Columbus to illuminate City Hall for Pride Month, honor local LGBTQ+ advocates
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Columbus leaders are illuminating City Hall on Monday in celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride Month, while honoring the first openly gay elected Columbus official and a same-sex marriage advocate who hails from the Ohio family behind Donatos Pizza.
The illumination begins at about 8 p.m., when Columbus City Council and Mayor Andrew Ginther are presenting the Steven Shellabarger Illuminator Award to Mary Jo Hudson and Tom Grote. Named for activist Steve Shellabarger, the award recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in promoting LGBTQ+ rights to create a more inclusive city. Watch the City Hall illumination live in the video player above.
Appointed to serve on city council in 2004, Hudson was the first openly gay public official in Columbus. She held the seat until 2007, when she was appointed by former Gov. Ted Strickland to serve as the director of the Ohio Department of Insurance. Hudson made history again as the first openly gay member of the Columbus City Schools Board of Education, where she served from 2014 to 2018.
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She has served as a member of several other boards, including the Columbus Arts Council's board of directors and the national board of directors and board of governors for the Human Rights Campaign. Hudson is also a 2008 recipient of the YWCA Columbus' Women of Achievement Award.
Grote grew up on Columbus' south side and got his start working for his family's business, Donatos Pizza. After working for Donatos for 20 years, he continued to work with the Grote family to expand the business and invest in and lead several tech startups in central Ohio. As part of his advocacy for same-sex marriage, Grote helped found Equality Ohio in 2005 and served as the organization's first board chairman.
He has also served on numerous other boards of directors, including the Legacy Fund of the Columbus Foundation, the Short North Business Association and the Central Ohio Transit Authority. He was the first openly LGBTQ+ member of Miami University's board of trustees from 2010 to 2015 after being appointed by Strickland.
Hudson and Grote worked alongside each other to launch the Stonewall Builds Capital Campaign in 2013, which led to the renovation and expansion of Stonewall Columbus' current North High Street building.
Last year's winner was Stephen Snyder-Hill, an openly gay author, LGBTQ+ rights activist, and veteran who served under the U.S. Army's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy, which barred gay, lesbian or bisexual people from military service. Two days after the policy was overturned, Snyder-Hill gained national attention when he came out of the closet during a Republican primary presidential debate in 2011.
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Snyder-Hill was invited in 2015 to be the headlining speaker for a TEDx Talk at Ohio State University. Several years later, Snyder-Hill came out as one of the hundreds of students who were abused at the hands of doctor Richard Strauss, a former university physician who died in 2005. Snyder-Hill was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against OSU.
Pride Month remembers the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, a series of conflicts between police and LGBTQ+ protesters that stretched over six days. Today, Pride commemorates the Stonewall protesters with parades, festivals, memorials and more.
Stonewall Columbus kicked off its celebrations with the annual Pride Brunch at the Greater Columbus Convention Center on Sunday. Stonewall's Pride festival begins at 4 p.m. on June 13 at Goodale Park and runs until 10 p.m. with food, vendors, nonprofit organizations, community resources, and live entertainment. The celebration continues at 10:30 a.m. on June 14 with a march at Broad and High streets.
While the city's first Pride march happened in 1981 with just 200 people, the Stonewall Columbus Pride parade welcomes more than 700,000 visitors annually.
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