By LINDSAY-JO DOUGLAS
BG Independent News
In the summer of 2021 a group of people came together to amplify the LGBTQIA+ voices in Bowling Green. What began as a group of strangers meeting outside of Grounds for Thought has grown into the BGOPride Association, a structured 501(c)(3) nonprofit that advocates for and supports the LGBTQIA+ community through support groups, education, and events. Its annual Pride event, which will take place on Saturday, June 27, welcomed close to 1,300 guests in 2025.
Similar to past years, the 2026 BG Pride event will feature food trucks, a DJ, music, and drag performances. There will also be local vendors and nonprofits providing resources and sharing the services they offer the community. Returning vendors will include Knoblocks Kneadery, Murrey’s Movers, and Indigo Mystics. NAMI Wood County, La Conexion, and Brown Bag Food Pantry will also be returning. Wood County Hospital will be providing first aid again.
Visit BG and the Wood County ADAMHS Board will return as presenting sponsors of BG Pride. As part of its sponsorship, the Wood County ADAMHS Board will provide a wellness area, providing information on local mental health resources and an area to cool off. The event will also feature a family area with face painting, lawn games, and BGOPride giving away free children’s books.
While BGOPride’s hallmark event is showing positive growth, the LGBTQIA+ community is facing an increasingly negative political environment. To event organizers, this makes Pride more crucial than before.
“When you look at 2021 when we started, everyone felt relatively safe. I mean, in the world of politics, you had Roe v. Wade still around. [There weren’t people] attacking the LGBTQIA+ community,” said Jordan Musgrave, president of the BGOPride Association. “It goes from feeling like that to now it’s, ‘We’re worried about waking up, and we’re going to see something on the news that Obergefell v. Hodges was overturned’ and it’s scary.”
“The attacks on the trans community and feeling like people aren’t going to be safe in their own neighborhoods because of who they are and who they want to be … That should not be how the world operates,” Musgrave continued. “So politically, from a federal point of view, it’s disappointing. But we have to continue to be strong at the community level to support one another.”
“I think this is our reminder, once again, that we should be caring for each other, taking care of each other – and especially taking care of our trans community during times like this,” vice president Beca Rios said.
BGOPride’s event aims to increase visibility of and celebrate the local LGBTQIA+ community and provide a space where allies can show their support.
“The importance of community and solidarity at these times are really crucial to let people come out of their homes, see that they’re welcome, they’re loved, and to make sure they know that there’s someone that is just like them – that they’re not alone,” Musgrave said.
“Pride is important, especially in times like this. Having a safe space and seeing how open and welcoming your community is is critical – especially for our younger generation who do not see that in the rural areas [some] live in,” Rios said. “BGOPride is bringing in folks from other areas too. It’s not just our Bowling Green community. It’s our small little towns that are nearby as well.”
“That feeling that you’re not alone is something you can’t compare to anything else – that there are other people that feel and look like me and act like me,” Musgrave added.
For more information about 2026 BG Pride, visit https://bgopride.org/pride. To volunteer for the event, visit https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfvzWa7domNon-YZ9BiHZ9e9HXEFcVmoE9NfmsivqybdibCeg/viewform.
For more information on the BGOPride Association or to donate, visit https://bgopride.org/home.
