Cincinnati has come a long way toward being welcoming to its LGBTQ residents and visitors. Now, it’s actually walking the walk, at least at one intersection.
The rainbow crosswalk at Vine and 12th streets in Over-the-Rhine unveiled yesterday is a small gesture, maybe, but a powerfully symbolic one, its boosters say.
Councilman Chris Seelbach proposed the idea last year. A private donor supplied the $8,000 needed to cover the cost of the crosswalk, which was designed by the Cincinnati Department of Transportation.
About 100 cities across the U.S. have similar “pride walks,” including Louisville, Seelbach’s hometown.
“It has been incredibly important that we set policies and laws internally to ensure every person is welcomed and valued in our city," Seelbach said yesterday at the unveiling. "Today, we are celebrating those achievements externally with this physical display welcoming all to our city."
A number of city and county officials, leaders in the LGBTQ community, business leaders and others came for the short event, which briefly shut down the intersection to traffic.
In the 1990s, Cincinnati had one of the most restrictive laws in the country barring legal protections for LGBTQ individuals. Voters repealed that law in 2004. Voters also elected Seelbach, council’s first openly-gay member, in 2011. Since that time, Cincinnati has scored a perfect 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index.
Challenges remain, but supporters say the crosswalk is another step in the right direction.
“I’m a witness to a time in the 1980s and 1990s when Cincinnati was not such a welcoming community to LGBT persons,” says longtime LGBTQ activist Cheryl Eagleson. “Many of us gay and non-gay allies worked together to create community service organizations to provide healthcare and housing for those suffering from AIDS during a time when the larger community was unaware or unsympathetic to that crisis… We’ve worked tirelessly together toward helping our communities embrace diversity, and that work has paid off.”
