Out RVA campaign signals change, makes history

CHRIS SUAREZ
Staff Writer

The river city made civil rights history last month when Richmond became the first city to ever “come out of the closet,” shortly before the 20th anniversary of LGBT History Month began on Oct. 1.

Coming forward as a pseudo-client earlier this year, the city of Richmond asked the Brandcenter, VCU’s marketing and advertising graduate program, to help introduce a new image of Richmond to the world. The idea to “Out” the city was pitched by a group of students from the Brandcenter as part of a volunteer project.

The revelation of Richmond’s new orientation was met with support from the city council, officially proclaiming Sept. 27 “Virginia Pride Day.” Gov. Terry McAuliffe also attended the local LGBTQ community’s perennial Pride festival on the same afternoon that the city council extended its support. McAuliffe’s appearance marked the first time a standing governor has attended the event.

“It’s a new day in Virginia, I can tell you that folks,” McAuliffe said to the crowd at Virginia Pride. “I feel good things are happening and we’re going to have marriage equality here in the commonwealth of Virginia.”

The outpouring of community solidarity with LGBTQ Richmonders came a month after the new regional tourism marketing campaign “Out RVA” made its debut across the nation. At the beginning of September, web banner advertisements, videos, and letters to Washington, D.C., Boston and Atlanta let the world know Richmond’s acceptance of people identifying along various points on the spectrum of gender and sexual identity.

Earlier this summer, the Eastern District 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Attorney General Mark Herring’s decision to strike down the Marshall Amendment — the Virginia constitutional ban on same-sex marriage voted into law in 2006.

Months before Herring announced he would no longer defend the amendment’s constitutionality, the Richmond Region Tourism board approached the Brandcenter to work on a marketing campaign to attract the country’s LGBTQ community to Richmond, said Brandcenter professor and creative brand management expert Kelly O’Keefe.

Of the three different volunteer groups that presented a campaign to the Brandcenter and the tourism board, the group that came up with the concept of Richmond “coming out” earned the admiration of the tourism board, and were chosen to develop the campaign on behalf of the board.

O’Keefe said that between drawing attention to Richmond’s LGBTQ community and distributing “Out” stickers that meld with the existing RVA branding campaign seen on the backs of cars, business storefronts and residents’ personal belongings, their campaign seemed most logical.

“(The idea) was both edgy and built on truths,” O’Keefe said. “They knew our city was gay-friendly, but the rest of the world didn’t know it yet. It gave way for the group to use that great metaphor of ‘coming out’ for the campaign.”

The Out RVA team said they believed proud Richmonders who believe in marriage equality and inclusivity would embrace the move. Focus groups, conversations and discussions with city residents and members of the LGBTQ community found that to be true, said Brandcenter graduate and Out RVA creator Trey Keeler.

However, the team’s market research showed that specific impression wasn’t common outside of the state. Instead, it found the perception of Richmond was unflattering. Many people saw the city as nothing more than the former capital of the Confederacy and a bastion of less admirable traits associated with the South such as ignorance and inequality.

Keeler said the Out RVA team was composed of a mixed group of native Virginians, local Richmonders and area transplants of various genders and sexual orientations. The key to success, Keeler said, was the different perspectives everyone contributed to the group, while maintaining a mutually understood admiration of Richmond and its culture.

“What we realized is we didn’t want to do a marketing campaign, we wanted to create a movement,” Keeler said. “We wanted to go well beyond the laundry list of things to do because every city does that. Telling people about gay-friendly bars or businesses wouldn’t have been groundbreaking. What we wanted to create was more authenticity and a rallying cry around (Richmond’s) LGBTQ community.”

Throughout the campaign, the Out RVA team worked with different businesses and community leaders to formulate what the campaign would look like. Helping guide the team through the community was former editor and GayRVA.com founder, Kevin Clay, a former Style Weekly 40 Under 40 award winner, the alternative weekly publication’s annual power ranking of young professionals, activists and organizers.

Clay said he approached the Brancenter this year to refresh the campaign and give it a more solid brand name.

“It’s been amazing to watch things shift here in Richmond the last ten years,” Clay said. “I’m personally very proud to have watched the city grow and see it get behind its communities.”

With the campaign website Richmondisout.com launching in early September, Clay said the timing of the campaign was meant to increase local, regional and national interest in this year’s Virginia Pride festival.

Officially recognized as a non profit in 2007, Pride Virginia has come a long way since holding their inaugural Pride festival in the parking lot of the Gay Community Center of Richmond and running an operational deficit of $3,000, according to Pride Virginia President Sean Pierce.

Pierce said he is excited to see what the Out RVA campaign leads to after the enormous success of the original RVA sticker campaign.

“There’s so much potential and I love the idea. Once it’s in full effect it’s going to be incredible,” he said.

When McAuliffe made his appearance at the end of the Pride festival, he invited Norfolk couple Timothy Bostic and Tony London and Chesterfield couple Carol Schall, Mary Townley and their teenage daughter, Emily Schall-Townley, the plaintiffs of the Virginia marriage equality court case expected to reach the U.S. Supreme Court in the next year, to join him in front of the crowd.

“We have felt your support. We walked into the 4th Circuit, and you were there cheering for us. We walked into the Eastern District, and you were there cheering for us,” Carol Schall said. “And I know that when we walk into the Supreme Court, you will be there behind us cheering for us.”

After cheers for the families on the stage subsided, McAuliffe reiterated Virginia’s support for the LGBTQ community, recognizing the contributions they have made to Virginia’s welfare.

“You cannot grow an economy when you put walls up around Virginia,” McAuliffe said. “And let our message go to the globe: No matter who you love, we want you here in Virginia.”