Celebrating Pride Month in CapNY: 3 Leaders Who Make it Happen

Updated: July 2025

Pride Month is recognized around the world, to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community. It takes place every June, in honor of the historic June 1969 Stonewall Uprising, which helped kickstart the Gay Rights Movement. It’s a month not just to celebrate, but to remember, to honor, to raise awareness, and to support.


Each June, there are dozens of Pride events across CapNY to celebrate and support our LGBTQIA+ communities thanks to area organizations that include:

  • OutHudson: Nonprofit organization serving the LGBTQIA+ community of Columbia County
  • The Pride Center of the Capital Region: Nonprofit organization based in Albany; hosts annual Capital Pride Parade through downtown Albany and Festival in Washington Park, which features food, vendors, live music and performances like Pussycat Dolls’ Carmit Bachar and iHeartRadio Music Award Nominee JORDY.
  • Cafe Euphoria: Trans and Gender Nonconforming worker-owned cafe, coworking space, and curated thrifted clothing store in Troy, hosts an array of pride focused events including open mics, dance nights, drag show brunches, and LGBTQ budgeting workshops. They also serve as food vendors at Pride events like Capital Pride Parade and Festival and Say it Loud! Black and Latin@ Gay Pride.
  • In Our Own Voices Inc.: Organization based in Albany that serves the needs of LGBTQIA+ POC
  • Easton Mountain Retreat Center: Located in Greenwich, NY, Easton Mountain is a community retreat center and sanctuary created by gay men. They provide workshops, programs, and events to celebrate, heal, transform, and integrate body, mind, and spirit.

None of the Pride celebrations would have happened without dedicated individuals who helped bring them together. We spoke with three individuals who helped make events like these happen, and continue to support the LGBTQIA+ community throughout the year. 

  • Nathaniel Gray, Executive Director at the Pride Center for the Capital Region

Nathaniel Gray grew up in southern Ohio and moved to NYC at 19. Gray moved to CapNY in 2019, and recently purchased a home in the hamlet of Glenmont, where he enjoys the newfound space and garden, to escape from the day.

Why is Pride month special to you?

As a month, it is really a placeholder for our Civil Rights movement. June is Pride month because of the Stonewall Riots in late June of 1969. The first pride “parade” was a freedom march for “gay liberation.” The month of June is a lasting reminder, and encouragement, that there is still work to be done for true equity in society.

How are you involved in Pride across CapNY?

The Pride Center of the Capital Region hosts the largest Pride event north of New York City, and each year it grows. This year’s event, held on June 12th, drew crowds larger than previous years when we know our numbers were around 30,000 people. These folks come and celebrate themselves and the people they love, one of the most important things we can do in the LGBTQ+ community. The Pride Center also helped organize an historic number of Pride Flag Raisings in the Capital Region this year, with plans on even more next year. 

Why are you passionate about what you do?

I started getting bullied for being effeminate in 2nd grade; I was 7-years-old the first time someone called me a fa**ot. The most recent time? Four weeks ago. This is my life, and I’m not going to rest in my work, nor is the Pride Center, until this region is safe and affirming for everyone. The person who shouted that word at me last month probably doesn’t know that there are many in my community that would hear something like that, and potentially end their life. This is not acceptable in 2022 to me, nor should it be to anyone. When I got my Master’s degree in Social Work in New York City, my professional focus was on LGBTQ+ homeless youth. Something about working with kids who risked everything to come out and be authentically themselves, only to become homeless and experience untold abuse, sexual assault, trafficking, and other horrible things, fundamentally changes me. It was a curtain I could not “unlook” behind. Once I knew about their experiences, and that it is all born from hate and ignorance, I also knew I had to do something about it. 

  • Osun Zotique, OutHudson Executive Director

Osun Zotique moved to CapNY in 2015, and lives in Hudson. Zotique is the Executive Director of OutHudson, and recently ran for office in the Congressional Primary to represent New York’s 19th District, making them the first openly transgender non-binary individual to run for federal elected office. 

Why is Pride month special to you?

Pride Month is special to me because I realize that it’s something we still actually really need. We really need that continuous work of individual and community self acceptance. In spite of any advances that we have made, which we certainly have seen basic civil and human rights for our gender identity and sexual orientation, that process of self-acceptance is ongoing, and it’s a lifelong and evolving journey for every human being on this planet. Actually, whether they identify as LGBTQIA+ or not, the fact of the matter is that we all have something to learn about our humanity vis-a-vis our gender and sexuality. 

How are you involved in Pride across CapNY?

I took over the directorship of OutHudson and brought back the parade and festivities after the pandemic. I also recently ran for elected office in the United States Congress. NY’s 17th congressional district, and was the first transgender, non-binary person to do so. And it’s been a very exciting journey and a very privileged platform to try to speak to everything that’s going on for all of us who are living, working and potentially struggling to make ends meet at this community and state, both LGBTQIA+ and also our straight allies. 

Why are you passionate about what you do?

I’m passionate about doing what I do because I actually moved to the state of New York when I was 18, and the environment where I grew up was not particularly accepting. So for me, it’s really important to help continue creating the environment that I would like to be part of and a space where queer ingenuity and creativity can flourish. Both my own, but also the folks around me and my neighbors and friends and the people who we support.

  • Atsushi Akera, Co-founder of Cafe Euphoria and Board of Directors at the Pride Center of the Capital Region

Atsushi Akera grew up in East Lansing, Michigan, and moved to the Capital Region in 1999, when she was hired as a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Akera has been a professor at RPI in the field of science and technology studies for the last 23 years, and is retiring this month. She lives in Troy and is the co-founder and General Manager of Cafe Euphoria, as well as a board member at the Pride Center of the Capital Region. 

Why is Pride month special to you?

That’s a big question, given Roe V Wade, and everything that’s happened. I’m on the board of directors of the Pride Center for the Capital Region. Many of us are afraid that once the conservatives get that kind of momentum, they’re going to go after other things, including gay marriage. And so it’s a time for the community to band together. Pride Month is so important because it brings the entire community together. I think segments of our community have felt that they’ve won the victories that needed to be won, and had gotten to the point where activism and change wasn’t very high on their agenda. And so this year’s Pride events have been so important in reestablishing the notion that we still have a really important role to play in giving support to those who are otherwise oppressed and discriminated against in our society. 

How are you involved in Pride across CapNY?

I’m on the board of the Pride Center of the Capital Region, and I oftentimes volunteer for the Pride events with the Pride Center, as well as serve as an ally and supporter for the Say it Loud! Black and Latino Pride event. But the ways in which I was involved this year, was more focused on the launching of Cafe Euphoria. So as a consequence, most of my new duties had to do with the cafe. We had a presence at the Pride events, taking part as a food vendor, selling vegan, vegetarian and pescatarian fare. Cafe Euphoria also had eight different events of our own throughout the month. 

Why are you passionate about what you do?

Because it’s necessary. It’s so necessary. Going into the pandemic, mental health rates were in excess of 50% among the transgender community. Suicide rates were one of the highest. Gender remains one of the strongest constructs in our society, along with race, so there’s all kinds of problems that many members of our community face. There are many people who are supportive, but job loss remains a major issue within our community. And that’s why Cafe Euphoria is built around creating jobs for, and a safe space for transgender and gender nonconforming individuals. We are very much a trans visibility project. We created a business model very specifically on the idea that there are people out there who want to support us, and are willing to pay slightly above market rate for food, and then those resources turn into real assets for the trans and gender nonconforming folks who work here.

So it goes a step beyond just a safe space, it creates jobs. And then beyond a restaurant and creating jobs, we have a curated thrift, we have event space, a co-working space, and we have a lounge, as well as two private offices. We have a curated thrift so that if you’re transgender, and you’re totally scared of going to Target to shop in the women’s section for the first time, you can instead come here, to a space where you know that everybody’s going to be supportive of whatever choices you make.

  • Written by: Victoria Diana

5 CapNY Queer-Owned Creative Businesses

Updated: July 2025

Meet five of the Capital Region’s most passionate and exciting creative businesses, run by Makers, Designers, Writers, Performers, and Culinary Connoisseurs. Each is bringing personal — and inclusive — perspectives to the creative economy in Upstate New York.
  • Bold Strokes Books

Humans seek stories to make sense of the world, which is why representation in media matters so much. Since 2005, Bold Strokes Books in Cambridge, NY, has been publishing fiction centered around LGBTQ+ themes and characters. Their goal: to push print culture toward diversity and inclusion.

Bold Strokes Books was founded by award-winning lesbian romance novelist (and former surgeon!) Len Barot. After publishing her first book in 2001, Barot said, I began to look at how publishing worked. It became apparent to me very quickly that LGBTQ+ fiction is needed.”

Previously, LGBTQ+ media was an underground art form. The vast majority of the publishing industry’s gatekeepers did not represent and barely acknowledged LGBTQ+ readers and writers. Therefore, queer-themed books were dismissed as ‘taboo’ and not commercially viable.

Happily, Barot’s vision is now an expectation-exceeding reality. Bold Strokes Books is a modern continuation of “queer bookstore culture.” It provides the global LGBTQ+ community with relatable material, safe (online) meeting space, and information about health and social services.

Not surprisingly, the pandemic was no match for Barot’s energy. Despite the challenges, Bold Strokes Books launched a new YouTube channel, virtual events, and live, online readings and discussions.  So, while society continues to prove unpredictable, Barot never loses sight of her purpose.  “We are here to reach members of the community who are looking for visions of their lives.” Her motto: Serve. More. People.

  • Trojan Womyn Productions

Have you ever enjoyed a fajita while a drag queen serenades you from a stage? Cried with laughter between shots of tequila when a drag comedienne heckles you with a raucous, bawdy joke? Luckily for lovers of performance art, such a sensational show exists in the Capital Region.

Troy-based theatre company Trojan Womyn Productions is an artist-led troupe of the area’s most talented drag queens, dancers, and performers.  Their well-rounded cast includes Acrylic Facade, Daniella Diamonte, Demona Blackheart LaTease, Anita Dickinson, and a rotation of fabulous guests. From Burlesque to Broadway, this crew does it all, while always staying true to their values.  

In the Beginning…

Trojan Womyn began when co-director Marisa Ledesma-Henry learned her drag queen friends were often earning less than $10 per night, despite long hours of prep and massive out-of-pocket spending. Marisa contacted Susan to discuss the need for financial and community support for drag queens in the Capital Region. Trojan Womyn Productions was in development soon after.  According to Marisa, “It was time to bring this art form out of the bars.”

In the past three years, Trojan Womyn Productions has been providing fair wages, and scouting for venues where the queens can best entertain.  

  • Jacob Alejandro

At the end of 2020, a year of uncertainty, instability, and chaos, two coffee lovers took a risk. With over 15 years of experience, a love of craft, and a lot of dollars, Alejandro and Jacob Griffin-Diaz invested in a charming shop on tree-lined River Street in downtown Troy. 

Jacob Alejandro is a specialty coffee shop that shares the personalities, values, and expertise of both owners. The Griffin-Diaz pair are coffee innovators and educators. “We want to share coffee with people.” Alejandro says. 

The Griffin-Diaz duo were students of the industry long before becoming owners. Jacob studied at The Culinary Institute of America, Alejandro worked at numerous shops and cafes in Guatemala, his original home.  Each were experts before they met at a coffee shop in Westchester, NY. The Griffin-Diaz team always had their own cafe in the back of their mind.  When the right place came along in the neighborhood they love, they went all in.  

Specialty coffee experts like Alejandro devote their lives (and time and energy!) to studying and curating the coffee experience. All the shop’s coffee beans are sourced from ethical, sustainable, fair-wage farms.  All syrups and milk alternatives are handmade by Alejandro, a true innovator. (See for yourself: try the Strawberry Milk Cold Brew, or a Rosemary Infused Blackberry Latte).

A Destination Built on Makers

“We want to create a coffee destination.” Alejandro explains.  “You shouldn’t have to go to New York City to get a coffee education.”

“We also want this to be a safe space for LGBTQ+” says Alejandro.  “A safe space for everyone.”  There will be plenty of space this summer when Jacob Alejandro opens a patio in Franklin Alley and extends business hours.  Downtown Troy summer is going to be sweet!

Alejandro and Jacob designed the shop to be an inviting, urban haven for coffee culture, but that’s not all.  The team plans to use Troy’s central location to further define The Capital Region’s creative culture by attracting travelers.

  • KASURI

It is common for the average shopper to enter a high-end store and feel out of place or the pressure to buy a “Pretty Woman” moment.  Many of us avoid luxury shops for this reason.  “I’m just looking” feels different when all the price tags have commas.  

These literal and figurative barriers — and this type of exclusion — are exactly the things that KASURI creative director Jonathan Osofsky won’t allow.  

“I believe in collapsing the boundaries between art and everyday life.”

Jonathan Osofsky and Layla Kalin, the executive talent behind KASURI, run the brand’s boutique in Hudson, NY.  The shop holds a carefully curated collection of contemporary apparel, designed by artists who challenge and ignore fashion norms.   

The Style: Expressive, Fearless, Experimental, Innovative, Out of Bounds. 

The Experience: Engaging, Immersive, Intimate, Socially Conscious.  

KASURI combines these aspects to provide an incomparable service in an unlikely place.  “We bring a form of cultural production to a place that it would not normally exist.”

Jonathan, a Hudson Valley native, knows well the demand for eccentric design in a small Upstate city.  Growing up, he had limited access to the avant garde, so he pursued magazines and media to quell his craving for contemporary design.  Seven years ago, he created KASURI to fill this niche.  Now, KASURI is the type of discovery zone Jonathan would have frequented as a youth.

“The fact that young kids today in Hudson can walk in and see, touch, try on, and learn about all these visionary designers, in an environment that is open, and welcoming, and queer, that doesn’t exclude people, this feels very special, even radical to me.”

Fighting the Norms and Providing a Place

Although fashion is often defined as “self-expression”, American fashion culture implicitly promotes uniformity — ‘the model-type”, dress codes, categorical trends, etc. It’s portraying a manufactured ideal.  In the years before meaningful social progression, self expression in  LGBTQ+ and other anti-norm cultures could result in jail time or violence, forcing vibrant creativity out of society’s view and to the underground.  

Now, KASURI is moving the culture by redefining, or un-defining, the word “fashion” and discarding all of the rules.  

Upcoming KASURI projects include a renovated e-commerce marketplace, the 2nd Annual Fundraiser for Black Lives, and expanding capacity so they can display the work of more artists.  And of course, as always,  dismantling and rebuilding what fashion means to society. 

“Hopefully, we will obliterate some of the hierarchies of who is seen and not seen, who is validated by the system, and who operates outside it.”

  • Village Common

The emotional connection between senses and art is profound.  Songs can bring back memories.  Scents can take you to places from your past. Village Common owners Blake Hays and Benjamin Lebel utilize this phenomenon when designing and hand-crafted candles from their studio in Catskill, NY.  Each candle comes with a poem written by Blake, and an image that captures the scent’s essence.  Each candle tells a story.

Blake and Benjamin had success in creative fields before moving to Catskill from New York City in 2016.  They recognized the demand for quality, accessible home goods in Upstate New York, so they brought the Village Common brand to Hudson.  The brand has been around since 1968, when Benjamin’s grandmother ran an antique shop with the same name.  Blake and Benjamin’s modern redesign keeps the Village Common tradition of high quality and incorporates their value of travel, home, the earth, and artistry.  

All Village Common candles are 100% plant-based, infused with pure essential oils, hand poured in New York, and sustainability packaged.  The scents are inspired by the land we share, what connects all of us, our “Common Ground”.  

The Value of Hand Made

Expert crafters, aka “makers”, hold a very unique, respected, time-honored position in the creative production economy.  Their impact began centuries ago, when everything was made by hand. Value lies in product, practice, and specialized knowledge.  Small batch makers have more control over inputs and ingredients, and are able to easily tailor the product to the consumer’s wants and needs.  Makers are often members of the community they serve, so they have a special connection to the people and can learn the effects of their product first-hand.  A crafter’s proximity to a neighborhood shows in the material, the symbolism, the colors, the feel. In turn, this attracts buyers who love their home, or want to be reminded of it.  

Village Common uses the simplicity of candles to highlight complex issues.  This summer’s sold out Artist Collection featured hand painted designs by local artists, and all proceeds went to organizations that support the movement toward social equity for LGBTQ+ and BIPOC.  This collection shows how makers can truly capture culture and preserve a moment in time.

The five businesses featured today are an intregal part of the wealth and breadth of the Upstate Creative Economy.  Their stories inspire, connect, and make apparent the talent and artistry the Capital Region is so proud to share.  

  • Written by: Brennan Austin Peters