Huntsville’s annual Pride parade is under new management.

Tennessee Valley Rocket City Pride has hosted the Vincent Rutherford Equality March every Pride month since 2018. A new group will be running the parade under the same name this year.

A long-time friend of the late-Vincent Rutherford chose to pick up the baton and continue his legacy. Laura Uselton with the Community Pride Alliance filed the permits to host the parade with the City of Huntsville in April. She was worried that there wouldn’t be a Pride parade in Huntsville in 2025, especially since she helped organize annual Pride parades over a decade ago.

“RCP (Rocket City Pride) had gone dark,” said Uselton. “They weren’t responding to anybody. They weren’t doing anything. So somebody had to do it. And I just happened to be the first one to apply for the permit. And then the current, at that time, Director of RCP emailed me and told me that he was passing the torch along to us because he was going to let us do it.”

The Vincent Rutherford March is at 11 a.m. on Sunday, June 29 in Downtown Huntsville.

Log Cabin Republicans spark controversy

Rocket City Pride faced community backlash after its Pride Fest in October 2024 because they allowed Log Cabin Republicans a table at the event.

Log Cabin Republicans said they represent LGBT conservatives and straight allies. Community members like Briar Wolf said they have taken several transphobic stances, and transgender people won’t feel safe around them.

She said they have no place at a Pride event.

“LCR has supported and aligned with political figures and policies that actively harm the rights of transgender individuals, restrict access to gender-affirming care, and promote discriminatory measures that isolate and target our most vulnerable community members,” said Wolf in a statement in October 2024. “This is not the kind of unity or visibility that Rocket City Pride aims to foster. In fact, LCR’s policies perpetuate division and marginalization, particularly of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals, undermining the very self-esteem and safety that Rocket City Pride seeks to promote.”

In a statement, Rocket City Pride leaders say they had to allow the Log Cabin Republicans a table at Pride Fest to retain their 501(c)3 status. They have not responded to an additional request for comment.

‘We want to make everybody feel included’

Uselton wanted to provide new leadership for June’s march because she wanted everyone to feel included.

“We can make everybody in Huntsville feel included, everybody in North Alabama feel included, other organizations, other cities,” Uselton said. “Let’s try to get everybody included right now, definitely with the political environment, the trans community needs to feel like they have a place to go. And everybody, not just gay, straight, everybody can socialize and demonstrate and tell Huntsville that we are here and that we belong and that we’re not going to take any bull****.”

Plus, she wanted Rutherford’s legacy to live on. She was close friends with the march’s namesake for many years before he died in 2017.

“I had never seen bigger hearts,” Uselton said. “He was just open to anybody and anything that needed help. I miss him very much. He was a very, very dear friend. I knew them for several years, and when he passed, it was very, very sad. I know today, if he saw what we were doing, he would be compelled.”

Rutherford and a small group of friends founded the first Gay Pride March in Huntsville in 2007. He advocated for LGBTQ+ equality through the creation of groups like Free2Be and CommmUNITY. He was known to always be a helping hand for everyone in the Rocket City. He was the Director of the Pride March in 2017 when he died of cancer.

Now, Uselton is using the skills that he taught her over 10 years ago to lead 2025’s march. She and Community Pride Alliance’s 13 other members are set to make the march as big as it has been in previous years.

She said multiple businesses have reached out to her to show their support, like Yellowhammer Brewing Company, Lipz Lounge and more.

At least 50 groups and individuals will be featured in the parade, including a DJ, karaoke float and a trans activist group that does stormtrooper cosplay.