COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The City of Columbus is starting Pride Month with its annual Illumination of City Hall.
The celebration will start Wednesday with Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther and City Council President Shannon Hardin presenting the Steven Shellabarger Illuminator Award at 8:15 p.m.
You can watch the full celebration in the video player above.
The Shellabarger Illuminator Award recognizes an individual within Columbus who has demonstrated an “outstanding initiative to promote LGBTQ+ rights and, in doing so, has created a more inclusive Columbus.” The city announced earlier in the day that the winner for 2022 would be Siobhan Boyd-Nelson.
Boyd-Nelson serves as the deputy director for Equality Ohio. At Kaleidoscope Youth Center, Boyd-Nelson served as the development and marketing manager before moving to Stonewall Columbus where she led the community center’s capital campaign. Boyd-Nelson joined Equality Ohio in 2018.
“Siobhan has lent her voice to discussions about LGBTQ+ identity, race and the intersection of identities in forums across the state including at Cincinnati Black Pride, United Way of Central Ohio, the Ohio State Bar Association, and the Ohio Diversity and Leadership Conference,” the City of Columbus stated in a release.
Presenters at the event include City Council President Shannon G. Hardin and Mayor Andrew J. Ginther.