- Wednesday, October 18, 2023
“Being quiet doesn’t get you anywhere. I don’t believe staying in the closet is a way to claim your place in society.” - Matt Tischler
On Saturday, June 23, 1990, Columbia hosted its first ever Pride parade, called then the Gay and Lesbian Pride March (GLPM). Over 2,000 participants marched down Main Street to the State House, where the participants held a rally and where several of the attendees, in a burst of exuberance, rushed up the steps. This event marked a ‘coming out’ of sorts for the gay community and their supporters in hopes of raising awareness, not only of the existence of the LGBTQ population, but also to garner support for issues they faced in their daily lives in Columbia. Volunteers, donors, and participants brought joy to the event, which made the GLPM a great success and began an annual tradition.
As GLPM organizer Jim Blanton exclaimed in his opening remarks, “For some of you today marks the very first time that you’ve shown the world that you are who you are. Some of you risk losing your jobs just by being here today: others face rejection by your families and so-called friends just by being here today. And yet, here you are!”
Hosting and attending the event took courage. For many years, gay Columbians and their supporters met in private homes, including the home of Harriet Hancock, but some activists, especially among a wave of recent political demonstrations, wanted to show their Pride publicly. They imagined that, as more gay men and lesbian women came out publicly, the families and friends of those people would change their minds about LGBTQ+ rights. The year previous, on June 25, 1989, local activists held a publicly advertised Gay Pride Picnic at a park in Chapin and attracted about 75 participants, as well as the attention of WIS-TV. They received both positive and negative reactions, which galvanized the local gay community into planning the first Gay and Lesbian March.
Another politically important event occurred in downtown Columbia earlier that same year. On April 20, 1989, the local chapter of ACT UP held a non-violent demonstration of civil disobedience in protest of a recently
proposed so-called “AIDS law,” which prohibited anonymous HIV testing, posed felony charges for those who spread HIV, and excluded children with HIV from public schools. During the protest, activists performed a “die-in,” during which they laid down in the street at the intersection of Gervais and Assembly.
On June 11, 1990, among a flurry of political activity, GLPM organizers held a press conference on the steps of the State House to announce the first ever Gay and Lesbian Pride March to be held in Columbia. In the days leading up to the parade, organizers reported that they faced push-back and threats. Menacing phone calls, letters to the editor, hate mail, all served to strengthen the organizers resolve that this event needed to proceed. Harriet Hancock, founder of the Columbia Chapter of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), has been credited with getting the first march started. In her essay “Walking Down the Street Holding My Son’s Hand: Gay Pride 1990,” published in the anthology Out Loud: The Best of Rainbow Radio (2010), Hancock describes the tension leading up to this momentous day
“I was fast asleep when the phone rang at about eleven p.m. the male voice on the other end was that of an older gay man, and he was very angry. He accused me of stirring up trouble for gay people… He said, ‘there will be blood running down Main Street tomorrow and it will be on your hands.’ I was shocked.” Later in this essay, she explains the risk of marching in public: “I went into the make-up room, where we were offering to do face painting for those who wanted to march but were afraid of being recognized… No masks were allowed, but face painting, big floppy hats, and big sunglasses were okay. I had been in touch with a middle-aged gay man from a politically prominent South Carolina family who wanted to march but didn’t want to be identified… He said, ‘I’m marching, but without a disguise. I’m not going to hide anymore. I’m just going to be myself.’”
Following the success of the first Pride March, the organizers, now known as SC Pride, made the gathering an annual event. Participation grew steadily through the 1990s. In 1997 and 1998, the march was held in Greenville and Myrtle Beach, respectively, and in 1999 it included a festival in Finlay Park. On the day of the festival, however, rain impacted the attendance and Pride would take a 2-year hiatus to recuperate from the losses.
On May 18, 2002, the Gay and Lesbian Pride March returned for its eleventh rendition. Participants marched to the State House and enjoyed entertainment on Senate Street. Event attendee Matt Tischler stated, “Being quiet doesn’t get you anywhere. I don’t believe staying in the closet is a way to claim your place in society.”
Through the 2000s Pride was held at Finlay Park or MLK Park, but in 2007 the 16th GLPM returned to the State House where representatives from
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns were present, marking the first time that politicians openly supported LGBTQ voters and their concerns. This also marked the first year during which the event took place in the Fall.
Annual Pride marches continued but did not return to Main Street until 2011.
This marked an important change to the event, during which the event was referred to not as a march but a parade. The event, though still concerned with political change, became a more celebratory event. In 2013, SC Pride expanded the celebration with musical stages and large-scale festival entertainment on Main Street. That year, over 20,000 people participated in the Pride Parade and Festival. In 2016, the City of Columbia provided festival organizers extra funds to support security at the festival in the wake of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando. The festival was rebranded as Columbia’s Famously Hot S.C. Pride Parade and Festival and the estimated crowd that year was 55,000. Since then, the annual Famously Hot S.C. Pride Parade and Festival has been a staple in the social calendar for LGBTQ+ South Carolinians and their allies, with the exception of 2020, when the festivities were canceled amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
On October 20-21, 2023 the annual festival will be held again in Columbia. What began 34 years ago as a supportive picnic in the park has grown to be the state’s largest LGBTQ event, attracting crowds in the tens of thousands. There have been a few missed years, opponents and naysayers, and some growing pains over the decades. But our Gay and Lesbian (LGBTQ) Pride March-Parade-Festival has grown with the community it represents and, today, continues to offer a safe space for connections, learning, and love.