Community, pride bring Kentuckiana together

Kentuckiana Pride Foundation held another successful parade and festival on Saturday, June 19, with thousands of people coming together for Pride Month.

One common theme that brought individuals out to the festival was a sense of community.

A Louisville trio, Rue, Davon and Sam, have been frequent attendees of Kentuckiana Pride Festival in years past.

Left to right: Rue, Davon and Sam pose for a picture at Pride.

"Not many people know that Louisville has a really big queer community and it's crazy to see everyone here all at once every year," Davon said.

Sam sported a pink hat, white polo shirt and blue shorts, noting proudly that when he wears this color combination other people at Pride will know what it means.

For Rue, two main things continue to bring them out to Pride, "Community and partying."

Wives Tiara and Danielle and their young daughter, Lilliana, were decked out with rainbows and relaxing on a swing near the waterfront on Pride.

Left to right: Danielle, Tiara and Lilliana sitting on a swing at the Big Four Lawn.

"I like how inclusive Pride is. It feels like one of those places where you can just kind of be safe to be who you are. That's not always something that's there with LGBTQ people," Tiara said.

For Lilliana, she likes coming to Pride because she gets to have fun with her moms.

Brother and sister, Henry and Jennifer respectively, also pinpointed community and the accepting environment as reasons they often attend Pride.

Jennifer (right) laughs, sitting next to her younger brother Henry.

A group of friends hung out on the steps overlooking the Ohio River, talking and laughing together. For some of them, it was their first time at Pride, for others they had been attending for 20 years.

One of the friends, Cynthia, has been a part of Pride for over 18 years, working for the march before it became a parade.

Left to right: Cynthia, Amy and Mary smile together on the steps overlooking the Ohio River.

"We're all very accepting and we love this and wish the world could be like this," Cynthia said.

Another friend in the group, Mary, said, "We're proud of the people that can come out and be themselves, and show their expressions."

Throughout the day, people spent time watching drag shows and concerts, sitting on the lawn doing each other's makeup, shopping at the many booths and being proud of one another.

Riki and Daniel, a couple dating for nearly 10 months, spent a moment of Pride posing for pictures together.

Riki (left) and Daniel (right) smile as they pose for a picture at Pride.

"I'm very proud that Riki has come out to his parents in the last year and also graduated nursing school and [is] taking a lot of big steps in his life," Daniel said.

Riki praised Daniel for also recently coming out to his parents and for being a nurse.

Friends Amy and Aly sat on the lawn in the warm sun on Saturday and took a moment to share the pride they had in each other.

"I'm proud of this girl right here for fucking killing PT [physical therapy] school," Aly said of Amy, also noting how resilient she was through all of their trials and tribulations in PT school.

Aly (left) and Amy (right) smile for a picture at Pride on Saturday.

Amy celebrated Aly for giving a speech at their graduation ceremony.

"I'm very proud of her for just getting up in front of, not even just our class, but everybody at Bellarmine that was graduating with a master's or doctorate, and fucking killing it!" Amy said.

A slew of organizations, local businesses and corporations were also present at the event, showing their support for the LGBTQIA+ community.

Fans by Drag Syndicate filled one of the booths on the Big Four Lawn, mainly from their pop art series. Clapping fans could be heard all day on Saturday, following the rhythm of music from drag shows and concerts.

Jason smiles at the Drag Syndicate booth selling fans at Pride.

Jason was helping out the Columbus-based business on Saturday by selling fans.

"[The owner] likes to come out and give people a way to show their personality through the fan," Jason said.

Brooke admires a stone at the Essence Essentials booth on Saturday.

Jeffersonville resident Essence Adams also had a booth at Pride called Essence Essentials, selling stones, crystals, t-shirts and jewelry. Essence was only 17 when she began selling tie-dye t-shirts in Green Tree Mall.