Attendance for Lexington’s Tenth Annual Pride Festival exceeded expectations. Organizers of Saturday’s event are estimating a crowd of about 30,000 compared to last year’s 25,000.
In addition to Saturday’s festivities on the Courthouse Square, related events included the annual Fairness Awards, the screening of an LGBTQ-themed film and the first ever Pride Interfaith Encounter.
The Sunday afternoon service brought people from diverse faith groups to the Lyric Theatre where Rabbi David Wirtschafter of Temple Adath Israel delivered a message focusing on current human rights issues.
“The battles we’re fighting feel as if they should have been over already. The arguments we’re hearing to legalize hatred sound as if they come from 50 years before the Civil Rights Act rather than 50 years after it.”
Among the 200 attendees for the prayer service were representatives of Lexington’s Jewish and Muslim and Zen Buddhist communities and numerous Christian denominations.
An interfaith community choir provided the music.
