NOVA Pride

Educate:

NOVA Pride provides information on community resources to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and other STDs, promote diversity, and ensure that all individuals in Northern Virginia know where to go for information they need, whether they be L, G, B, T, Q, or a straight ally to help do the same.

Advocate:

• Help bring attention to local Community Centers for the need to have inclusive household policies that do not exclude LGBTQ+ couples;
• Ensure local law enforcement understands LGBTQ+ issues and implements LGBTQ+-specific liaisons to ensure that citizens of all orientations and identities feel safe and protected;
• Support and create anti-bullying and anti-suicide programs - and other critical resources for LGBT students and their families – in local school districts;
• Encourage local businesses to include sexual orientation and gender identity in their nondiscrimination policies and hiring practices;
• Work with local cities and counties to designate June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month;
• Co-sponsor Equality Virginia’s Day of Action

Celebrate:

Whether to fundraise, encourage diversity, reach out to families and youth, or prepare safe-sex kits for healthcare resource-providing organizations, NOVA Pride is extremely active in the community, with over 100 events every year:

• Pride on the Rocks (the first Thursday of every month) at Marble & Rye in Arlington (Columbia Pike)
• Pride Splash & Ride at Six Flags America (every Summer)
• Equality Virginia’s Day of Action (every January) in Richmond
• Northern Virginia Pride Festival (every Fall) at Bull Run in Centreville, VA
• VA Pridefest (every September) in Richmond
• Capital Pride Parade and Festival (every June)

We are also building up support for family and youth events!  Upcoming planned events include:

• Kayaking/Whitewater rafting (tentatively planned for late summer)
• Family-oriented Potluck Picnics (quarterly, beginning late fall)
• Camping (coming summer 2017)
• Tutoring (coming late fall)

NOVA Pride is a coalition-building organization with a mission to educate, advocate and celebrate in service of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+) community of Northern Virginia; including the counties of Fairfax, Loudoun, Arlington, and Prince William as well as the City of Alexandria. We aren’t just festivals and flag-waving. We are a movement to create an infrastructure between county-based organizations, charities, pride organizations, social groups, and the community at-large; to educate the community about LGBTQ+ issues, including health and discrimination; advocate for LGBTQ+ equality; and celebrate diversity and individuality.

The Commonwealth of Virginia is a uniquely situated state, perched at the gateway to the south, and adjacent to our Nation’s Capital. Northern Virginia is one of the most diverse, resourceful, and talented areas in the world; labeled as the “Silicon Valley of the East” due to the high concentration of tech giants with a presence here, and home to many major non-partisan advocacy groups.

The NOVA Pride mission is not only a celebration of LGBTQ+ culture within the gay community, but also an effort to reach out and embrace our allies and the community-at-large, from youth issues (bullying, coming out) through elder issues and everything in between.

NOVA Pride’s Board and Volunteers are made up of a diverse group of adults who maintain a presence within Northern Virginia. We run the gamut of LGBTQ+ identification, with lesbians, gay men, bi/pansexuals, transgender individuals, queer folk and straight allies.