With the techno music from the stage in front of him thumping so loudly you’d swear it shook the ground, Phillip Skunza held his cup of vodka and soda water aloft and danced in circles so fast that it sent the colored beads around his neck swinging.
“I am so happy right now,” he said after walking away from the stage in order to be heard. “I think this is the start of something big.”
Hundreds gather for outdoor Pride celebration
He was one of several hundred people packed into a parking lot at District West Downtown for the Virginia West Pride Fest, which was billed as the largest outdoor Pride Month event in Columbus. Events were held both Friday and Saturday nights, with Saturday’s focused on drag performances and togetherness.
The event featured probably 25 drag performers and a set from the Fabulous Johnson Brothers band, and also raised money for the Columbus Gay Men’s Chorus.
For the second year in a row, because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Stonewall Columbus Pride Parade was cancelled during this Pride Month leaving a void for in-person gatherings.
Read about Pride Parade cancellation:The festival is still going virtual
But the District West event Saturday night was a party of its own. And one that Skunza said felt like a bit of an awakening.
The Pride Parade, he said, had grown so large and so full of corporate sponsorships that these organic events (the Franklinton neighborhood is holding its own Pride celebrations this year) that are happening and will only grow seem so hopeful.
“I think this could be a catalyst for change in how we do Pride in Columbus,” the 53-year-old who lives in Italian Village and works at the Happy Greek restaurant on N. High Street. “It’s just exciting to be back together again this year.”
Virginia West event features local, Ohio drag queen lineup
The drag performers Saturday night included, of course, Virginia West herself and Columbus’ own Nina West as well as several other local and Ohio drag queens, including India Ferrah from Dayton and Penny Tration from Cincinnati.
Read about Slammers in Columbus: One of the country’s last lesbian bars
Virginia West was busy with performances Saturday night but Sabrina Boykin, who helped organize the event, said it was critical to get everyone safely back together outside for Pride after such a lonely and challenging year.
“Virginia has always been like the mother of the gay community,” Boykin said, “so this was very important to her and everyone.”
Aaron Eckhardt, who uses they/them pronouns, could not agree more.
Eckhardt is executive director of the Buckeye Region Anti-Violence Organization (BRAVO), the part of Equitas Health that works with survivors of violence in the LGBTQ community. During the pandemic, they said, BRAVO’s caseload increased by about 160% over the previous year.
Saturday night’s party, then, was even more was necessary.
“It’s so amazing to be able to come out after the pandemic and actually see and touch and feel,” Eckhardt said. “Isolation can be a burden but we heal in community. And here tonight, this community knows we all have a home.”
Among the hundreds at the ticketed event — some who sat at VIP tables, some who brought their lawn chairs and the many who just danced and partied wherever they could find space — were Stephanie and Bridget Holiday.
For the couple, who moved to Columbus in 2019 and were married in March, this was their first Pride event in town. And they both agreed it could not have been any better.
“It’s such a sense of community to see people face to face and have all that happiness together that was missing in the pandemic,” said Bridget, a 30-year special-education coordinator at KIPP Columbus.
Her wife, a 32-year-old special education teacher at KIPP added: “It’s really encouraging here, to see the community growing together. Exposure, exposure, exposure and then maybe it won’t be so scary to people anymore.”
Among those who performed Saturday was AJ Quin, a Latina drag queen from Puerto Rico who lives on Columbus’ South Side. Quin, whose name when she isn’t performing is Armando Quintana Ceballo, said this was her first time performing at a Pride Fest and she couldn’t have asked for more.
With her shiny blue sequined and fishnet outfit clinging like a second skin and her blue and white hair flowing down her back, she took to the stage and worked the crowd up as she prowled and gyrated to the pulsing music.
But it was when she somersaulted down the catwalk and ended in a move known as a death drop, that the crowd really went wild. It is, she said, her signature move.
“This was a dream come true being here,” Quin said. “Everyone is just having so much fun.”
hzachariah@dispatch.com
@hollyzachariah
