Shepherdstown’s Inaugural LGBTQ Pride Parade Draws Hundreds

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Neighbors masquerading as multi-color jellyfish. Dogs sporting rainbow-striped bandanas. Motorcyclists flying LGBTQ Pride flags. Hues like these formed a kaleidoscope of color Sunday evening, as hundreds gathered on Shepherdstown’s German Street to celebrate the start of Pride Month.

Organizers called the event a first-of-its-kind celebration for West Virginia’s first town. That is because, while the town has hosted LGBTQ-affinity events in the past, this marked its first official LGBTQ Pride parade.

Sunday’s procession was the result of hard work from folks like Joan Moossy, the parade’s founder and lead organizer. Moossy said the idea for the parade came from a desire to bring her community something “joyful.”

“We do have a gay history here in Shepherdstown. This is to celebrate that,” Moossy said. “To celebrate all the young queer people here, and to let them know they do have a bright future.”

LGBTQ history figured prominently into this year’s parade, whose theme was “Historic Firsts.” Moossy invited local LGBTQ leaders and “trailblazers” to participate and lead the procession, which organizers hope marked the start of an annual tradition.

Organizers recognized the late Silas Starry, who served as Shepherdstown’s mayor from 1972 to 1980. He was the first openly gay person to hold the role, Moossy said.

Other guests honored during the parade included John J. Mason and DJ Jearbear, who organized the town’s earliest grassroots Pride events, as well as Stephen Skinner — a Shepherdstown resident who served as the first openly gay member of the West Virginia Legislature from 2013 to 2016.

Rosemary Ketchum was honored as grand marshal of the parade, leading the walk down German Street. Ketchum was the first openly transgender person elected to public office in West Virginia, serving on Wheeling City Council from 2020 to 2024.

Ketchum said she felt “so grateful” to participate in the inaugural parade, and to see more LGBTQ Pride events continue to pop up statewide.

“This is real West Virginia,” she said. “For me, because things are so fraught in West Virginia right now, this is a community saying, ‘Not in our backyard. We prioritize the most vulnerable folks in our community, and we’re going to show out for them.’”

Andrew Schneider serves as executive director of Fairness West Virginia, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy that marched in Shepherdstown’s parade. Schneider said the event is one of “more than a dozen” LGBTQ Pride festivals planned this month for communities across the Mountain State.

“So many communities are coming together to celebrate their belief and support for inclusivity and building communities that don’t discriminate,” Schneider said. “It takes a lot of time to get all the moving pieces together, and [Moossy] pulled it off. … I’m so proud of people in the community of Shepherdstown who put this together.”

Parade attendees told West Virginia Public Broadcasting the event helped them celebrate their identity and community alongside friends and family, plus to forge new connections.

“It’s really special,” said Marco Pflanzen. “Growing up in small-town kinds of environments makes this really heartwarming to see.”

Pflanzen and fellow attendee Clare Hardin brought several LGBTQ Pride flags to Shepherdstown, and asked local businesses before the event if they would be willing to display them.

“Pretty much everyone said yes,” Pflanzen said. “Everyone was very positive at least, and very welcoming and open.”

Hardin described the event as an opportunity to gather and meet other people with similar experiences — a task the pair called increasingly important.

“I think it’s essential. We need this to survive in these times,” Hardin said. “I think it’s a grand display of the evidence that we are here and we will not cease being here.”