Stonewall Columbus was founded in 1981, when gay and progressive activists came together to protest the establishment of a local Moral Majority chapter by Jerry Falwell. The first tasks for “Stonewall Union,” as the organization was then named, were the coordination of a statewide pride celebration and an information booth at the Ohio State Fair. Stonewall Columbus continues to produce Columbus Pride each June.

By the mid-1980s, Stonewall had permanent office space, a telephone referral hotline, and was publishing the LGBTQ+ annual resource directory Lavender Listings and the Stonewall Journal, the longest-running LGBTQ+ newspaper in the city at that time.

Stonewall worked with local government for inclusion of sexual orientation in our city hate crimes law in 1988, and the Columbus Civil Rights Code in the early 1990s. In 2004, Stonewall Columbus purchased the property they had rented for 10 years and started to build the first and only LGBTQ+ community center in Central Ohio.

Now in a newly renovated and expanded space, Stonewall Columbus continues to be the leading visionary, inclusive, and fun-spirited LGBTQ+ organization in Central Ohio - setting the pace for increasing the visibility and acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community. We continue to be the driving force on LGBTQ+ issues and our community center is the “first stop” for many in the LGBTQ+ and allied community and continues to be a welcoming space for ALL of US to THRIVE.