Our Story

Capital City Pride started as a discussion between two best friends, Lucas Posey and Tyler Griffing (Co-Founders). They were attending a game night at Lucas's house in 2018. At the time, places like Starkville, Oxford, Hattiesburg, Natchez, and the MS Gulf Coast were launching successful Pride events, so they knew there was a demand in the state to support what would soon become Capital City Pride.

So, with big dreams and a passion to create safe spaces within Jackson, Lucas and Tyler started efforts to create Capital City Pride. They created social media pages, recruited two more founding members of the organization (Cody Shumaker and Ashlee Pitts), became incorporated through the MS Secretary of State, and held their first community engagement meeting in August of 2019. They all knew that to do this right, the voice of the city needed to be heard. What came out of those conversations was a realization that there was a broken community in desperate need of healing, advocacy, and opportunity. This led the founding members in search of someone who could help lead Capital City Pride to its fullest potential - Jason McCarty

Lucas approached Jason for advice on starting a Non-Profit Organization. Admittedly, this would be the first time any founding member had tried to start one. Jason’s background in the non-profit world provided the insight we would need to get us to the next level. Through this outreach, we were able build a relationship with Grace House Services, and they would act as our mentor for the next year and a half. Thanks to them, Capital City Pride was able to throw our first Pride Festival, now known as #ItsPrideYall, in October of 2021. Soon after, we were officially granted the title of a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization at the beginning of 2022.

Capital City Pride is made up by a 13 person Board. Its Members represent all sexual orientations, socioeconomic backgrounds, race, and age.

Capital City Pride is recognized as a tax-exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to organizations with 501(c)(3) status may be tax deductible.