Carytown Pride Parade: “Let People Know You’ll Stand With A Community”

RICHMOND, Va. –Carytown’s sidewalks filled with people Saturday afternoon to wrap up Pride Month with Rally in the Alley and pride parade. The event brought together city locals and several LGBTQ organizations to celebrate inclusion, diversity and the legacy of pride.

Austin Higgs, the main speaker of the event, spoke on the history of Pride and how members of the LGBTQIA+ community struggled against the institutions that told them they were less than human.

“Pride is the recognition of a society that have been undervalued, underserved, underrepresented and over-ostracized,” Higgs said during her speech. “Pride is for the historically oppressed. It won’t mean anything unless you know what if feels like to be on the margins.”

“I think it’s ironic because we’re told we’re less than [human] when, in fact, we are amazing and, if anything, we are all superhuman,” Higgs said.

People gathering at AlterNatives for Carytown Pride parade. Photo by Adam Hamza.

Larry Williams, a volunteer with Black Pride RVA, said Carytown Pride is about celebrating and embracing pride and getting involved. He also said It’s important to volunteer for these events because people outside the community don’t want to acknowledge their existence.

“It’s important to let people know you’ll stand with a community when they need it,” Williams said. “It’s good to see a lot of organizations, especially from last year, come together and say, ‘I’ll stand with you.’”

Keith Watts, a volunteer with Diversity Richmond, said showing up to pride events reminds everyone, including the LGBTQ community, of the diversity of their group.

“Typically, you’ve seen white individuals, particularly white men, being promoted as the base of the LGBTQ community even though that’s only representative of one letter in that acronym,” Watts said. He continued:

“I think it’s important to anybody that identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and so forth, just to show up to these events to be visible [and] to demonstrate the diversity of the LGBTQ community.”

Williams added for LGBTQ organizations and pride events to be successful, they’ll need support in addition to participation.

“I think we can’t do these things alone,” Williams said. “I know crowds matter, but support [and] understanding that, at the end of day we’re the same, would help for next year and beyond.”

Several businesses along Carytown participated in the parade with photo opts, activities and pride-themed window decorations. Millenium Snow, standing in as hostess for Michelle Livigne, said she was pleased to see so many businesses get involved in celebrating pride and families supporting their children as they marched in the parade.

“That tells me that their parents also have an open mind,” Snow said. “Bring[ing] their kids out here to support the event is just amazing.”

For next year’s event, Snow wants to see more amenities such as free-standing food and beverage options and misting fans to help fight the summer heat. Snow concludes:

“This is [Carytown’s] first time hosting [the Pride Parade] and… next year will be amazing now that they’ve gotten out all the kinks.”

For an interactive map of the Carytown businesses that participated in Pride Month, click here.