With a marching band, military veterans and a crowd filled with kids and
gray-haired senior citizens alike, yesterday's event could have been a typical Fourth of July
parade.
This year's Columbus Pride Festival parade still attracted men wearing skimpy
costumes, but yesterday's event, moved up a week and relocated to start next to the Statehouse, was
about much more than that.
"It's a big deal for us to be here at the Statehouse," said Russ Goodwin, a
retired Navy chief petty officer who spoke in support of the U.S. government repealing the ban on
openly gay military personnel.
"The last time we had any kind of presence here, a protester ripped down the rainbow flag and
burned it," Goodwin said, referring to an incident that marred the 1999 parade.
Surveying the crowd shortly before 1 p.m. parade, Goodwin noticed a definite change from when he
first marched 12 years ago.
"There are more families. Not just gay and lesbian families, but supporter families. That's a
huge difference."
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