After her family moved from New York City to Orange County, Danielle Barbour felt a little lonely because she couldn’t find her circle. So in an effort to bring the LGBTQ community together, she started OCNY Pride, an organization that she said is a safe and inclusive place for the gay community to come together.

“We didn't really know how to figure out where there was other LGBTQ people in this area. Every bar was a biker bar and for the most part, like the area or a little hometown bar," says Barbour, "and I thought about all of the people here who probably felt alone as well. Feeling alone is dangerous. It's not just sad, but it's mentally debilitating.”

People come together at the Warwick Valley Community Center for meetings, dances, and their annual pride parade, but this year, because of the coronavirus pandemic, the organization had to cancel the event that would have been a celebration of its 10th anniversary.

“It's always disappointing when you have to cancel any event, but especially the 10-year anniversary when you had it larger," says Barbour. "I didn't want to do a bad job an unsafe job of creating a pride event, so canceling, to me, was the only option for this year. But I didn't want it to be left unnoticed, unsaid.”

To commemorate Pride Month, members of the organization have put up art installations in front of the center so that the community will know they are not alone.

“I'm concerned that it's going to raise the depression rate without these people seeing their community around them, without these people feeling that love for that day energizes you for almost the whole year," said Barbour.

Barbour says if the pandemic hadn’t happened, because of the current political unrest across the county, the event would have been different. She added that OCNY Pride and pride organizations across the country have dedicated Pride Month to the Black Lives Matter movement.