Arkansas gay pride
From humble beginnings to Arkansas' largest LGBTQ event, over the last 20 years, NWA Pride Weekend has transformed from a local advocacy gathering into a regional tradition with over 35,000 participants and spectators.
These events have been a beacon of tint, unity, acceptance, and equality since their inception in 2004 and continue to shine brighter each year because of you! Connect us as we mark 20 years of Identity festival in Northwest Arkansas!
Trans Pride & Festival: Friday, June 28, 2024, Fayetteville Downtown Square, Fayetteville The 21st annual NWA Pride Parade and Festival Weekend, the largest LGBTQ+ Celebration celebration in Arkansas, returns to Fayetteville for another year of festivities Friday, June 27 through Sunday, June 29, 2025! The 2025 edition of the iconic NWA Pride festival is rolling out new details frequently, but based on previous years and what we perceive so far, predict a weekend entire of fun and love! You can preview the schedule for NWA Lgbtq+ fest below, which we'll continue to update as information becomes available. The NWA Transsexual March is uncover to all with no pre-registration required. Anyone who supports Arkansas children, particularly trans and gender non-conforming youth, is invited to join. Adore Delano will be LIVE in concert, kicking off NWA Pride Weekend Friday night! Headlining after the Gender non-conforming March, she’s bringing her signature sound and unf The social movement in Arkansas in support of rights for LGBTQ+ people (an umbrella term that covers lesbian, gay, bisexual person, transgender, queer/questioning, and more; LGBT was also used in the past) has historically been represented by such legal organizations as Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), Lambda Legal, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). This was followed by an increasing organization of LGBTQ+ people in Arkansas, primarily in the emergence of student groups at the University of Arkansas (UA) in Fayetteville (Washington County) and other institutions of higher education. Despite statewide and nationwide strides toward equality under the law, LGBTQ+ Arkansans still face ongoing discrimination—and the fight for rights, security, and acceptance is far from over. Legal Issues and Context Now in its 21st year, NWA Pride is Arkansas’s largest LGBTQ celebration and one of the most powerful cultural events in the region. What began in 2004 as a grassroots community gathering has evolved into a bold, joyful, and unrelenting movement, drawing more than 35,000 people to downtown Fayetteville each June to observe love, visibility, identity, and progress. This year’s festival, taking place from June 27th to the 29th, marks a significant milestone: a decade of marriage equality in the United States. We honor ten years of love, recognition, and legal dignity for LGBTQ couples, and we reaffirm our commitment to endure the fight for equality and justice. The celebration includes two days of vibrant festival programming and reside performances in the unused Upper Ramble, the memorable NWA Pride Parade, the Midwest’s only Trans Pride, and signature events appreciate Glitterville and Hi Tea. Together, these moments build a weekend of defiant joy, connection, and unapologetic pride. In a time of growing attacks on LGBTQ rights, NWA Pride is more than a celebration—it’s a statement. We are here, we are confident, and we will not back down. This is our community, our movement, and ou The first Pride Parade rolled down Dickson Highway in 2004, but groups of local citizens organized rallies, marches, picnics, and celebrations to unite the LGBTQ people and promote acceptance for years – all the way back to the 1975 Miss Male lover Fayetteville Arkansas America pageant hosted at George's Majestic Lounge. Ken Boyle, Joney Harper, and Norman Hadley founded NWA Identity festival, Inc. in 2007 to formally perform an annual march and rally while various organizations and groups continued to organize smaller events to round out the parade weekend. Pride-related events in Northwest Arkansas soon controlled an entire month with the NWA Center for Equality coordinating programming from 2007-2014. Regular events included the All Out June Identity festival Festival, White Party-Northwest Arkansas, Dickson Avenue Divas Bingo, the Mister & Lose NWA Gay Lgbtq+ fest Pageant, the Celebration Picnic, the Movement Pub Crawl, and many others. In 2015, NWA Pride, Inc. merged with the NWA Center for Equality to beat serve the growing LGBTQ community with a unified vision. The merger provided an opportunity to better coordinate resources and bring cohesiveness to signature events and tourist attractio
NWA Pride Festival: Saturday, June 29, 2024, 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Due to construction in the large parking lot on Dickson St, we will gather in the West Avenue parking lot, north of Dickson St
Drag Display Brunch: Saturday, June 29, 10:30a.m. or 12noon, Bordinos
Teddy Bear Contest and Pet Parade: Saturday, June 29, 2:00 p.m., Kingfish
Big Freedia Performance: Saturday, June 29, 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., Tyson Main Stage behind Bordinos
20th Anniversary NWA Pride Parade: Saturday, June 29, 2024, 5:00 p.m., Dickson St., Fayetteville
Glitterville: Saturday, June 29, 2024, 9:00 p.m., George's Majestic Lounge
Hi Tea Dance &
NorthwestArkansasPride|2025 ScheduleofEvents:
NWA Celebration 2025
June 27-29, 2025
Trans March & Rally
Friday, June 27, 2025 / 6:00pm
Upper Ramble, Dickson Lane, Fayetteville
Festival Kick Off
Friday, June 27, 2025
Tyson Main Stage, Dickson Lane, Fayetteville
LGBTQ+ Movement
The first reference to homosexuality in the bound index to the now-defunct Arkansas Gazette is from October 1973, four years after the Stonewall Riots (the first “shot” fired in the Gay Revolution, when a group of Greenwich Village gays stood up to police during a raid on the Stonewall Inn, a male lover bar in New York) and reads, “see Sodomy.” The
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