Photo Gallery
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Best Photos of 2012
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette staff photographers picked their favorite photos from 2012.
Rainbow flags ruled the day at Ross's Landing on Sunday in a way they likely could not have in Chattanooga a quarter-century ago, according to leaders in the local LGBT community.
The 23rd annual Chattanooga Pride Parade & Festival featured a stage with live entertainment, games, vendors and a procession down Riverfront Parkway that featured a massive rainbow flag flapping under a cloudy sky.
It was all part of a spirited day that attracted hundreds of people to one of the city's most prominent areas, where the first Chattanooga Pride festival took place in a very different atmosphere.
"There were people throwing bottles at the parade and harassing those involved," Tennessee Valley Pride President Marcus Ellsworth said of that first festival in the early 1990s. "So they moved it to Camp Jordan as a safer space for the community to gather."
Now in its fourth year back at Ross's Landing, the festival safely can thrive, Ellsworth said as an entertainer performed on stage about 100 feet away.
"Who knows? In another five years, we might need a space bigger than Ross's Landing," Ellsworth said. "Because we've grown more and more, and everyone is here, not just the LGBT community. We have a lot of straight allies that come out, people who just happen to be downtown and looking for something to do. We've got games for the kids, food out here, beer if that's your thing."
Ellsworth and members of the Chattanooga Prime Timers agreed that work still needs to be done to protect the LGBT community from discrimination, even after last year's Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage across the nation.
"In particular, there is concern about the prejudice our transgender and gender nonconforming community members are facing," Ellsworth said.
Sunday, however, was about celebrating, especially for those like Jim Samples of the Prime Timers, which is a group of gay or bisexual men ages 45-80.
"I am so thankful to live long enough to get to see this, because 40 years ago, when I started just getting people information about HIV and AIDS, I was threatened," Samples said. "To be able to now stand here and look at this without people here to yell at us and call us names, it's wonderful."
Samples and other Prime Timers distributed information about their club from beneath an orange tent on the grass as people young and old buzzed nearby, enjoying the day.
"The thing I like about this," Samples said, "is that this is teaching the younger people the kind of struggles we had to go through to get them to be able to enjoy this today."
Contact staff writer David Cobb at dcobb@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.