High school student organizes first Pride celebration in Mike Pence’s hometown

A high school senior is organizing the first LGBTQ Pride festival in downtown Columbus, Indiana, the hometown of Vice President Mike Pence. The 18-year-old is planning the April 14 event as a part of a school project she began last year.

“I am organizing Columbus Pride Festival because I feel it is important for members of the LGBTQ community to know that Columbus is a welcoming and diverse community,” Erin Bailey, a senior at Columbus Signature Academy-New Tech, told Philip Lewis. “Even though Mike Pence is openly anti-gay, that doesn’t mean that all of us in his hometown are.”

via HuffPost

The vice president, who has been openly hostile toward gay rights for years, was governor of his home state from 2013 to 2017.

With this event, Bailey joins a growing number of teens who are looking to make a difference in the world. She wants people to recognize Columbus as more than the city Pence was born in.

“We are so much more than just a small town that he grew up in. It is important for this event to be happening now so that others know that even in this time of hatred that is going on in the White House, we don’t all agree with it,” she said. “We want to show our support as an all-inclusive community.”