Eric Feingold, History Curator at the Ohio History Connection discusses Columbus’s robust LGBTQ community in WOSU’s Curious Cbus series:
Eric Feingold, curator at the Ohio History Connection, works with the Gay Ohio History Initiative. He says that the city was, in general, far ahead of the rest of the state.
“Columbus has been holding, for instance, the Pride Parade since right around 1981, 1982, and other cities in Ohio have just hosted their first Pride festivals in the last few years,” Feingold says.
He adds that cultural events like Pride and organizations like Stonewall Columbus earned the city a reputation.
“Columbus is seen as kinda the epicenter of LGBTQ life in Ohio, and certainly between the big three cities – Cincy, Cleveland and Columbus,” Feingold says.
