KY LGBTQ advocates invited to White House to celebrate Pride Month

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - On Saturday, two Kentucky LGBTQ leaders were among the hundreds of LGBTQ advocates celebrating pride month on the White House lawn. 

President Biden invited Senator Karen Berg and Chris Hartman from the Fairness Campaign to the nation’s capital.

Pride Month started in 1969 with the Stonewall riots, during a time when homosexuality was illegal. Fifty years later, times have changed.

“Happy Pride Month. Happy Pride Year. Happy Pride Life,” President Biden said. “I want to send a message to everyone in the entire community, including transgender children. You are loved. You are heard. You are understood and you belong.”

Pride month comes at a solemn time. Across the nation, lawmakers introduced hundreds of bills targeted at LGBTQ rights. In the 2023 legislative session, Kentucky lawmakers passed SB150, which prohibits gender-affirming care for trans youth.

Many of the attendants of Saturday’s pride celebration have been protesting in their state legislatures.

“It’s a time for all of us to come together in solidary to build our collective power,” Executive Director of the Fairness Campaign Chris Hartman said. “It’s nice to be in spaces joyfully in a celebratory manner, but also to make certain that we don’t lose sight that our rights are still very much under attack. We must keep this fight going all across the nation.”

Hartman said the Fairness Campaign is fighting for them, but he’s not alone. Saturday’s pride celebration is one of the ways the Biden administration is showing its support for the LGBTQ community.

“President Biden knows that we are fighting in all our states,” Hartman said. “This is a painful moment in American history for LGBTQ Americans and particularly transgender Americans.”

President Biden continues to call on Congress to pass the Equality Act, which would give civil rights protections for LGBTQ people, women, people of faith, and others.

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