The Loudoun Pride Foundation goes by many names.  Our official legal name is Cheerful Spaces, a non-profit organization that promotes inclusivity and the general welfare of the queer community through engagement, events, and advocacy. We operate as the Loudoun Pride Foundation (our official DBA), but people also call us the Loudoun Pride Festival and sometimes just Loudoun Pride. The organization was started by Jenny and Candice, the founders and directors of the Loudoun Pride Festival since it's inception. They formerly served as the Community Director and President, respectively, for Equality Loudoun (no longer associated) and have been creating safe queer spaces since 2019.

We are an official, independent 501(c)4 organization as of December 2023. Our EIN number is 33-2215492. 


Our Guiding Principles
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"What you do says more about you than what you wish to be."

WE BELIEVE IN ACTION
Our work resolves around the simple philosophy that action is more important than intent. When we began this journey, we sat down and asked ourselves what do we want to be and what philosophies will guide us? This is what we came up with. 

INTENTIONALITY
This community has been through enough and to truly serve we cannot simply echo every call and scream into every room. The LGBTQ+ community is at risk, right now. Failing to acknowledge that and address the impacts that 24/7 activism calls for puts people in more harms way. We will do our best to contextualize every step we make, every voice we elevate, and every opportunity we seize to ensure that you understand what impact it can have. We will not heed every call to action, petition, email, or rally. We will not use AI to generate any messages that are meant to impact lives. Some parts of advocacy are performative, but you should never have to sacrifice for meaningless action. You deserve to rest. Your existence is what needs protected and we intend to do so with intentionality.

ADVOCACY
We've sat in enough rooms to know that advocacy can mean whatever you want it to. But rather than squabbling over definitions, here is what advocacy means to us- do what needs done to respond to this moment. Sometimes advocacy calls for us to step into spaces with decision makers and represent this community. Sometimes it means trying to change the culture by engaging with people and places that are hostile. Sometimes it means creating spaces where queer people can exist safely and other times it means refusing to quit until every space is safe. To answer the call of this moment is our advocacy.

INTERSECTIONALITY
We start this work by acknowledging what we are and what we are not. Our organization is represented by middle-aged white people who are a mixture of LGBTQ+ identities, with individual histories of dealing with discrimination, poverty, homelessness, abuse, and exclusion. What we are not is people of color, young people, immigrants, indigienous, or persecuted religious minorities. We are here to learn, listen, and gather the stories, perspectives, and first-hand lived experiences of all members of this community. We do so to build unique spaces and advocacy that serve different communities by acknowledging intersectionality.

VISIBILITY
The queer community is all about diversity. We encompass every race, religion, background, and identity on Earth and have done so since humanity first thought. We want to change culture to be better at acknowledging differences, needs, and intentional spaces by elevating the visibility of different groups as part of the whole community. These are the lives of real people and we need to work to elevate those whose stories aren't heard. For trans adults, for queer people of color, for LGBTQ+ religious minorities, and for members of the LGBTQ+ community and everyone else who's identities are trivialized and marginalized. We see you. With us, you will always have visibility.

BELONGING
While we want to change the world, we start small and build our way up. Not every space is meant for every person, but by creating or affirming safe spaces that serve each person and their unique wants, needs, and identities, we can start the work. We believe that too much effort is spent making every space meet every need, invalidating our needs as unique individuals. Belonging should rise above passive events and generate positive ripples in the community. The queer community does this by extending opportunities to each person and asking what we can do in return. You are part of our team, whether you know it yet or not. Let's work together to make the world a better place where every conversation starts by asking how we can make this a place of belonging.

 

BELONGING

Our team is hard at work preparing events and partnerships that reach beyond just creating spaces for the queer community- we want to bring the queer community into the larger Loudoun community as equals in visibility and protection. Already, we are partnering at a number of events to bring an LGBTQIA+ presence and perspective. The end goal is to create a variety of spaces that celebrate unique identities and intersectional interest. Our Community of Belonging Program is already underway!

• January 17th - Wine and Wags at 8 Chains Winery to benefit rescue animals

• January 19th - Attending the Virginia LGBTQ+ Leadership Summit in Richmond, VA.

• February 21st - Presenting on Inclusion, Prevention, and Wellness Strategies for LGBTQ+ Youth & Families at the LCPS Mental Health and Wellness Conference.

• March 14th - Attending and speaking at the Rise To Summit at Rock Ridge High School

• May 2 - Attending the Spring Fest to spread joy, belonging, and representation

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INTENTIONALITY

Raising the profile and public need of intentionality. Creating space is only the beginning. Mixed spaces are fantastic but must include carveouts that highlight and celebrate the parts of you that are unique and beautiful. To that end, we're developing plans for Pride that create more intentional spaces for connection by focused on various passions within the community. We also want to ensure that when calls for community advocacy come, we are contextualizing to ensure your time is well spent and your mental health is well protected. We plan to launch our Innovative Action Center Program in the next few weeks.

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ADVOCACY

Advocacy with an end goal. We've learned from our work in the community that no one wants to be an advocate forever. Each step of the advocacy process has to be intentional about the results it achieves. We are starting by working on the research arm to find out what laws are in place that affect various LGBTQ+ identities and developing policy proposals that we plan to submit to delegates with the goal of generating lasting legal changes to improve your life. We're already communicating with local police, lawmakers, community stakeholders and leaders, and even the incoming Governor to communicate the community's needs. We're launching our Legislative Policy Program in April.

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VISIBILITY

It started with a dream, some rainbow paint, and a patch of asphalt. The Leesburg Rainbow Crosswalk was just another first step. As many know, the Loudoun Pride Festival has worked to highlight local community artists from our work to put together the One Loudoun Pride Gallery in 2022 and 2023, the artwork featured in numerous Leesburg Parades, and the handcrafted LOVE sign for Loudoun that was on display at June's Frist Friday and Pride Festival in 2025. Now, we are working with local planners, property owners, and artists to develop new ways to bring to light the beauty and celebration that is our queer community. More coming soon!

• Check out some of the press from the Leesburg Rainbow Crosswalk

• Check out our Pride Visibility Photo Gallery (coming soon)

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INTERSECTIONALITY

The LGBTQIA+ community is the most diverse group in the world. The fact is, queer people exist in every race, religion, age group, gender, ethnicity, ability, and group of humans in existence. Along with that, we must recognize that the harm done to our community through discrimination, violence, and harassment have lasting impacts that affect food insecurity, mental health, homelessness, educational achievement, socioeconomic status, and suicidal ideation. These things are not borne out of being queer- they are created by hatred, bigotry, and bias towards queer people. In January 2024, we launched the Virginia Queer Coalition in coordination with the Transgender Education Association and Casa Brumar to bring together Virginia's queer-serving organizations for resource sharing, planning, and networking. In January 2025, we selected our first HARPP program that will work with youth in the community to raise awareness of those in need and generate collection drives in local neighborhoods. 

• Check out the Virginia Queer Coalition

• Check out Kids for Kindness (coming soon)