Springfield will celebrate its 10th Pride after a summer under a national spotlight of false narratives

Last year, Springfield, Ohio, was thrust into the national spotlight after both President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance made false claims on the campaign trail about the rural town’s Haitian migrant population.

Despite the critical attention, Springfield Pride is celebrating its 10th anniversary starting on Saturday, June 28, with more funding, the possibility of increased attendance and a renewed energy, said Kyle Scott, vice president of LGBTQ+ volunteer organization Equality Springfield.

“ The overall message in the community is this hate and division isn’t who we are,” Scott said. “‘We have your back,’ is what the community’s saying to us.”

Springfield in the news

On Sept. 13, Vance erroneously said there was a “massive rise in communicable diseases – like TB and HIV” citing a false claim that migrants bring diseases despite no evidence showing a rise in communicable diseases in Springfield in a post on X, which was later edited to remove the reference to tuberculosis and HIV.

Equality Springfield condemned the accusations. That July, their Drag Brunch had protestors outside – the first in the organization’s 10-year history, Scott said. He described the experience as “very isolating.”

“I felt like the world was against us,” he said.

Vitriol online and the national attention stoked fear in the organization, Scott said. But fear was replaced with defiance, and later replaced by excitement and community support for this year’s Pride.

“Now that we’ve come through [the controversy] and the attention has shifted, we’ve really seen the community really coalesce and rally around us,” he said. “It’s been really positive and overwhelming this year, which has been great.”

Springfield Pride

More volunteers than in past years are signing up to set up Springfield Pride in the street in front of City Hall. Vendor spaces are nearly completely sold out. For the first time in a while, new sponsors are funding this year’s Pride. 

Springfield Pride’s fundraising ends on June 1, but Scott said they are already 80% towards their goal. They have also kept their corporate backer, 7-Eleven.

Pride festivals in some other Ohio cities haven’t been as lucky, he said. Organizations are “really struggling” with funding as some corporations pull out of sponsoring Pride celebrations due to rollbacks in diversity, equity and inclusion programs. 

Cincinnati Pride launched a crowdfunding page to fill the gap from sponsors whose dollars the organization declined after they eliminated their DEI programs. Notably, St. Louis PrideFest lost around $150,000 after Anheuser-Busch cut ties to the organization.

 ”There was definitely some nervousness around whether we’d be able to raise the money, and if we’d lose some of our bigger sponsors because of the social and political tone of the anti-DEI efforts,” Scott said.

There will be a larger security presence and more emphasis on safety in case protests return, but he said none of the Equality Springfield or Springfield Pride pages on social media have received any toxicity like last year.

Usually, upwards of 1,500 people attend Springfield Pride. Given the increased volunteers and vendor spaces nearly selling out, Scott said he’s expecting that number to rise. It’s a welcome change after the city received national attention for the wrong reasons, he said. 

“To see a complete shift, especially [with] community members supporting us, it makes you feel like you’re not alone, and you’re not being ostracized, and the community does embrace you,” Scott said. 🔥

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• To find this year’s Pride celebrations in Ohio, visit our Pride Guide.