Last year, Springfield, Ohio, was thrust into the national spotlight after both President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance made false claims on the campaign trail about the rural town’s Haitian migrant population.
Despite the critical attention, Springfield Pride is celebrating its 10th anniversary starting on Saturday, June 28, with more funding, the possibility of increased attendance and a renewed energy, said Kyle Scott, vice president of LGBTQ+ volunteer organization Equality Springfield.
“ The overall message in the community is this hate and division isn’t who we are,” Scott said. “‘We have your back,’ is what the community’s saying to us.”
On Sept. 13, Vance erroneously said there was a “massive rise in communicable diseases – like TB and HIV” citing a false claim that migrants bring diseases despite no evidence showing a rise in communicable diseases in Springfield in a post on X, which was later edited to remove the reference to tuberculosis and HIV.
Equality Springfield condemned the accusations. That July, their Drag Brunch had protestors outside – the first in the organization’s 10-year history, Scott said. He described the experience as “very isolating.”
“I felt like the world was against us,” he said.
Vitriol online and the national attention stoked fear in the organization, Scott said. But fear was replaced with defiance, and later replaced...
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