Mayor Levar M. Stoney, for the fifth year, raised the Progress Flag outside City Hall on Friday, May 31, in recognition of June as LGBTQ Pride Month. Attending the event were various groups including: Virginia Pride Director James Milner, Diversity Richmond Executive Director Lacette Cross, UGRC/Black Pride RVA Executive Director Cheezi Farmer, Side by Side Executive Director Marquis Mapp, Richmond Region Tourism Executive Vice President Katherine O’Donnell, James River Transgender Society Founder Keri Abrams, Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards, Richmond Police Capt. K. Mooney, LGBTQ+ Liaison for the police department, Richmond City Council members and community members. In addition to those present for the raising of the flag, the event was greeted with a small gathering of protesters from a group called, VCU Apartheid Divest. They called for their followers to: “Disrupt the raising of the progressive pride flag tomorrow at city hall at 10:45 a.m., bring noisemakers, signs, a mask, keffiyeh, and a friend.” Their statement about the Progress Flag event continued to say: “VA Pride and the City of Richmond including Mayor Stoney are complicit in the ongoing genocide in Palestine. We are calling for VA Pride to uphold their own values of equity and inclusion for the Richmond City Council to sign a ceasefire resolution ... Our queer liberation is intertwined with Palestinian liberation!” Also parked outside of City Hall was a police vehicle with an eye-catching Pride logo.

Cone flowers in West End