The LOFT Celebrates 35th Year During 2018 LGBT Pride Festival

WHITE PLAINS, NY — Outer, Louder and Prouder! That's how The LOFT LGBT Community Services Center in White Plains is celebrating Westchester’s thriving and supportive LGBT community with its annual LOFT Pride Event 2018, which is set for Saturday, June 2, from noon to 5 p.m. at The LOFT, 252 Bryant Ave. in White Plains. The free, family friendly event will be filled with live entertainment, local food trucks, meet-ups, activities and vendors from local services and businesses.

Performers will include stars from Broadway Sings for Pride, including Off-Broadway’s Adam B. Shapiro (Stage: Bastard Jones, The Boys from Syracuse; TV: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Master of None and HBO’s The Normal Heart) and Anne Fraser Dansky (Les Miserables, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Miss Saigon); award-winning drag star Sutton Lee Seymour, New York’s premier all-women Brazilian drum line Fogo Azul, and queer/non-binary NYC actor, writer, storyteller and comedian Lynae DePriest (Greetings from Queer Mountain, Thank You For Coming Out). Additional highlights will include crowd favorites like the Pride Pet Parade and Homecoming Queer Contest.

Organizers said that, while the day will be fun, spirited and joyful, there will be a call for renewed activism and a reminder that pride was born of adversity.

Though the civil rights, health and safety of the LGBT community have improved exponentially in recent years, the current federal administration is continually putting the LGBT community's civil rights in serious peril by rescinding laws and changing policy that leaves the community vulnerable, a spokesperson said.

“Social justice organizations always participate in LGBT pride events,” said Judy Troilo, executive director of The LOFT LGBT Community Services Center.

However, this year, there is a heightened sense of fear about the community's growing advancement, and as a result, continued and enhanced engagement is crucial, she said.

Sponsors of LOFT Pride 2018 include TD Bank, Westchester Medical Center, CT Fertility, Heineken, Pepsico, Medical Centre Pharmacy, Smart Daily Administrators, The Peloso-Barnes Group at Morgan Stanley, Phelps Hospital and Saint John’s Riverside – Hope Center.

For the pre-Pride reception, The LOFT will be partnering with TD Bank. The Pride after party will be hosted by The Birch Collective gastropub in White Plains.

Photo caption: Adam B. Shapiro. Photo credit: Courtesy Broadway Sings for Pride.