NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Over the past 35 years, Nashville Pride has taken to the streets, gathering thousands of people supporting the LGBTQ+ community.
In more recent years, the event has garnered tens of thousands of people, but back in 1988, Music City's first festival had a modest 125.
Those 125 people marched signs in hand from Fannie Mae Dees Park to Centennial Park. That first parade was made possible in part due to Penny Campbell, an activist who fought for LGBTQ+ rights.
Campbell, who openly identified as a lesbian co-organized Tennessee's delegation to the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian & Gay Rights at a time when many feared for their lives. She was the daughter of Will D. Campbell, famed activist who marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Over the next few years and into the early 2000s, the event grew exponentially and began to reach what people would recognize as today's Nashville Pride.
"It's a week of celebrating our culture, our history, our diversity and who we are as gay and lesbian people," said Campbell in 1991. "And the fact that we're proud to be gay people in Tennessee, what we're trying to do is underscore the fact that we do not have civil rights in the state."
Five years on, Campbell would become the lead plaintiff in Campbell v. Sundquist (1996) which overturned the Tennessee "Homosexual Acts" statute that prohibited private sexual activity between consenting adults of the same sex.
The Tennessee Court of Appeals held that "pursuant to the state Constitution, citizens' fundamental right to privacy encompassed the right to engage in consensual, private, non-commercial, sexual conduct, because that activity involved intimate questions of personal and family concern and that, therefore, the "Homosexual Acts" law was unconstitutional."
In 2015, the festival drew more than 15 thousand people, making it the largest gathering since its inception. This is due in part to that during that week's festivities, the Supreme Court ruled that states must allow same-sex marriage.
The Equality Walk kicked off that year with the wedding of Williamson County couple Al Gregory and Toby Sturgill.
As the festival has grown, it has continued to shatter records. In 2017, they smashed attendance records with more than 35,000 people, and then two years later in 2019, more than 75,000 people attended over the course of two days.
This year while you're celebrating Pride, it's important to remember where everything began and how far we've come.