The mission of South Carolina Pride Movement is to support the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender community of South Carolina; to celebrate the richness and diversity of LGBT lives; to educate the general population on LGBT issues; and to advocate for equality and inclusion in all areas of life.

At a gay and lesbian community picnic held on Dreher Island in the fall of 1989, PFLAG parent Harriet Hancock worked the small crowd with a clipboard, asking if folks would be willing to march down Columbia’s Main Street in a gay march. An organizing committee developed, with Jim Blanton and Barbara Embick as the first SC Pride march co-chairs. The organizers issued nine demands for needed reforms in education, health, and civil rights—such as equal opportunity in employment, equal treatment in the military, the repeal of sodomy laws, the right to adopt children, and the monitoring of hate crimes by law enforcement.

There were many fears at that first march. Though laws prevented people from wearing masks, organizers had clown makeup artists present for those who wanted to disguise their appearance. Participants also say there was an incredible sense of energy and excitement as they stepped out onto the street. About 2000 people marched the few blocks down Main Street to the state capitol, spontaneously rushing up the capitol steps for an enormous group photo, staking claim to a political presence in the state.

The march became a movement, and the movement began to see that visibility and direct action mattered. “Sleepy little old Columbia didn’t think it had any gay people till it saw them in the streets,” says Harriet Hancock, one of the organizers of the first march. She insists that Columbia would not have passed a non-discrimination employment policy as early as it did, had it not been for the march. She explains, “The march started the conversation.”

Though the march moved to Greenville and Myrtle Beach when the statehouse was being renovated in 1997 and 1998, and the SC Pride Movement skipped 2000 and 2001 as the organization went through its own transitions, SC Pride remained a part of Columbia’s gay and lesbian history and a critical point of statewide LGBT organizing for the past 30 years. A photo of the crowd on the statehouse steps now hangs in the Harriet Hancock Center—a powerful image of an increasingly visible community and a reminder of our history.

2012 – The Main Event
2013 – A Part Not Apart
2014 – Strong
2015 – Power of Pride
2016 – Hotter than Ever
2017 – Get Lit!
2018 – Famously Proud
2019 – 30th Anniversary Greatest Hits
2020 – Covid Year – No Theme
2021 – Be Brave
2022 – We Belong
2023 – Together
2024 – Yeehaw Y’all! A Celebration for All
2025 – Slay! Y2K