Youngstown Pride event draws about 1,500 to downtown

YOUNGSTOWN

Leaders of the 2016 Pride Youngstown Festival said the June 12 killing of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando would not keep them from having their event.

And it didn’t.

An estimated 1,500 people attended the eighth annual Youngstown Pride Festival between noon and 9 p.m. Saturday in downtown Youngstown.

“It’s not going to keep us from having a Pride event,” said Carlos Rivera, chairman of the event and a member of the Pride board.

“The Orlando shootings have generated a lot of good will [toward the LBGT community]. We’ll see how long it lasts,” Rivera said.

“This has been a rough month for me,” said Councilman Anita Davis, D-6th, referring to the Orlando killings, the fatal police shootings of black men in Minnesota and Louisiana and the murder of five policemen in Dallas.

“I’m a black, gay female and former policewoman. I’m still processing all of this,” she said.

Read more about the event in Sunday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.