Local Pride slated

CHARLESTON — Community members are planning for a local Pride celebration to take place in May in the suburb of North Charleston.

Organizer Lynn Dugan told Charleston City Paper’s Greg Hambrick the event’s purpose was to raise awareness.

“The point is to be visible,” Dugan said. “To say, ‘We’re here.’”

The local celebration is gaining support from area LGBT groups, including the Alliance for Full Acceptance. Their executive director, Warren Redman-Gress, told the Charleston weekly the local Pride was “natural outgrowth” of the statewide SC Pride festival and parade held in Columbia each September.

Other local Pride events have been organized across South Carolina, including one in Myrtle Beach and Upstate Pride.

The moves to create local festivals in addition to statewide festivals follows years of a similar trend in North Carolina, where local Prides now exist in Asheville, Boone, Charlotte, Greensboro/Winston-Salem and Wilmington. North Carolina’s statewide Pride festival is held in Durham and Raleigh each September.

Go, fight, win!

SPARTANBURG — Join the SC Update Lesbians Meetup for an action-packed, sporty Super Bowl XLIV watch party on Feb. 7 starting at 4 p.m. at a member’s residence.

Miami’s Dolphins and New Orleans’ Saints will square off to see who is tops in pigskin ball.

Enjoy a tailgate party in the living room while you gear up for watching the match up.

Attendees are invited to bring their favorite beverage and lounge pillow to toss on the floor. An informal potluck dinner will help keep people fueled.

For more information, email msstea@aol.com.

This article was published in the Feb. 6 – Feb. 19 print edition.