CONTACT: info@canapi.org330.252.1559 759 W Market St. 1st Akron,FloorOH 44303 We are CANAPI (Community AIDS Network/Akron Pride Initiative), A nonprofit organization dedicated to HIV support services and LGBTQ advocacy in Summit and Portage counties. Some of our programs include: - HIV Prevention & Testing (with extended testing hours on Tuesday nights) - Housing & Supportive Services for people living with HIV/AIDS -Housing & Supportive Services for LGBTQ+ youth and young adultsYOUTOHEREHELPTAKE THE TEST. TAKE CONTROL.
OUR FISCAL SPONSOR
COMMITTEESTEERING
The mission of the Community AIDS Network Akron Pride Initiative (CANAPI), a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, is to serve and promote the well-being of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) community and persons at risk and/or affected by HIV through educa tion, support services, quality housing, and advocacy. To learn more about CANAPI, visit www.canapi.org.
ABOUT AKRON PRIDE FESTIVAL
Julie BrianAlexJulieGregAngieGertJulieCassandraLucasIsaacBeckyTiffanyRebeccaPhilMariaJoshMichaelBeckertDavidsParksEspinosaMontgomeryCallahanJacobsOram-JacobsBaezBarstowWarrenBeckertWilmsFalconeNyburgBeckertCardenasLamoda-Genet (Chair) & Julie Beckert (Co-Chair) Tim Valenti, Cindy Christman, Lisa Ortiz, Robbie Fox, LaTonda Mobley, Dominic Caruso, Adam Walko
CommunityEventVolunteersVendingSafetyMarketingMarchKids’FinanceEntertainmentDevelopmentZone&ServicesCoordinatorsRepresentatives
Akron Pride Festival is an open celebration of music, entertainment, and information focused on promoting equality and inclusion of all people. The mission of Akron Pride Festival is to unify and affirm the LGBTQ+ community and allies in celebrating our diversity and promoting our likeness. We promote acceptance of all individuals by defending human equity.
To learn more about our Inclusion, Diversity and Equity efforts, visit jmsmucker.com/about/inclusion-diversity-equity
To a bright future We believe in working together to build a stronger community for all.
Proud Sponsorramonteramonte DISTRIBUTING CO.T 1267 S. Main St. Akron, Ohio 44301
Become a Foster REASONParent! BE THE for LOVE 330.379.1990 | summitkids.org |
More love. Proud supporter of the Akron Pride Festival
Shane Mallicoat Loan NMLS779152Officer 330.475.6385 3226CrossCountryShane.Mallicoat@myccmortgage.comMortgage,LLCKentRoad,Unit105-Stow,OH44224 Equal Housing Opportunity. All loans subject to underwriting approval. Certain restrictions apply. Call for details. NMLS3029 NMLS1796834 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org) CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC
Whole Person Healthcare SPECIALIZED HIV/AIDS CARE MENTAL HEALTH & RECOVERY GENDER AFFIRMING CARE SUPPORT GROUPS Find out more at EquitasHealth.com
2022 AKRON PRIDE FESTIVAL DRAG BATTLE photos by shane wynn
ClevelandClinic.org/LGBTQFor every care in the community. We proudly support the Akron Pride Festival and its mission to unify and affirm the LGBTQ+ community and allies in celebrating diversity and promoting likeness. Today, celebratewe what brings us all together. ©2022 The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. All rights reserved. PNC Bank, National Association. Member FDIC CON PDF 0419-080 Today’s a day for family and friends, perfect moments and precious memories. We wish you the most of everything Akron Pride Festival has to offer. Contact Joe Luckring Regional pnc.comjoseph.luckring@pnc.com330-430-6301President
We’re the bank that looks out for people. We’re Huntington. At Huntington, we know the business of banking is about moving money responsibly But we also know that behind the numbers there are always people. Human lives. Our families, friends and neighbors. It’s an honor to be part of the lives that help our communities prosper. And for that privilege, we thank you. Member FDIC. ®, Huntington® and Huntington. Welcome.® are federally registered service marks of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated. ©2022 Huntington Bancshares Incorporated. We take PRIDE in caring for you! We’re here when you need us. summahealth.org/prideclinic PRIDE PRIDE
a chance to rejoice in my own uniqueness, a chance to cry a sacred experience like a dream sequence fading into misty haze the crowd cheering for the choices I have made. I may have wandered through a aslifetimesomeone I wasn’t, now in whatever time I have left on this earth, I’m ©2021home.byBarbara Marie Minney. All Rights Reserved.
rainbow on the
I was searching for something too, not knowing what it was. The rainbow appeared suddenly, the afternoon sun’s reflection on the bathroom rug, a sign that I had chased the rainbow logic, revealing myself on the other side, more treasured than any pot of Leprechaun gold. Coming together for one celebratingday our diversity, letting the world know we have survived another year, we are still here, we are not going away, by barbara marie minney bathroom rug: akron pride
I’ve lived a whole lifetime as someone I wasn’t. Wandering through gender-sensitive backcountry, From the hills and hollers of West Virginia, the grasslands and cornfields of Ohio, through Stonewall and Pulse, making it to Akron like my Appalachian kinfolk during the great exodus north, on the hillbilly highway, looking for a better life in the rubber factories of Goodyear, Goodrich, and Firestone.
Learn more about Avantor and how you can join the team at avantorsciences.com/careers GET TESTED! Confidential Testing & Treatment of STIs Chlamydia & Gonorrhea - same day results Syphilis Testing w FREE HIV Testing COVID Vaccination Available @ Clinic and PRIDE Festival For an scph.link/SCPH_Clinicappointment: 330-375-2772 1867 W. Market Street, Bldg C - door 10 | Akron, OH 44313 (behind Acme)
Member FDIC. ©2022 U.S. Bank 757201c 5/22 U.S. Bank is proud to support the Akron Pride Festival. Ride METRO buses FREE on Saturday, August 27 in celebration of the Akron Pride Festival! 08.27.22 #RideWithPride #METROMovesYou For more information on Akron Pride Festival, visit akronpridefestival org
University Hospitals LGBTQ+ & Gender Care services offers physical, emotional and social support designed to meet your every need Talk with our experienced doctors, learn about our leadership in progressive medicine and finally feel at home with your caregivers Welcome to the care you’ve always needed. UHhospitals org/GenderCare 216 286 LGBT (5428) © 2022 University Hospitals
Akron Pride Festival’s sixth annual March (“The Akron Equity March”) is a celebration of our lives and our community. Join us as we march to show that Ak ron as a whole, supports equality and equity for all people! The March will kick off the 2022 Akron Pride Festival with step off Downtown on Main Street (from Spaghetti Warehouse) at 10 a.m. and head towards Lock 3 Park, ending at Mill Street.
STRONGER TOGETHER
Our theme for this year’s Equity March is “Stronger Together,” bringing focus to the intersectionality ex perienced by members in the LGBTQAI+ community and bringing understanding to the thought that any oppression or discrimination experienced by one community impacts other communities too.
AUGUST 27TH THEMARCHequity2022
From social justice issues impacting the Black-Indig enous-People of Color (BIPOC) community, to legis lation impacting women’s access to healthcare, and the legislation sweeping states that impact the trans gender community and LGBTQAI youth - working towards a community where everyone can be their authentic self and feel safe and included is the goal and why we are marching for the sixth year in Akron! We also march in opposition of legislation being in troduced that is in direct opposition of these views, including Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Bill and similar legislature being introduced in Ohio with HB 616.
More than 225 bills that target LGBTQ content or identities have been filed in the first three months of Standing2022. together as a community and becoming ac tive in other marginalized community issues is how we achieve change. There is strength in numbers, and we are Stronger Together.
AUGUSTWHERE27TH
SATURDAY, AUGUST 27TH | 11 AM - 10 PM Downtown Akron Main Street, Lock 3, Lock 4 & Cascade Plaza
FESTIVAL2022THE
The day’s events are free and open to all. Free park ing at City and County decks surround the festival and Metro RTA will be providing free rides to festival goers throughout the day. Refer to the Parking & Road Clo sures Map at the back of the Pride Guide for more in formation.
Entering its sixth year, the Akron Pride Festival, present ed by the JM Smucker Company, is a day of fun and celebration in the name of equity. The festival is gearing up to bring a wide range of entertainment and experi ences for all ages.
Attracting over 25,000 attendees in 2021, festival go ers will again be connected to a vast array of local and out-of-state exhibitors (comprised of corporate groups, community organizations, craft merchants, and more) as well as a diverse lineup of food purveyors offering tasty treats for festival patrons to enjoy throughout the Theday.
WHEN &
Visit the Pride Kids’ Zone in its new location at Cascade Plaza from 11:00am to 3:00 pm. Families and children of all ages can enjoy free activities, including a rock climbing wall, trampoline bungee jumping, inflatable slides and games, photo booth, and Video Game truck! Kids can also enjoy activities and giveaways provided by the Akron Summit County Public Library and Akron Public Schools.
2022 Akron Pride Festival will conclude with a fireworks show sponsored by Downtown Akron Part nershop and The Johns S. and James L. Knight Foun dation.
PRIDE HEROES (KIDS’) ZONE
It’s not just something I felt like I wanted to create, but something I needed, craved and desired for my soul.”
It’s all enough for Out Magazine to declare: “You want to talk about a singer?! My god.”
The artist only “became human again” after throwing himself into the creative process. “I covered my room in postcards and index cards,wrote down all of the things I wanted to say and all of the things me and everyone else lost.”
In addition, Qveen Herby, Parson James and Alex New ell also make appearances. Behind the scenes, VINCINT teamed up with the indie producer STORYBOARDS on production, while co writers include the songwriting powerhouse JHart (Jennifer Lopez, Justin Bieber and Zara Larsson) and fellow pop star Betty Who. “The first time I listened to the full album top to bottom, by the time it was over I was just sitting there with my face drenched in tears,” he remembers. “I went through all of the emotions I was missing and realized that this is what it feels like when you make something you love.
Concocted during the tumultuous summer of 2020 when the Black Lives Matter movement swept the country, with the political atmosphere tense and the pandemic raging, the roots of There Will Be Tears came from a period of deep personal soul searching. “Everyday we were being bombarded with awful news, and I was also putting myself out there march ing, doing interviews and working with organiza tions,” VINCINT explains. “At the end of the process I just felt so drained and found myself empty. I had to really shut off from the world to find myself.”
The resulting songs beg for a disco ball and a dance floor, including the aforementioned “Hard 2 For get,” inspired from a time he says he felt nonchalant about his feelings, writing it as a call to action for his own emotions. “YOU,” meanwhile, starts off with his mother’s voice and serves as a love letter to her, over flowing with passion in his vocals in the process. “It’s about how the reason why I was staying so far away is because I’m protecting you,” he says. “I also wanted to put so many different elements of my life as a Black man into that song, as well as many others to show that there is also joy in the midst of all of the shit that we go through.” It’s a joy that also extends to a who’s who of collabo rators, including fellow pop stars like Tegan and Sara. The duo is featured on the pulsating “Getaway,” their harmonies complimenting its glistening percussion. “That was the first song I wrote for the album and I knew it needed something else,” VINCINT says of the collaboration. “I sent out a tweet that Tegan and Sara would sound so good on it, and Tegan said ‘Great, mes sage it to me.’ She recorded her verse that night.”
VINCINT ENTERTAINMENT
2022 AKRON PRIDE FESTIVAL EMCEE
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Ken Schneck is the Editor of The Buckeye Flame, Ohio’s only statewide LGBTQ+ news and views platform for which he was recognized as the 2021 national LGBTQ+ journalist of the year. He is the au thor of Seriously…What Am I Doing Here? The Ad ventures of a Wondering and Wandering Gay Jew, LGBTQ Cleveland, LGBTQ Columbus and LGBTQ Cincinnati (2020). For 10 years, he was the host of This Show is So Gay, the nationally syndicated radio show. In his spare time, he is a tenured professor of education at Baldwin Wallace University.
Coco Montrese is the stage name of Martin Cooper, an American drag queen, entertainer, and reality tele vision personality. Montrese came into the spotlight after being crowned Miss Gay America 2010 when Alyssa Edwards’ title was revoked. She subsequent ly appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 5 as well as RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars Season 2. Montrese was named as one of a rotating cast of a dozen Drag Race queens in RuPaul’s Drag Race Live!, a Las Vegas show residency at the Flamingo Las Vegas. The show features RuPaul’s music and former Drag Race contes tants.
ENTERTAINMENT
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Making Meaningful Connections In Our SummitDD.orgCommunityByconnectingkidsandadults to the support they need to thrive one person at a time. Summit DD is proud to partner with local organizations like the Akron Pride Festival who believe in a community built by the abilites of all citizens.
parking & road closures
sugarplumtour.org I 330-376-8522 Proceeds support the Gay Community Endowment Fund. Tickets can be purchased online starting Aug. 27 at sugarplumtour.org. 21ST ANNUALBUY EARLY AND SAVE: LIVE OR VIRTUAL TOUR: $30* $35 AFTER NOV. 1 BOTH TOURS: $50* $60 AFTER NOV. 1 *Plus online processing fees. All sales are final. The full ticket price is tax deductible. LIVE TOUR: Sun. Dec. 4, 2022 VIRTUAL TOUR: Sat. & Sun. Dec. 10 & 11, 2022 2022 Grant Recipients Akron AIDS Collaborative • Akron Children’s Hospital Akron Civic Theatre • The Buckeye Flame CANAPI • Child Guidance & Family Solutions Greenleaf Family Center • OutSupport Kent State University Foundation Plexus Education Foundation • Rape Crisis Center Summa Health • University of Akron Foundation VANTAGE Aging • Victim Assistance Program Learn more at www.akroncf.org/GCEFgrants To make a gift to the Gay Community Endowment Fund, visit: gaycommunityfund.org
MORE THINGS TO SEE & DO: CHECK OUT OUR DOWNTOWN GUIDES Additional support is provided by The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
Downtown Akron. Look around you. It’s looking pretty good, right? It’s all for you and because of you. And, when you spend your time & money here, it just gets better. Here are 11 ways you can lift up your friends and neighbors in downtown.
3. Planning a work meeting, lunch, or event? Choose downtown restaurants for catering orders.
11. Say thank you. During challenging times, small business owners, like everyone else, can struggle with low morale. Let them know how much you genuinely appreciate them. It doesn’t cost a thing to be BONUS:sweet.Download the Akronite App & earn re wards for the money you spend at downtown businesses. It’s super easy, and every Blimp you earn equals $1 you can spend in your favorite plac
5. Reserve a downtown space. The next time you plan a party, presentation, or business meeting, choose to have it in a downtown venue.
DOWNTOWNsupportIN’
Needes. ideas for stuff to do? Scan the QR code be low.
6. Leave reviews. If you love a downtown business, tell the internet! Your 5-star reviews can go a long way in encouraging others to patronize the busi ness, too.
9. Give social media shoutouts to downtown busi nesses. Take a photo of your food, shopping expe rience, or downtown Akron adventure, and post it to your social media accounts. Be sure to tag the business(es) and use #DowntownAkron, because we’ll see the hashtag & share it!
1. Choose local. It’s always best to choose locally owned shops and eateries. There’s a list of the vast array of downtown Akron businesses on the DAP 2.website.Support local businesses online. Many down town shops and restaurants offer online shopping and ordering.
10. While we love the other cool cities in our re gion, spending your evenings and weekends en joying experiences, eateries, and festivals in down town Akron makes a huge difference, and dispels the myth that there’s nothing to do here.
DOWNTOWN AKRON PARTNERSHIP
4. Buy gift cards. They make the perfect gift for fam ily, friends, and even future you.
7. Tell your friends and family. As above, if you love a downtown business, tell the people in your life. They value your opinion, and positive word of mouth can really make a difference for local busi 8.nesses.Share businesses’ social media posts. Helping downtown businesses spread the word about their goods, services, and promotions is a great way to support them.
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FIRESTONE PARK COMMUNITY CENTER RECREATION & PARKS FOR LGBTQ+ RESOURCES VISIT 211SUMMIT.ORG/LGBTQ CALL 2-1-1 or 330.376.6660 TEXT your zip code to 898-211 FREE • CONFIDENTIAL • 24/7
Bloody lies torturing my visions of the future by showing me what could be if I was free These lies hold me back from the person I could be Any time I hear something isn’t right, I feel as if there is no light at the end of the tunnel
Despite trying to patch it up with more lies, I am at a loss for words
Whether we hide or stand we are still here
The closest people to you will show their feeling for you
There’s no doubt that you value those feelings a great deal, but “blood” isn’t always as thick as it should be.
Once silky lies begin to cut my throat, my little white lies become bloody over time
I am no longer able to conceal my identity from others I was born this way, but people seem to think I wasn’t Hearing what I’m doing is an abomination and I will be punished Being punished for something I was born as is confusing A rainbow of shame was always surrounding me
Trying to disguise myself has become harder over time My oversized cloak of lies has become too tight for me to wear The seamless lies I have told stretch and tear my defenses against others
This is one of those secrets you say “Ugh never mind” and you keep to yourself A bold-faced kind of lie, that only you know is accurate I plagiarize the life of others so I won’t cause too much suspicion
When the time is right, those who are hiding will reveal themselves it is not only about accepting your sexuality, but also accepting the person that you are.
Your newfound freedom illuminates everything, the bravery you have will shine on others Colors are more vibrant, the air is lighter, and even the cloudy days do not phase you Like many before we came out we used to marvel at the happy escape it would bring us The rainbow of shade that haunted me no longer haunts me I now embrace all the colors that surround me These colors are me and I can flaunt them however I choose Our heavy burdens are now lifted, allowing us to run freely You can love whomever you want, kiss who you want, and live how you want to Now time to unwind and kick back and put on Diana Ross because I’m coming out by earthly kissed
My brain was closeted to the idea there were even people like me I see friends like me but I still feel isolated would they even accept me? My once sacred life experiences were shared with others
There will always be times when it is difficult to be yourself freely Sometimes when you may overthink your decision
It’s always been my assumption that I was alone, like the last kid to be picked in gym
Once your beautiful colors are shown you will have warmth from so many other souls
august 22, 1980
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