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“Pride saved my life,” says LuSter Singleton, Stonewall Columbus’ 2026 Patron of Pride.
Singleton, a Black, queer, transgender artist, performer, writer and advocate, is a longstanding figure in Columbus’ LGBTQ+ community. Most recently, he co-produced Free Beer Tomorrow with Julia Applegate, a documentary about Summit Station, Ohio’s longest running lesbian bar. But his roots stretch broad and deep throughout the city.
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This year’s Pride theme is “Until We’re All Free,” a message central to Singleton’s artistic and personal mission.
“It’s the same message I’ve had all my life,” he says. “I come from freedom fighters, Black folk in Zanesville. … You keep going. You don’t sit back. I think that message has been lost. I’m proud that I’m here representing the invisible voices.”
Stonewall Columbus’ executive director, Densil Porteous, says visibility, especially for the transgender and drag communities, is pivotal for this moment.
“It’s a recognition of our drag community, but also the identities that are portraying these drag identities,” says Porteous. “We’re talking about LuSter a lot now because of Free Beer Tomorrow, but he’s done so much more and been around for long. This is a really important moment.”
Beyond the stage, Singleton has deep ties with formal institutional representation. He earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Ohio State University, where he went on to serve as a coordinator for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender student services and as director of ethnic student services. Singleton has worked with multiple of Columbus’ LGBTQ+ organizations, including being a board member for the Columbus Gay Men’s Chorus, working with Equitas Health as a program manager and serving as the coordinator for the Pride Festival’s family and teen area.
Singleton recalls the brush with Pride that altered the course of his life. He was a student at OSU, and in a dark place. He had recently put his newborn child up for adoption—a decision he kept a secret from friends and family. “I really didn’t want to, but it was the sensible choice and the choice I felt would leave the least amount of people burdened,” he says. “I didn’t count for the burden it would put on me. And I didn’t know how to be out—it wasn’t that I was ashamed, but it was just too exhausting.”
Singleton had decided to kill himself. But, before carrying out his plan to overdose on medications in his Ohio State University area apartment, he decided to take one more walk, heading south from campus.
“Long story short, I kind of walked into a Pride rally,” he says. “I ended up next to some Christian fundamentalists. I grew up a believer, and I’m still a believer. My great-grandmother told me, people will try to say that hate is a part of God, and it’s not. God is love—that is the first.”
There were children, he recalls, holding signs saying, “God Hates F***.”
“It made me think, ‘This ain’t right.’ It’s not right to teach someone to hate us. And the only reason that you don’t know that is because the visibility isn’t there.”
It was then that Singleton felt he needed to keep living. “It allowed this being you see here to emerge,” he says.
When asked what message he might have for readers, Singleton simply directs them to the song (Something Inside) So Strong by Labi Siffre. Many of the lyrics resonate with Singleton’s—and Stonewall’s—mission: “Something inside so strong/I know that I can make it/Though you’re doing me wrong, so wrong/You thought that my pride was gone, oh no/Something inside so strong, oh.”
This story appeared in the June 2026 issue of Columbus Monthly. Subscribe here.
This article originally appeared on Columbus Monthly: Get to Know LuSter Singleton, Stonewall Columbus’ 2026 Patron of Pride
Reporting by Lucy Clark, Columbus Monthly / Columbus Monthly
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
