Come celebrate with us!
Can’t make it to Washington, DC, for the National Equality March on Sunday, October 11? Then come join Rainbow Pride of West Virginia at our annual Pride Picnic at Coonskin Park’s Riverside Pavilion just ten minutes from downtown Charleston. We can’t all make it to the big event, but we can show our solidarity and lend our voices to millions of others wherever we happen to be. So come party with us as we celebrate Equality, Diversity, and Unity.
October 11 is also National Coming Out Day. What better way to celebrate than to get together with your LGBT brothers and sisters from around the state and let everyone know that you’re proud to be who you are!
This year’s picnic will feature live music from the great Charleston-area band, the VooDoo Katz, who will be playing from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. After that, there will be a drag show starring several of your favorite local gender illusionists. Admission is free and your Pride committee will be providing free food and soft drinks. Plenty of free parking is available, but there are LIMITED reserved parking spaces near the Pavillion. To reserve a space, you MUST become a sponsor by clicking here or by writing us at contact@pridewv.org. Sponsorship also includes two free t-shirts and a mention from the stage.
The picnic begins at noon and continues until dusk. You can click here for more information on Coonskin Park, including directions.
2009 Pride Picnic
To purchase a sponsorship, click here
Join us for our annual Pride Picnic! Held once again at the Riverside Pavillion in Coonskin Park, this year will prove to be our most diverse yet!
Date: Sunday, October 11
Time: 12:00pm to Dusk
Cost: FREE!
Features: free food, free drinks!
Entertainment: live music from the VooDoo Katz!!!
Directions: Coonskin Park is located 10 minutes from downtown Charleston, WV. Exit 99 off I-64, Route 114 North (Greenbrier Street) 2.5 miles, turn left on Coonskin Drive, Park entrance 1 mile.
Parking: free parking available. However, there are LIMITED reserved parking spaces near the Pavillion. To reserve a space, you MUST become a sponsor (read below).
Sponsorship: $40 – includes one (1) reserved parking space & two (2) PrideWV t-shirts! To purchase a sponsorship, click here
If you have any questions, feel free to send an email to contact@pridewv.org
We did it! Blogathon was a huge success! Thanks!
We did it!
We met our goal and then some! Simply amazing beyond words! A BIG Thanks to Heidi Evans, who spent 24 hours blogging for the benefit of PrideWV! Thanks to all of the sponsors!
more info —
Heidi Richardson Evans, author of Daisybones.comand Charleston, WV artist, is blogging for RainbowPride of WV in this year’s Blogathon.
Heidi has been blogging about her life and art for four years and displays her digital and mixed media art at area venues as well as her online shop.
She has been active in LGBTQ activism since her teens and is especially proud to support queer visibility in Appalachia.
As usual, if you have any questions, shoot us an email at contact@pridewv.org.
Pride committee seeks your input!
Rainbow Pride of West Virginia is a non-profit organization that exists to serve the LGBT community. This past Tuesday we had our Pride ‘09 “Wrap-up” meeting, where we discussed the pros and cons of the various events that made up Pride Week. Several interesting points were made and we talked about some new ideas for 2010. Now it’s your turn. What were some of your favorite things about Pride ‘09? Where do you think we could use some improvement? What would you like to see changed or added for next year?
Remember, the Pride committee is here for your benefit. We don’t know how we’re doing unless you let us know. So please feel free to share! We want to hear the good *and* the bad. Leave a comment on this post, drop us a line on facebook or myspace, or email us at contact@pridewv.org
Volleyball tournament on 6/6/09
Rainbow Pride is currently seeking venues for a volleyball tournament to take place during pride. The event will be Saturday Morning, June 6,2009.
We are hoping you can tell us where we should have the event.
Currently we are looking at the following locations:
1. Davis Park in Downtown Charleston
2. Coonskin Park- Charleston
3. Shawnee Park- Charleston
We originally wanted to hold the event at Magic Island, but it is booked for a wedding.
If you can email your preference to rainbowpridewva@yahoo.com we would appreciate it. We are also willing to consider venues that are not listed above. If you have a better location let us know.
Thanks!
Milk Opens in West Virginia!
“Using flashbacks from a statement recorded late in life and archival footage for atmosphere, this film traces Harvey Milk’s career from his 40th birthday to his death. He leaves the closet and New York, opens a camera shop that becomes the salon for San Francisco’s growing gay community, and organizes gays’ purchasing power to build political alliances. He runs for office with lover Scott Smith as his campaign manager. Victory finally comes on the same day Dan White wins in the city’s conservative district. The rest of the film sketches Milk’s relationship with White and the 1978 fight against a statewide initiative to bar gays and their supporters from public school jobs. ” from IMDB
Milk opens Friday Jan. 30, 2009 in Charleston, WV at Marquee Southridge!
Marquee Cinemas South Charlestonwww.marqueecinemas.com
331 Southridge Blvd |
Guest Writer – One Dream, One world, One Community
“One Dream, One world, One Community”
by Chris Kimes
- Chair of Membership and Fundraising, Rainbow Pride of WV
- Vice President, Kanawha Stonewall Democrats
Cross-posted at Kanawha Stonewall Democrats
“One Dream, One world, One community”
I recently read these words about a program for Martin Luther King’s Birthday and began to think of their implications for our community, the GLBT in West Virginia. Too many times we find ourselves making excuses for instances when we plainly should be trying to come to some resolve.
I do believe that most GLBT citizens of West Virginia want to live in a state that recognizes them as active citizens and treats them with the same respect and dignity it does of all its other citizens. This is not an unreachable dream; it just takes people from throughout the state becoming visible and making the commitment of working with one another to fulfill and ensure this occurs. While this posting shall not elaborate on politics; the principle idea, mobilizing the masses, is what is at the root. We need to mobilize people around the principle of unity, not in one of division and segregation.
This point is very important because as a recent newcomer to the Kanawha Region, I kept remembering how I felt when I lived in different sections of the state. I had the ideal that if you were from the northern part of the state, then your opinions were not seen as value to the community in the Kanawha/Huntington region. How far from the truth was I to hold these ill-fledge ideas. Within the coming months I have been welcomed with open arms into various groups and have seen first hand the desire that these organizations have for state wide involvement. People in these groups speak of their efforts to get others to join or become active and unfortunately have no avail.
It is to this later end that I send a heartfelt appeal to the GLBT community of West Virginia. Please do not fall within the trap that I had before about what seems to be the rationale for you or what seems to be comfortable. The organizations that have helped to lead the cause for GLBT rights, i.e. West Virginia Foundation for Equality and Rainbow Pride of West Virginia, need support and the assistance from people throughout the state. Too many times people get absorbed into drama of this or that and forget the true purpose of what we are trying to accomplish. Please overcome these shortfalls and help either of these organizations in their attempt to strive for acceptance in West Virginia. Together as a united front we can help to achieve the vision of one community.
I shall strive to continue to post ways that I feel that together we can help to achieve our dream of “One Community”