, I moved to Charleston to begin working for the ACLU of West Virginia. My first and most enduring assignment was building and maintaing a coalition of organizations supportive of amending West Virginia’s Human Rights Act and Fair Housing laws to include protections for West Virginia’s LGBT community. The measure has seen traction in two successive sessions. That coalition has also played a key role in stopping the homophobic ‘marriage amendment’ from passing. I am a proud alum of WVU and proud to be affiliated with Rainbow Pride because it is unquestionably welcoming of the straight ally community from which I come.”