BOWLING GREEN, Ohio — The BGO Pride Association held its first Rainbow Rally on Saturday at the Bowling Green Wooster Green Park to bring members of the LGBTQ+ community and supporters together.
BGO Pride Vice President Kendra Sheets was glad to make the event finally happen.
"It just started off with just a Facebook post and a Facebook group and it just grew," Sheets said. "Everybody was like, 'we need a Pride, we need a Pride,' and I'm like, 'Okay let's make this happen.'"
The event also gave a voice to a community that BGO Pride President Miranda Douglas said needs a safe space right now.
"There's a lot of legislation right now against the LGBTQ community, mostly the trans community," Douglas said. "So, people need to feel accepted and have a place where they can go and feel safe."
Jim Obergefell, the plaintiff in the 2015 landmark case making same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states, spoke at the event and said events like this mean progress.
"The fact there are now more than 60 Pride celebrations in our state to me is such a great indication to the progress we have made as people and as a society," he said.
Obergefell sees the impact he has made through the joy expressed by people in small cities like Bowling Green, even with the looming fear over gay-marriage rights
While Obergefell said there have been pushbacks, he still sees a silver lining. According to a Gallup poll from June 1, 71% of Americans support marriage equality.
BGO Pride Secretary Jordan Musgrave hopes to keep up the fight to bring the community together.
"Coming together, showing that we are here, dare I say we're queer. It's very important," Musgrave said.
Later this month, Toledo Pride will be on Saturday, August 20.