From Q-Notes, Carolinas’ multimedia LGBT news source (May 31 issue)

Pride: Not just for state capitals anymore

Festivals popping up in locales across the Carolinas
by Matt Comer | May 31st, 2008

In 1981, gay and transgender North Carolinians celebrated their “day out” at the first statewide NC Pride festival in Durham. The same year, Charlotte had its first local Pride gathering, on the campus of the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. The Queen City event would return two years later, while the statewide Pride would be held the next time in 1986, and then each year thereafter.

The sustained Pride movement in Charlotte began in 1987 with the launch of an annual picnic in Bryant Park. The now-defunct group Queen City Quordinators oversaw the event until 1989, when Q-Notes assumed responsibility. The picnic was replaced with a more traditional Pride festival in 1993.

Since those early days, both events have continued to grow. Along with them, in more recent years local Pride festivals have popped up across the Carolinas. Today, from the mountains of North Carolina to the coast of South Carolina, LGBT communities hold their own celebrations.

The phenomenon has raised some intriguing questions: What’s behind this movement? How are local communities organizing their own festivities? Are there larger trends afoot? Are these events a fad, or is this the new paradigm?

Read the rest at Q-Notes Online.