GREENSBORO, N.C. — Every year since 2006, the Alternative Resources of the Triad, or ART, has hosted Greensboro Pride Week which was originally called Triad Pride.
“When they had the very first Triad Pride at what we now know as LeBauer Park, it was about 400 attendees, less than 12 vendors. It was not anything close to what it is now," exclaimed ART's Board Chair, Brian Coleman.
Although its roots branch even farther back to 1988 with the creation of ART and its hotline.
“Originally, ART’s goal and purpose was to create a place as to where LGBTQ+ people of the Triad has access to friendly doctors, lawyers, dentists, whatever they needed but also, this was the late 80s, we’re not in 2023 and the LGBTQ+ community is not being seen then as it’s being seen now... they also established a suicide hotline, and it was manned at different times of the week for 24 hours a day," recounted Coleman.
ART was one of the first nonprofits in the Triad to specifically focus on the LGBTQ+ community. However, even though print and phonelines began to be obsolete, their mission hadn’t changed – it merely evolved.
“With the advent of the Word Wide Web and computers, that telephone situation falls away and it becomes more of a web-based situation, but the goal was to make sure LGBTQ+ people in not just Greensboro, but the Triad, understand that there was again that safe space even if it just was on the phone – there was someone you could talk to," Coleman said.
A safe space no longer just on a phoneline, but translating to ART’s Greensboro Pride Festival as we know it today.
“That is the purpose of the festival is to be able to give people a space in public not in a shadow but on the four largest blocks of the third biggest city in North Carolina, to be able to come out and express themselves as they wish amongst people who understand and won’t question," Coleman said.
This year’s Greensboro Pride Week concludes with that same festival this coming Sunday from 11am to 6pm. The free downtown event will include food, performances, and lots of fun.