Macon is celebrating LGBTQ Pride for 1st time in nearly 20 years. Here’s what to know.

June is known as Pride Month across the nation — a time to celebrate the LGBTQ community.

Macon is joining in the festivities.

Downtown Macon Pride will be held Saturday, June 22, from 3-5 p.m. The day’s events are free and are hosted at Third Street Park.

This year’s event in Macon is the city’s first in nearly 20 years, and it honors the 50th anniversary of the famed Stonewall riots where police and LGBT activists clashed outside of the Stonewall Inn in New York City after a police raid, said organizer Scott Mitchell.

Mitchell said plans for an event were in the works for 2020, not 2019. However, the recent murders of trans and gay people motivated organizers to hold one this year.

Mitchell spoke about Ronald Trey Peters, a 28-year-old man shot and killed earlier this month near Decatur, Georgia. Witnesses said the gunman used an anti-gay slur as he ordered Peters to turn over his bag, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

“We decided that we can’t go another year without showing visibility here in Middle Georgia,” he said.

Here are the events planned for the day:

▪ At 3 p.m., event organizer DeMarcus Beckham will speak on Middle Georgia’s LGBTQIA history.

▪ At 3:30 p.m., city representatives will read a pride day proclamation.

▪ At 4 p.m., Christina Leon will host Drag Queen story time.

▪ At 4:30 p.m., the Pride Drag Show begins. The show will feature Tangerine Summers, a drag queen that has performed in Middle Georgia since the 1970s, Mitchell said.

Music will be provided by DJ Scoob, and NewTown Macon will provide games and furniture. The event is family-friendly, Mitchell said.

Churches, community organizations and other supporters of the LGBTQ community will have resources and activities. Those groups include Centenary United Methodist Church, Middle Georgia Reconciling Ministries, Georgia Women, Mercer Law Project Equality, Middle Georgia Aids Network, Free Mom Hugs, High Street Unitarian Universalist Church, StoryCorps and others.

Official festivities end around 5 p.m., but there are other evening events planned. Grant’s Lounge is hosting an 80s’-themed Burlesque show, and downtown hookah bar Blow Lounge is hosting a Pride Rain-Blow Party.

Cover for the party is $5, and the event lasts from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., said Blow Lounge’s owner Andrena Simmons.

“This is really just a day to celebrate love and life,” Mitchell, a Pride organizer, said.

This story was originally published June 20, 2019 at 12:23 PM.