Dayton, Ohio 2006 Gay Pride

Dayton held their Pride celebration on two separate Saturdays; the Festival was on June 3 at Dayton’s Courthouse Square in downtown Dayton, whereas the Expo and Dinner were held two weeks later in the David Ponitz Center at Sinclair Community College, whose campus is also in downtown Dayton.

The Festival was immediately preceded by the Pride parade, and then a day-long series of entertainers took the stage. Several organizations (such as HRC, ACLU, and Equality Ohio) and local vendors were on Courthouse Square exhibiting and selling various items. I unfortunately missed the parade, but spent several hours walking around and chatting with several folks I knew plus a few vendors, and (of course) eating!

The Expo was held in the two hours prior to the dinner, and Jason and I were somewhat surprised to note that NCR seems to have fallen off the local “radar” in terms of being known as a progressive, GLBT-inclusive place to work. For example, many seemed unaware that NCR was one of only 3 Ohio companies (the other 2 being Nationwide and Owens-Corning; all in the Fortune 500) to score 100% on the HRC Corporate Equality Index; something NCR has done for the last 5 (now 6) years in a row. Through LEAGUE, Jason and I were able to ‘reintroduce’ NCR to many people as a great place to work with equal opportunity for everyone, and thereby cast NCR in a very positive light to Pride attendees, including several political leaders like Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin, who stopped by the NCR booth.  We arranged to borrow the HR tabletop unit they use for career fairs for the expo. 

Several local speakers were introduced and made their remarks during dinner. However, the speech by Lynne Bowman, executive director of Equality Ohio, was quite impressive, highlighting the fact Ohio ranked dead last among the 50 states and District of Columbia in GLBT equality. NCR should be proud to be an equality leader, throughout Ohio and especially in the Dayton area!  NCR and LEAGUE were thanked from the stage for having a table at the dinner. 

Jerry Caden.

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