DETROIT – About 100 people took to the streets in Palmer Park for the Ruth Ellis Pride March, the official kick-off of Hotter Than July, on Saturday, July 21.
While this is the 12th year for HTJ, Detroit's Black Gay Pride organization, the march was started eight years ago. In 2004, the Black Pride Society, HTJ's organizers, named the march for Ruth Ellis – the venerable matriarch of the community who died in 2000 at age 101.
"We are here today to affirm who we are, and that we have the right to be who we are," Black Pride Society president Hank Millbourne announced at a brief rally in the park at the march's conclusion.
Millbourne then presented the Creative Expressions Award for the most enthusiastic contingent in the march to Full Truth Ministries.
Following the march, the Ruth Ellis Center hosted a birthday celebration in honor of its namesake in the park. Had she lived, Ellis would have turned 108 on July 23. During the filming of her documentary, "Living With Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100," the century-old Detroiter was quoted as saying, "I don't walk well, but I walk."
That quote is now emblazoned upon the Creative Expressions Award, which went last year – perhaps fittingly – to the Ruth Ellis Center.
To learn more about the weekend events click here http://www.hotterthanjuly.org
