The inaugural Peoria Pride Festival on Sunday September 13 was a huge success. Thanks again to all our sponsors, supporters and those who participated, volunteered and attended. The 1,700 plus attendees of all ages, from all over Central Illinois, enjoyed a sunny day full of entertainment, shopping and camaraderie. The local media coverage followed up with positive pieces about the GLBT community. People of all ages were able to bring their families, many who had never attended a "gay" event. Same sex couples were able to walk hand-in-hand and celebrate who they are. We should all be proud of what we accomplished together.

Yet, let’s not rest on our laurels or rest at all. There is still a lot of work to be done. Many of our local non-profits and organizations that support the GLBT community need volunteers and action takers. Our community needs to be active all year long, not just at Pride!

What can you do? Find the many organizations who support and service our community and see what you can do to help. In these times of a struggling economy, organizations need volunteers to help continue their vital missions now more than ever.

We have formed a new non-profit organization, the Central Illinois Alliance for Diversity & Equality (CIADE) which produced the Peoria Pride event. Our next project for CIADE is to organize a LGBT Community Center for Peoria and Central Illinois. Our vision is to create a multi-faceted organization that can bring our entire community and host of organizations who support us together to continue what Peoria Pride started - working together to gain a broader acceptance in our community. We have huge plans that will only work with the support of EVERYONE!!! Stay tuned for more about this exciting new project. We will also have a new website up soon at www.ciadeillinois.org.

Peoria Pride showed that we have an active, vibrant LGBT community right here in Central Illinois. You don’t have to go to Chicago or other huge cities to find friends and supporters. Now is the time to come together to keep that momentum going.

Working together, we CAN accomplish great things if we keep focused on a postive future. We aren’t that far from the day when every LGBT person can feel proud of who they are without being afraid of negative repercussions from others. Together we really can stop the discrimination that still affects our community every day!!

It’s time to get out of the closet. Be proud of who you are and what we have accomplished so far... and join the fight to make life better for every LGBT person in our community!! Stand up, speak out and demand equality and acceptance.

Until next month,

Dave Barker
Publisher, Out & About Illinois