The Shenandoah LGBTQ Center in Staunton is stepping up to host a Pride Day event originally scheduled for Monday at the Augusta County Library in Fishersville.
The Augusta County Board of Supervisors chairman directed staff to notify the library that the event needed “additional vetting” and should be cancelled.
Despite months of planning, County Administrator Tim Fitzgerald delivered news of the cancellation to the library’s director on Thursday.
The new “Can’t Cancel Pride” event will be held on Monday, June 16, from 12:30 p.m. to 6 p.m.
“I have to consider difficult and nuanced decisions every day in my work with the Shenandoah LGBTQ Center. This was not one of those instances,” AnhThu Nguyen, executive director of the center, told AFP. “Our community deserves so much more, and I’m lucky to have so many community partners and individuals that feel the same.
“Together, I hope we can send a clear message to our LGBTQ+ community here that there will always be folks on the right side of history, folks that see them, celebrate them and fight for them.”
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Nguyen put out a powerful statement on Friday saying she was deeply disappointed in the decision by the BOS and that it caused “irreparable harm” and has done a “disservice to the entire community.”
“This unique event offered crucial opportunities for the education, care and celebration for a community whose rights and existence are currently being challenged across the county. I am grateful to the Augusta County Library staff for their partnership and the leadership demonstrated in the planning of this event.
“The decision made by the Augusta County Board of Supervisors causes irreparable harm and is fundamentally misaligned with what I know and love about our local library systems. Libraries are for everyone. This decision does a disservice to the entire community.
“As a queer woman from a family of Vietnamese refugees – the number of times I have been told that I am unwelcome here could fill the pages of a book.
“As executive director of an LGBTQ community center serving the broader Shenandoah Valley – the stories shared with me about times our community has felt unwelcome, shamed, outcast, threatened, experienced physical violence or lost loved ones to suicide – could tragically fill the pages of every book on every wall of every library.
“This is a reminder that for our LGBTQ community – our visibility, our safety and our acceptance has never been guaranteed. They are hard-fought freedoms that must never be taken for granted.
“The Shenandoah LGBTQ Center is committed to fighting to protect the necessary spaces that foster belonging, acceptance and joy.”
Event details
The “Can’t Cancel Pride” event will be held at the Shenandoah LGBTQ Center at 13 W. Beverley St., in Staunton. The center is on the fifth floor of the building.
Vendors will be set up from 12:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Drop-in hours are being offered from 12:30 to 6 p.m.
The event will include:
- Community organizations and businesses
- Name change clinic
- Crafts, games and activities
- Clothes closet
- Queer resource library
- Mocktails and snacks
Volunteers are needed for the event. If you are interested, contact Nguyen at [email protected]
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Crystal Graham
