CLEVELAND — For many in the LGBTQ community, the Cleveland Pride Ride will be the first time they are able to celebrate and gather since the pandemic.
What You Need To Know
- June is LGBTQ Pride month
- A ‘Pride Ride’ will roll through the streets of Cleveland Saturday to celebrate
- The ‘Pride Ride’ will consist of decorated cars, bikes, trucks and vans
This parade of decorated cars, bikes, trucks and vans will roll through the Edgewater and Detroit Shoreway neighborhoods and will replace the traditional Pride Parade this year.
This is an event Tyler Boggs has been looking forward to because he thinks of his local LGBTQ community as family.
For Boggs, finding acceptance in his sexuality didn’t come easy.
“It honestly felt like I was lost for the longest time, like I didn’t know where I belonged,” Boggs said. “My family didn’t accept me at all. Even today, they still don’t.”
It wasn’t until Boggs went to college and got involved with his school’s pride groups that he started to feel more accepted for who he was.
College is also where her met his now husband, Brandan Boggs.
“Tyler and I have been together for about seven years,” Brandan Boggs said. “We take a lot of pride in who we are and just celebrate life every single day.”
Now, Tyler Boggs works to help make others feel accepted all around northeast Ohio.
“I’ve worked a little bit with the LGBT center of Cleveland. I’ve also helped to start my company’s first employee resource groups for LGBTQ individuals in the workplace,” Tyler Boggs said. “A lot of the events had to be virtual, which felt very, very strange for all of us at first because we were used to all being together in a group all of the time.”
Tyler Boggs is excited to reconnect in person with many during the Pride Ride in downtown Cleveland.
“I think it will be great to see all of the support,” he said. “I think that is what I enjoy the most is seeing everyone come out from the community and come together for support, even if we have to be in cars.”
Tyler Boggs added that events like Pride are important to many people like himself who have found family in the LGBTQ+ community.
“Just being able to talk with people and get them the connections they need, whether it is someone in the community or they want to talk to me, or talk to Brandan about something,” he said. “Maybe I can mention and organization or a community center to them.”
The Pride Ride in Cleveland takes place June 5 at noon.
