National Coming Out Day is this Sunday (Oct 11), an annual LGBTQ awareness day first celebrated in 1988. This year, Nashville Pride is teaming up with Girlcrush Social House located in Five Points in East Nashville for an event featuring live music, vendors from Nashville Cares and Chroma Wellness Center as well as opportunities for weddings and vow renewals.
”National Coming Out Day is an important day and it’s a day that we want to get the community together to let people know they have a voice,” President of Nashville Pride Tina Tousignant said. “There are people out there who care about them. We want to set up an event where there’s vendors, there’s live music, weddings, and vow renewals, and it’s going to be decorated for that. We’re going to be able to direct people to other organizations if they need help or they need assistance. Nashville Pride’s main duty is to connect people with other organizations and help keep all the non-profits together and working to keep our community going.”
Emily Dryburgh and her twin sister Jamie worked in the music industry and got further into music promotion building the Rainbow Queer Music Collective. They were bringing a lot of people in rooms, but once they realized the bars were making all the money, they ended looking for a space and landed in the heart of Five Points.
”Girlcrush really marries the things that I love, music and gay stuff,” Emily said. “I think the beauty of Nashville and the beauty of the area we’re in, we are surrounded by amazing queer spaces. Our goal is to build a place that is much more than just your party where you can go get messed up, which by the way, you’re very welcome to do that in our space if that’s something you’re inclined to do. We’ve got Lipstick Lounge, Canvas Lounge, Beyond the Edge, and now Chapstick. We’re all here, we’re all queer, and we’re all happy. I’m just excited to be part of this community. For me and my partner’s original concept was a third space. Safe spaces are the key part for us.”
Additional event opportunities start tonight (Oct 7) when Caamp performs at the Ryman and on Thursday (Oct 8) Bleachers are with This is Lorelei at The Truth and Squirrel Flower performs The Blue Room. Friday night (Oct 9) Weezer is at Bridgestone Arena, Public Image LTD performs Brooklyn Bowl, and WNXP presents Chanel Beads at The Blue Room. Also on Friday and Saturday (Oct 10) Jack White performs at The Truth and you’ve got two nights with Phoebe Bridgers at Bridgestone on Saturday and Sunday (Oct 11). On Monday (Oct 12) Bright Eyes is at Brooklyn Bowl and She’s Green performs at DRTMTTR. Wrap up this week’s listings on Tuesday (Oct 13) with WNXP presents Silvana Estrada at City Winery.
