Activists across Virginia last month held a series of events to mark Pride Month.

Hampton Roads Pride, a volunteer-run organization founded in 1997, held 37 different Pride events throughout the region in June. 

Their biggest event, PrideFest, which is part of their larger three day event, Pride Weekend, celebrated its 36th anniversary on June 22. Pride Weekend took place from June 21-23 and began with a block party at NorVa in Norfolk. 

PrideFest took place at Town Point Park, and an estimated 30,000 people attended. More than 70 venders participated, while Todrick Hall and Mariah Counts are among those who performed.

Another PrideFest event with a DJ in the afternoon and live music at night took place in Virginia Beach on June 23. Congressman Bobby Scott and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) are among those who attended Pride events in Suffolk on June 30.

Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Alexander, along with members of the Norfolk and Virginia Beach City Councils, also attended the Pride events in their respective cities. Jamar Walker, the first openly gay federal judge in Virginia, also took part.

“You know people all throughout Pride Month, at all of our various events, tell me all kinds of stories about their own experiences and the past of this community … and some of our older folks especially, remember when we couldn’t have this,” Hampton Roads Pride President Jeff Ryder told the Washington Blade on Monday during a telephone interview.

“It was a great year,” he added. “It was a big achievement for us to have unique celebrations in each of our seven communities. Each of these cities is so different from one another, but to be able to create a Pride celebration that’s unique in each of those places was really great, and I think really well received by folks who may not have felt represented previously. We’re always trying to do better, to embrace every aspect of our community, and take a big step forward there this year.”

State Dels. Adele McClure (D-Arlington County) and Alfonso Lopez (D-Arlington County) are among those who spoke at Arlington Pride that took place at Long Bridge Park on June 29. The Fredericksburg Pride march and festival took place the same day at Riverfront Park in Fredericksburg.

Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on June 10 hosted a Pride Month reception in Richmond. 

Youngkin in previous years has hosted Pride Month receptions, even though Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups have criticized him for supporting anti-LGBTQ bills.

The Republican governor in March signed a bill that codified marriage equality in Virginia. Youngkin last month vetoed a measure that would have expanded the definition of bullying in the state. 

With approval by local government officials, rainbow-colored crosswalks were installed this month on a street in Virginia’s Old Town Alexandria and what officials are calling rainbow street murals were painted on a street in the Crystal City section of nearby Arlington, Va., in time for this year’s Pride celebrations.

Kirk McPike, a gay member of the Alexandria City Council, said the Council gave unanimous approval for the installation of two bright rainbow-colored crosswalks at the intersection of King and Royal streets at Old Town’s Market Square “right there in front of City Hall.”

McPike said he first proposed the rainbow crossings in June 2023, and with support from the Council,  the city’s Human Rights Commission brought the proposal to him as the gay member of the Council, and he introduced it. He said the Council approved it last November. According to McPike, the crosswalks were officially dedicated with a ribbon cutting ceremony on June 1 during Alexandria’s annual Pride festival in Old Town.

“And this year, we had one of our Pride wrapped Dash buses drive through the ribbon to snap the ribbon and officially open the new Pride crosswalks,” he told the Washington Blade.

In Arlington’s Crystal City neighborhood, rainbow stripes were painted on June 12 and 13 on South 23rd Street at the intersections of Eads Street and Fern Street. The Fern Street intersection is located steps away from Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant, which is Arlington’s only gay bar. Freddie Lutz, owner of Freddie’s, was among the community leaders who advocated for the rainbow crosswalks.

Kellen MacBeth, president of the LGBTQ group Equality Arlington, said the Arlington Department of Environmental Services, which oversees street and roadway issues, gave approval of the installation of the two rainbow stripes as “street murals” rather than crosswalks, even though they are located next to or parallel to the crosswalks. He said for reasons he is unsure of, the Environmental Services Department didn’t want the crosswalks themselves to be painted with rainbow stripes.

 “If you compare what Alexandria did and what Arlington did, Alexandria has the full crosswalk painted in rainbow,” he said. “Whereas Arlington did the rainbow stripes on either side of the crosswalk,” MacBeth told the Washington Blade. “For whatever reason, the county said they weren’t able to do the full rainbow crosswalk this year. And we’re hoping to have the full rainbow crosswalks for next year.”

Kathryn O’Brien, a spokesperson for the Environmental Services Department, told the Blade that painting crosswalks in rainbow strips “is not allowable” under the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways (MUTCD), which she said defines national standards for traffic signs, road markings, and other road related issues that Arlington adheres to.

MacBeth praised the National Landing Business Improvement District, an organization that promotes community-based businesses in the area known as National Landing, which includes the Pentagon City, Crystal City and Potomac Yard neighborhoods, with playing a lead role in advocating for the rainbow street mural project, among other things, by paying for the street installations.

“Located at key intersections along S. Fern Street and S. Eads Street, these installations are the first of their kind in Arlington, designed to show solidarity and support for the LGBTQIA+ community,” the organization, known as National Landing BID, said in a statement. “Beyond their aesthetic appeal, they foster a sense of community pride and inclusivity, transforming National Landing into a vibrant and welcoming neighborhood,” the statement says. “Their presence encourages dialogue, celebration, and reflection, making them integral to the cultural fabric of our community.”

The installation of the rainbow crosswalks in Alexandria and the rainbow street murals in Arlington came about seven years after D.C. first installed two full rainbow-colored crosswalks on 17th Street, N.W. near Dupont Circle in 2017 near the gay bar JR.’s and the LGBTQ supportive restaurant Annie’s Paramount Steakhouse. Additional rainbow crosswalks were installed in that section of 17th Street in subsequent years.

The FBI has identified a then-48-year-old man from Ohio who it describes as a convicted serial rapist as the person it believes committed the May 1996 murder of a lesbian couple at their campsite in Shenandoah National Park in Virginia.

In a statement released on June 20, the FBI says newly analyzed DNA evidence and an extensive review of other evidence surrounding the 28-year-old murder case has enabled it to identify Walter Leo Jackson, Sr., as the prime suspect in the murders of Laura “Lollie” Winans, 26, and Julianne “Julie” Williams, 24. 

The FBI statement says the two women’s bodies were found on June 1, 1996, after an extensive search by rangers with the National Park Service after family members reported them missing. 

“In 2021, a new FBI Richmond investigative team was assigned to conduct a methodic review of the case,” the statement says. “FBI special agents, intelligence analysts, and other FBI Richmond employees reassessed hundreds of leads and interviews,” according to the statement. “They spent countless hours to identify and prioritize evidence from the crime scene to retest and submit the items to an accredited private lab.”

It says the lab successfully extracted DNA from several items of evidence and, with help from Virginia State Police, and through the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System a positive DNA match to Jackson was obtained. 

“Those results confirmed we had the right man and finally could tell the victim’s families we know who is responsible for this heinous crime,” Stanley M. Meador, the FBI Richmond special agent in charge, said in the statement. 

“After 28 years, we are now able to say who committed the brutal murders of Lollie Winans and Julie Williams in Shenandoah National Park,” U.S. Attorney Christopher R. Kavanaugh said in the statement. “I want to again extend my condolences to the Winans and Williams families and hope today’s announcement provides some small measure of solace,” he said. 

The FBI statement says Jackson, who died in prison in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, in March 2018, had a lengthy criminal record that included kidnapping, rapes, and assaults. It says Jackson worked as a residential painter and “was an avid hiker and was known to visit Shenandoah National Park.”

The FBI has stated in past statements regarding the two women’s murders that it did not have evidence to classify the murders as a hate crime in which Jackson targeted the women because of their sexual orientation. 

Media reports at the time of the murders identified Williams as a native of Minnesota who moved to Vermont, where she helped form a group supportive of LGBTQ people with a Presbyterian church ministry. Winans was a wilderness guide in Michigan and met Williams through an outdoor program in Minnesota called “Woodswomen,” media reports said. 

A report in the Advocate published before the FBI’s identification of Jackson as the man responsible for the women’s murders, said the two women had been dating for about two years before their murders. It reported they had planned to move in together that summer to a home in Huntington, Vt., and that Williams had recently accepted a new job as a geologist at a location near Lake Champlain in Vermont. 

“The FBI will continue to work with law enforcement partners to determine if Jackson is responsible for other unsolved crimes,” the FBI’s June 20 statement says. “Anyone with information on Jackson should call 1-800-CALL FBI or submit it online at tips.fbi.gov,” the statement concludes.