June 2, 2006

There is no stopping the fun at Cincinnati Pride Alive

by Anthony Glassman

Cincinnati--The Queen City is riding high on a wave of successes that seems like it will never crest and wane.

In 2003, the city passed a hate crime ordinance that included sexual orientation, a reaction to the New Year?s Eve 2002 murder of Gregory Beauchamp, a young gay man. That ordinance withstood legal challenges from anti-gay forces who argued that it contravened Article 12, the city charter amendment barring the city from passing civil rights protections for lesbians and gay men.

The following year, voters in the city, after an intensive campaign of voter identification and education by Citizens to Restore Fairness, struck Article 12 from the charter, sending the message that Cincinnati is an open, welcoming, caring city.

This past March, city council passed an ordinance adding LGBT people to the city?s equal rights code, making it the second city in Ohio to protect transgendered people.

Now, Pride Alive 2006 has a message for the world: There is No Stopping Us Now!

Pride is two days of fantastic music, spoken word, drag and other performances, surrounded by a city full of events commemorating the occasion.

The official events start with the Cincinnati Youth Group Pancake Breakfast at 9 am on Saturday June 10. The CYG presents the breakfast at Mt. Auburn Presbyterian Church every year, and it?s a great start to the weekend.

Once everyone?s bellies are full, it?s time to head off to the Pride Alive festival in Hoffner Park, 4111 Hamilton Avenue at Blue Rock St. in Northside.

The first day of the festival runs from 4 pm to 10 pm. Music will be provided by DJ Flex and BJ?s DJ Service, and there will be hundreds of people performing.

Saturday?s show includes performances by two mainstays, the Cincinnati Men?s Chorus and the Queen City Rainbow Band.

They will be joined by the soulful sounds of the Beau Alquizola Band, Pamela Means? kamikaze guitar riffs and take-no-prisoners lyrics, Alix Olson?s nationally renowned spoken word, Columbus? Katie Reider Band and Tim?m West, homohop rapper from the Deep Dickollective.

Sile Singleton?s drag king character Lustivious de la Virgion will keep the crowd in stitches, as will the Drag Extravaganza featuring the Cincinnati Drag King Society, Ladies of Illusion and FuckHers.

The following day, June 11, is the Pride Alive Pep Rally and Parade, which lets out into the second day of the festival.

The Pep Rally and line-up for the parade are at 11 am in Burnet Woods, north of the University of Cincinnati in the Clifton neighborhood. The parade steps off at 1 pm and makes its way on Ludlow Ave. back to Hoffner Park, where the second day of the festival will have already started.

Performances start at 2 pm on Sunday, although the festival itself opens at 1 pm. Sile Singleton?s Luster will perform with the Columbus Stompers, and dance music studpuppy Jason Walker will have the crowd going wild.

Cincy native Tracy Walker returns to Pride, cementing her claim as a hometown favorite, and soulful folk-rockers Lazy Sunday will play selections from their album Empty Song Space.

Also performing will be Nedra Johnson, R&B singer-songwriter from New York, and Karter Louis, dubbed the ?Trip Hop Faggot,? from Louisville, Kentucky.

DJ Flex and BJ?s DJ Service will return for the second day of the festival as well, keeping everyone dancing.

There is no stopping the music, and there certainly is no stopping Pride Alive!?????

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