Columbus to illuminate City Hall for Pride Month, honor Strauss abuse survivor

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) -- Stonewall Columbus and city leaders are illuminating City Hall on Monday in celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride Month, and are honoring an openly gay veteran who is a sexual assault victim of former Ohio State University doctor Richard Strauss.

The illuminations begins at approximately 8 p.m., when Columbus City Council will present the Steven Shellabarger Illuminator Award to Stephen Snyder-Hill. The award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated an "outstanding initiative to promote LGBTQ+ rights and, in doing so, has created a more inclusive Columbus."

Raised in Upper Sandusky, Snyder-Hill is an openly gay author, LGBTQ+ rights activist, and veteran who served under the U.S. Army's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, which barred gay, lesbian or bisexual people from military service. Two days after the policy was overturned, Snyder-Hill gained national attention when he came out of the closet during a Republican primary presidential debate in 2011.

In a video recorded in 2011, Snyder-Hill asked the candidates if they would "circumvent the progress that's been made for gay and lesbian soldiers in the military." Some audience members booed Synder-Hill, but then loudly applauded when former Senator Rick Santorum said he would reinstate the ban on openly gay people serving in the military.

The veteran published his first book, "Soldier of Change: From the Closet to the Forefront of the Gay Rights Movement," in 2014, detailing his 20-year journey as a gay man in the Army. Snyder-Hill was then invited in 2015 to be the headlining speaker for a TEDx Talk at Ohio State University. Several years later, Snyder-Hill came out as one of the hundreds of students who were sexually abused at the hands of Strauss, a former university physician who died in 2005. Snyder-Hill is the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against OSU.

Last year's winner was Chris Cozad, an advocate on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community since the early 1980s who worked with Urban League and the Anti-Defamation League to pass the City of Columbus Hate Crimes ordinance after an incident of anti-lesbian violence in Columbus. Cozad currently serves as LGBTQ community liaison to Columbus Mayor Ginther and is the president of Alternative Auto Care, an independent auto repair facility, serving Columbus since 1983.

Pride Month remembers the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, a series of conflicts between police and LGBTQ+ protesters that stretched over six days. Today, Pride commemorates the Stonewall protesters with parades, festivals, memorials and more. 

Stonewall Columbus kicked off its celebrations with the annual Pride Brunch at the Columbus Athenaeum on Sunday. The brunch honored the organization's donors and sponsors while offering a safe space for the LGBTQ+ community.

Stonewall's own Pride festival begins at 4 p.m. on June 14 at Goodale Park and runs until 10 p.m. with food, more than 200 vendors, nonprofit organizations, community resources, and live entertainment. The celebration continues at 10:30 a.m. on June 15 with a march at Broad and High streets.

While the city’s first Pride march happened in 1981 with just 200 people, the Stonewall Columbus Pride welcomes more than 700,000 visitors annually.