EQLOCO PRIDE AWARDS

Equality Loudoun offers a number of awards aimed at recognizing the incredible people who go above and beyond to support the ideas of equality, inclusion, and pride in our community. All nominations should be made by May 1. The Board of Directors makes their decision at the May meeting and the awards are presented at the Loudoun Pride Festival. 

 

PRIDE IN OUR COMMUNITY

The Pride in Our Community award is designed to recognize a member of the community who has soared above all in their dedication to the tenets of Advocacy, Community, Education, Inclusion, and Defense in support of the LGBTQ+ and all communities in Loudoun County.

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• 2024 - Melissa Long: Melissa Long is the Director of Education and Support at Insight Memory Care Center and she has made it her mission to be an ally to the LGBTQ+ community of Northern Virginia who are living with dementia. Her work aims to insure that everyone with dementia feels comfortable seeking the resources they need to care for their loved ones safely and free from judgement. 

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• 2023 - Susan Hayden: Susan has served our community in so many ways as a teacher, an advocate, and a member of the Equality Loudoun Steering Committee for years. Her work in being a voice for students is unparalleled, both as a mother to queer youth and as an adult fighting for equality in our community.

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• 2022 - Connie Rice: Connie has dedicated over a decade to being a leading voice in both the Loudoun County community and teach industry. As a former Board member for Equality Loudoun, she created a passion for improving her community and set herself apart as a leader in transgender rights advocacy in the region.

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• 2021 -Chris Croll: Chris worked tirelessly as an advocate within the community to improve schools both as a member of the Loudoun County School Board and as a community member always focusing on the mental health and wellness of youth. She dedicated herself to the passage of equal protections in the Public School System and works with a suicide prevention organization.

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PRIDE IN OUR SCHOOLS

The Pride in Our Schools award is intended to recognize a member of the educational community who has exemplified dedication to LGBTQ+ equality in education- a fundamental aspect of the advancement towards LGBTQ+ equality for future generations.

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• 2024 - Laura Freeman: Laura Freeman started as a huge-hearted, effusively cheerful Reading Specialist. In 2022, she took a position with the newly-formed Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility Division of Loudoun County Public Schools, where her impressive energy and talents are now being put to meaningful use with DEIA where she has helped start student diversity groups, bringing them together to the LCPS headquarters administrative building and showing them that their needs and requests were being heard and taken seriously. 

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• 2023 - Caitlin McAteer: Cat is the mastermind behind the intrepid GSA at her school and the architect of the student-led Loudon County Pride Prom. Her enthusiasm is infectious and her passion is legendary for anyone who has met her.

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• 2022 - Kristin Wells: Frau Wells, as she's widely known by her students, was nominated by numerous students because her classroom was always a safe space for her students where they felt welcome, felt affirmed, and could feel safe to be themselves authentically. She stood out as an outstanding educator in 2022 for being inclusive and compassionate.

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PRIDE IN OUR LEGACY

The Pride in Our Legacy award is reserved for a current or former member of the Equality Loudoun Board of Directors or Operational Team who has inspired action, created change, and left a lasting impression on the LGBTQ+ community of Loudoun County forever.

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• 2024 - Todd Cimino-Johnson: Todd has been at the forefront of leadership through demonstrable action in Loudoun County. He helped found the Equality in Education Scholarship, sponsored one of the first scholarships awarded personally, participated as a sponsor and advocate for the Loudoun Pride Festival every year, as a panelist in the Equality Loudoun Scholarship Selection Panel to ensure the applicants receive a fair opportunity for awards. He was elected in 2023 to the Leesburg Town Council as the first openly gay member.

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• 2024 - Candice Tuck*: Candice's work has been so exemplary, she received a special one-time award - *Pride in our Leadership. Her work in leading, rebuilding, and expanding Equality Loudoun from 2019-2024 led to the creation of a scholarship program, the Loudoun Pride Festival, and countless other programs. Additionally, she has directly helped queer homeless youth, served as a PFLAG facilitator, is the Town of Leesburg's first openly transgender appointee, and been a voice in her workplace for LGBTQ+ rights among so many other things that she does.

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• 2023 - Jennifer Boudrye: Jennifer's work speaks for itself, becoming the leading voice in queer training in Loudoun County. As a Parent Coach and the founder of Parent with Care, she volunteered her skills to help train hundreds who work in Loudoun's government, non-profit, and private sectors who support LGBTQ+ individuals and their families.

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• 2022 - Nicholas Gothard: Nick was one of the 2021 founders of Equality Loudoun - helping it grow into a powerful regional force for change and equality, being responsible for getting the message out, pioneering advocacy for Policy 8040, and helping to organize the first Loudoun Pride Festival.

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• 2021 - Catie Cote: Catie was one of the 2021 new founders of Equality Loudoun - helping it become an incorporated non-profit that launched nearly a dozen programs within the span of a single year.  She focused on launching the first Loudoun scholarships for LGBTQ+ students and a Banned Books Club that focused on equal representation in addition to being an outstanding teacher and parent.

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PRIDE IN OUR SERVICE

The Pride in Our Service award was created to recognize the volunteer spirit that empowers community members to become change makers. These individuals have excelled at efforts to improve LGBTQ+ rights and demonstrated incredible resolve to be a force for good.

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• 2024 -Leigh Guarinello: Leigh has worked as a champion for bringing the voice of LGBTQ+ community members into so many spaces- including the medical community through INOVA, the business community through the Chamber of Commerce, and the non-profit community through her work as the Inclusion Director and head of the Equality Allies Program. Under her leadership, the Equality Allies program has grown significantly, gained an outstanding reputation for its merit and involvement, and grown to nearly 100 businesses, places of worship, non-profits, and health professionals. This growing network is a testament to the legacy of work she has created for the queer community that will last for decades, providing real service and opportunity for the LGBTQ+ community of Loudoun County.

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• 2023 - Nick Ciriello: Nick is one of the happiest and most charming people you'll ever meet, perfect for someone puts so much into the Loudoun Pride Festival and its attendees. He started by assisting in the development of the 2022 Festival and has been an integral part of the small team that makes the Festival happen every year since. Without his work, Pride simply wouldn't be happening.

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• 2022 - Jenny Parsons: Jenny served as the Deputy Director for the Loudoun Pride Festival in 2022, jumping into the newly created role and tackling every task that made Pride possible. Without her efforts and outstanding leadership, the first annual Loudoun Pride Festival would never have happened. Now, thanks to her, it stands to be an annual celebration that creates inclusivity and acceptance in Loudoun County.

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• 2021 - Lindsay Tuck: Lindsay has worked behind the scenes in multiple roles with Equality Loudoun since 2019, setting up numerous events,  tabling in grueling conditions, lending her home to the efforts of the organization, managing the inventory and care of Equality Loudoun's equipment, and so much more. In 2022, she served as the Assistant to the Deputy Director for the Loudoun Pride Festival and was instrumental in creating the successful event that has now launched a legacy.