LEXINGTON, Ky. — Several events throughout Kentucky have been taking place all month to celebrate Pride.

Saturday, the Lexington Pride Center hosted its annual Lexington Pride Festival.

What You Need To Know

  •  The Lexington Pride Center hosted its annual festival and, like years before, took several precautions to keep attendees safe

  •  The festival is typically held at an outdoor venue, but this year it was moved inside

  •  Concerns over safety at Pride events have been raised and LGBTQ+ advocates believe these concerns are a result of legislation that has been introduced and passed that impact the community
  • Advocates believe that Pride events provide a safe space for people in the community, and therefore, think that having the events are important.

This year’s Pride Month comes at a time when the Human Rights Campaign has declared a national state of emergency for LGBTQ+ people in the U.S. due to what many call anti-LGBTQ+ legislation being passed across the country.

Advocates believe events like the Lexington Pride Festival are crucial to provide a safe space for the community.

“I come from Eastern Kentucky,” said Benita Bloom, a drag queen who was one of the hosts for the event. “I am from out in the middle of nowhere, so, like, we didn’t have this. You have a lot of people that are coming from that part of the county that they don’t have this safe space and they can come here and be who they are, and enjoy Pride, and get to see people that are like them and it’s just a great moment for everybody.”

To ensure that the festival remained a safe space for those in attendance, the Lexington Pride Center took several safety measures.

“We’ve been working really closely with Central Bank Center staff, and as well as the Lexington PD, to make sure that we have the safest event possible,” said Jeremy Ellis, the chair of the Lexington Pride Festival.

This was the first year that the festival was held indoors with the goal of providing more accessibility and to have a larger space. However, with concerns over safety, having it inside allowed for more precautions to be taken.

“There has been pretty good precautions, like, there’s great security at the door,” said Benita Bloom. “That’s the great thing about being here, it’s a lot easier to control security and make sure that everybody is safe, that there’s nothing that will happen, there’s people checking bags at the door. This space makes it a lot easier to do that.”

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