Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Coming Up in Queer Cincinnati...

Cincinnati Equinox!!!
I feel awful, I was supposed to email George from Metronation, the mastermind behind the event, but I never did, but I wanted to make sure you heard about it.

Cincinnati Equinox comes out of no where and promises to be one of the highlights of Cincinnati's queer calendar. No, organizers are quick to point out, it has nothing to do with Pride and it certainly does not replace the event. Rather, Equinox promises to be different and special in its own right. When I heard about it, probably at Below Zero Lounge one evening, I was a little taken aback. My thoughts are probably your own: can it be successful? Well, if George's assurances are true, and he's talking that there are literally hundreds (maybe over a thousand at this point) of people bussing in from out of town for a big old gay party at... FOUNTAIN SQUARE.

That's right, folks, the Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, recently reformed out of the ashes of the Queen City Careers Association, has teamed up with Fountain Square to put on the party of the year this coming weekend! How they did it on July 4th weekend, I'll never know, but you can be sure I'm going.

Here is the event line-up according to the website:
Friday, July 3rd: Welcome Party, 10pm-Close at various local bars
Friday, July 4th: Equinox Festival, 11am-4pm on Foutain Square
Friday, July 4th: Equinox Ball, 10pm-2am, Grand Ballroom of the Millenium Hotel
Friday, July 4th (ish): Afterhours Breakfast, 1:30am-4am, Millenium Hotel
Trust, kids, it's gonna be fun and I will be sure to update you later in the week as soon as I find out the various wonderful things all of the Cincinnati queers have planned. I probably won't be making it to the ball -- it's far too much for this poor queer to attend -- but you can be sure you'll see me out at the bars. *Checks little black book* Who's lucky enough to be my date that evening?

Oh, and after my interview with CityBeat around Pride, I got a lot of questions of how can large queer events really become political and change hearts and minds of Cincinnati and our neighbors. I think the Equinox founders answered it best from their mission statement:
The purpose of the event is to help heal the image of Cincinnati in the National LGBT Community. Although Article XII has been repealed, Cincinnati is still viewed by other cities as homophobic and unwelcoming to the GLBT Community. On any given weekend a large portion of our city's own community leave for the nearby cities of Columbus, Louisville, Dayton, Indianapolis and Lexington.

The Greater Cincinnati Gay Chamber of Commerce believes that by hosting Equinox, we can show the changing climate towards the gay and lesbian community in Cincinnati, therefore improving the attitudes of our own community, as well as, show other cities that times have changed in Cincinnati and we welcome them with open arms, as our city is a great place to shop, play and live.
And don't worry, word is that Cincinnati Guerrilla Queer Bar is very much working with Equinox planners for a huge party that night.

Great Cincinnati GLBTQ Youth Summit
A mainstay of all queers' calendars, the youth summit has now opened up for registration. I'll cover a little more later, but they are also looking for additional help and worshop proposals. Do you think there's a demand for "blogging for queers" workshop? Hrm. Maybe I'll put my two cents in. Check out the website here.

Super Secret Event
Well, for another week. Just put July 17th, 7pm-10pm on your calendar, kids. You'll be doing some good for the world, and having a great time in the process. Promise, promise.

1 comment:

Daniel said...

I wish there was a blog as good as yours for London! always read the updates and you are in my blogroll! You must put a lot of time and effort into it and I like it and appreciate it xx