PRIDE GUIDE 1998 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

B-5

17th LesBiGay Holiday celebration set for June 28

by Kim Dill

Columbus-More than 10,000 participants are expected to attend "LesBiGay Holiday '98: Celebrating Who We Are," Stonewall Columbus' 17th annual Pride march, rally, and festival on June 28.

"It's more than just a march,” said Brett Warner, LesBiGay Holiday chair. "The march, rally and festival cap off a month of events-June is a holiday for the lesbigay community."

Participants and floats will assemble Sunday morning outside Goodale Park on Park Street between Russell and Buttles. The march steps off at 1 pm, and proceeds through downtown Columbus to Bicentennial Park for the rally and festival.-

Supporters and spectators who line High Street can expect fabulous floats for the second annual LesBiGay Holiday float competition.

The march ends at Bicentennial Park, the site of Gayfest, a street fair of more than 100 information, sales and food booths staffed by GLB-owned and supportive businesses. This year, the festival will extend from Civic Center Drive around the corner to West Main Street. The Cultural Arts Center on West Main across from Bicentennial Park will display a portion of the Names Project Quilt from 1-5 pm.

The LesBiGay Holiday Rally will feature nationally known openly gay comedians Jason Stuart as the keynote entertainer and Julie Goldman as emcee.

Stuart has appeared on television (Drew Carey, SeaQuest, Murder She Wrote) and films (Gia, Kindergarten Cop, Vegas Vacation), and his stand-up performances have appeared on A&E, Comedy Central and Showtime, as well as in comedy clubs across the country.

Goldman's comedy performance will include the guitar-playing character "Indigo Etheridge," a lesbian folk singer in recovery.

The Fabulous Johnson Brothers add rhythm, horns and guitars to the Holiday Rally line-up, the Susans bring acoustic folk and the Columbus Gay Men's Chorus offer their choral harmonies.

If you're looking for drag, the Holiday Rally has something for the girls and the guys. Tara Richmond, Miss Mardi Gras 1997 and Miss Columbus Gay Pride 1997 will perform. In addition, the H.I.S. Drag Kings— a 13-dyke troupe-will take the stage with their emcee, Lustivious de la Virgion.

The Holiday Rally will be sign language interpreted and accessibility seating will be available. Accessibility vehicles will transport those who can not march. All events are free and open to everyone who supports the rights of lesbigay people.

Events all month long

To celebrate Pride month, lesbian, bisexual, gay and trangendered central Ohioans will have a party to go to every weekend in June. Central Ohio bars, businesses and organizations will sponsor events all month long, as our community joins in Pride for

STONEWALL COLUMBUS

The Bicentennial Park stage at 1997's LesBiGay Holiday festival.

Stonewall Columbus' LesBiGay Holiday.

GLBT youth will be the focus of Stonewall's annual Candlelight Vigil on Friday June 26 at 10 pm. Youth activists Kristie Fick, Kevin Franck and Jennifer Simms will share personal experiences and hopes for the future. A candle lighting ceremony will follow, led by Reverend Rickie Marecek. The vigil will be held at the Franklin County Courthouse at South High and Mound Street. It will be sign language interpreted.

For those who find pride in spirituality, a Pagan ritual will be held on Thursday, June 25, and a multi-denominational ecumenical service will be offered prior to the Pride March on Sunday, June 28. Psyche Torok will lead songs, meditation and chants in the Pagan ceremony, starting at 8 pm in Bicentennial Park. The ritual is designed to bring peace, goodwill-and good weather-for the Pride events.

New Creation Metropolitan Community Church heads up the group of churches orga-

nizing the ecumenical service, to be held at the Goodale Park Gazebo at 10:30 am. These include Christ United Evangelical, DignityGreater Columbus, Lamb of God Anglican and Spirit of the Rivers.

After the ecumenical service, and before the march, participants lining up on Park Street outside of Goodale Park will be treated to a Jet Jaguar 5 show at the Goodale Park Gazebo. The alternative rock band played the LesBiGay Holiday rally last year, and will appear as part of the Comfest line-up.

When the march, rally and festival are over, couples can share pride by exchanging vows in the fifth annual union ceremony on the Bicentennial Park stage. This mass commitment ceremony, led by the Rev. Rickie Marecek, is a Native American ritual. More than 40 couples took part in last year's ceremony, and more are expected this year. Union certificates will be available for purchase at Gayfest.

Stonewall Columbus has been serving the

central Ohio LesBiGay community since 1981. In addition to LesBiGay Holiday, the organization's programs include a community center, a telephone referral hotline answering 1,200 calls monthly, the Straight Talk education campaign, a people of color outreach project, sponsorship of a GLB information booth at the Ohio State Fair, and a discrimination documentation program.

Stonewall publishes the Stonewall Journal, a monthly newspaper, and the Lavender Listings, an annual directory of GLB-owned and supportive businesses. In addition, Stonewall works in coalition with Kaleidoscope Youth Coalition to offer the statewide Rainbow Pride Hotline for GLBT Youth, at 800291-9190.

For more information about the organization or this year's Pride events, call 614299-7764, write P.O. Box 10814, Columbus 43201, or visit the Stonewall web site at www.stonewall-columbus.org. ♡

Kim Dill is the office manager at Stonewall Columbus.

Columbus-Last year, the big red elephant from Rudely Elegant and the Drag Kings' flower float were voted among the best and beautiful floats in the Columbus Pride March, as were entries from Wall Street, Tradewinds and Kukala's.

This year the finest float could be yours. Entries will be judged with the following categories in mind: high camp, creativity, holiday theme and contingent support.

Floats will be judged by a crew as spectacular as the procession. Shanele Stires, of the two-time ABL championship women's basketball team the Quest, Tabu owner Harley Green and Phoenix Pride Youth Group facilitator Brad Koogler will be tallying scores. Representatives from some of Ohio's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender newspapers will also be judging: Christine Hahn of the Gay People's Chronicle, Pia Farrell of Word is Out! and Jan Solari of the Stonewall Journal.

Floats can be registered for $60 before the June 12 deadline. After that a 20% late fee will be assessed, and placement cannot be guaranteed. For more information, call Stonewall Columbus at 216-299-7764.

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