Cleveland,??? ?? Ohio, is a city of just under 400,000 people -- but for the past 27 years, residents all across the state have looked forward to its annual Pride celebration.
So it came as a total shock to many when Cleveland Pride, Inc. announced last week, days after the Republican National Convention, that they would be canceling this year's Pride celebration, citing a "changing social climate."
Cleveland Pride Inc.'s president, Todd Saporito, blamed the city's inability to address new security issues following the terrorist attack on Orlando, much to the chagrin of eager participants. The cancelation set off a domino effect of finger pointing and blame-gaming, with Pride advocates pushing for a celebration and the traditional organization behind it refusing to put one together.
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While the city has since organized a new Pride celebration for August 13, many are still wondering how, exactly, the situation became such a quagmire.
SEE ALSO: 17 photos of Pride marches in cities around the worldA statement posted on Cleveland Pride's website casts a lot of blame, but leaves few credible answers:
"We have been entrusted by our community to create a secure parade and festival environment for our LGBTQ brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, aunts, uncles, friends and allies,” Saporito said on Cleveland Pride, Inc's website. “Because of the changing social climate, Cleveland Pride did not have enough time to engage in the development of awareness programs and training that we believe is critical in today’s environment. Therefore, we regretfully cancelled our 28th annual parade, rally and festival this year.”
Planning for Cleveland Pride had already been interrupted by the Republican National Convention. Cleveland Pride Inc. had already moved the Pride celebration back from the end of June towards the end of pride season in order to accommodate convention-goers.
Ken Schneck, Cleveland resident and syndicated radio host, wrote a rebuttal to the cancellation on The Huffington Post.
"The cancelation of Cleveland Pride is inconceivable given that Cleveland took less than 48 hours to plan a parade last month to honor our beloved Cavaliers," Schneck said. "Over a million people showed up. Over. A. Million."
"We had no credible threats towards Pride," Sergeant Jennifer Ciaccia told Mashable.
And while Saporito identified security concerns, scant evidence could be found to support his conclusion. After Orlando, some cities heightened security in order to protect pride marchers. Yet no celebrations in any of the major cities were cancelled. Attendance at some Pride events was the highest its ever been and there have been no incidents of mass violence against the community since then.
Even the Cleveland Police department couldn't identify any specific, immediate threats that might have endangered the celebration.
"We had no credible threats towards Pride," Sergeant Jennifer Ciaccia told Mashable.
Since then, the LGBT center of Cleveland has stepped up to organize the city's Pride celebrations. The celebration will still happen on August 13. Even though details have yet to be released some of the events and vendors may very well change.
For many, the organization's speed in planning a new Pride casts even more doubt on Cleveland Pride Inc.'s original statement. Why could one organization do it, and not another?
"The Center was brought to the table after the decision to cancel had already been made," Phyllis Seven Harris, Executive Director of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Community Center of Greater Cleveland, told Mashable in an email.
Saporito, President of Cleveland Pride Inc, has not responded for comment. A petition has since been issued for his resignation, and all across Facebook, residents speculated that a changing climate wasn't the problem -- organizational incompetence was. They say event organizers blamed a tragedy instead of looking internally.
Residents were particularly grieved to see the event cancelled in a socially conservative state like Ohio. Unlike some states, Ohio's hate crime laws currently do not include sexual orientation or gender identity.
While some can only see corruption, others are looking past the events of the last week and hoping to move forward.
"With the absence of a credible threat and all of this dramatic lore around Cleveland Pride Board takeovers and the conduct/reputation of their President/CEO, the social media presence of Cleveland Pride feels mired in political muck, hurt feelings, stark accusations and enough finger-pointing to put a cramp in our collective Cleveland hands," Schenk told Mashable. "My hope is that everyone who is so desperate to tell their 'truth' and bash others in an effort to save face can all wait until after August 13 as a day of celebration and togetherness."
Cleveland Pride is scheduled to happen August 13 -- parties, celebrations, controversies and all.