“We wanted to have this event to celebrate pride in our community as well as have a place to share resources with our community,” said Anya Tassy, founder of Inclusive Fairborn.
Tassy added, “We want this event to be a place for members of our community to feel taken care of, celebrated and safe.”
Tassy said the organization hopes to see between 150 and 200 people at the event.
Inclusive Fairborn is an organization trying to make the city a more inclusive place. It originally planned the event for June 18 but storms moved through the region, canceling many events both on June 18 and June 19.
June was Pride month, a time for LGBTQ+ people to celebrate their history and future.
Rob Anderson, Fairborn’s city manager, said city council adopted new goals two years ago that included promoting diversity and inclusion, which has now been a goal of council’s for about two years.
“We have to make sure that all our folks in Fairborn feel like they’re represented, so this is a good way for the city to try to do that,” Anderson said.
The city is planning on reading a proclamation on Friday during the event, though Anderson noted the mayor gets many requests to read a proclamation and this is a common event.
Jan Couchman, programs and membership chair with PFLAG Dayton, an LGBTQ+ organization, said PFLAG Dayton wanted to be involved with the event because this is Fairborn’s first Pride event.
Couchman said the organization also hoped to ensure that communities around Dayton felt safe having Pride events and noted that Inclusive Fairborn reached out to PFLAG asking the organization to participate.
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