Rhode Island LGBT Community Honors Steve Ahlquist

RI Future blogger (and Motif contributor) Steve Ahlquist was honored by the LGBT community Sunday at the Rhode Island Pride Honors with the Spirit of Pride Award. The event, which honors individuals who have made outstanding contributions to promoting LGBT equality, was held at the Providence Marriott.

RI Future covers politics from a progressive point of view. Ahlquist has written numerous articles for the website about the fight to attain legalization of same-sex marriage in Rhode Island, hate crimes committed against members of the LGBT community, HIV stigmatization, and other social justice issues.

RI Pride Chairman Kurt Bagley said Ahlquist “gives activists and protestors a voice, a microphone and a camera.”

Veteran LGBT activist Kate Monteiro was presented with the Pyramid of Pride award. State Treasurer Seth Magaziner (D), a former board member of Marriage Equality Rhode Island (MERI), which led the fight to win marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples, praised Monteiro for her commitment to LGBT equality. Rodney Davis, a former chairman of RI Pride, said Monteiro had been one of the “most successful and influential leaders in our community.”

Monteiro recalled the struggle to get the landmark LGBT civil rights bill passed in 1995. That law prohibited discrimination in housing and employment based on sexual orientation. “Each and every one of us can make a difference,” Monteiro said. “Each one of us can change the world.”

Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza trumpeted his administration’s LGBT-friendly policies, which garnered the city a 110% rating from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC). “We’re not only tolerant, we’re not only accepting,” Elorza said. “We’re inclusive.”

Emcees were John Kelley and Payton St. James. Performers included saxophonist Manny Pombo, Complete Destruction and Bridie Jurasevich.

RI Pride organizes the annual Pridefest and Illuminated Nighttime Parade, which attract thousands of people to downtown Providence. This year was the 40th year of the event. Volunteers and sponsors for the organization were recognized. A 2015 Pride retrospective video was shown to conclude the evening.

For more information about RI Pride, go to prideri.com.