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PORTRAITS OF PRIDE 2019
BYLINE: INTERVIEWS BY KAREN STARR, PHOTOS BY SHANE WYNN
The last non-pandemic Akron Pride Festival was in 2019, and writer Karen Starr went with photographer Shane Wynn to ask people there: “Why do you celebrate Pride?” These are their answers, which we originally published during Pride Month in Oct. 2019. You can see all the Portraits of Pride at https://devilst.rip/ pride2019 Krystal Rockenfelder
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“That’s why. Right there. Murdered,” Krystal Rockenfelder says, gesturing to the exhibit honoring transpeople who were murdered in 2019. “So we come out here, and we show that we are not going to give into that. We’re just not. ...I’m not letting that stop me from going out in America and being who I am. So Pride is, ‘This is what we are.’”
Mona Delwest
“I celebrate Pride because it’s diversity — it brings everybody together — it’s love. Jesus is love, this is love. It brings this whole world together, and that’s why I celebrate it: to celebrate the love and friendship that I have gathered over the years.” - Mona Delwest
Rainbow Girls
“I celebrate Pride because I’m all about equality and love.” - Jacqueline Adams
“I celebrate because I love the rainbows, I love the community, and I love the LGBTQ community.” - Melanie English
