Join the Richmond LGBTQ Chamber the first Friday of each month for our morning networking series. Enjoy complimentary drip coffee and food available for purchase from our host Gold Lion Community Cafe. This event is free to members and non-members.

Join Virginia’s largest LGBTQ celebration! VA Pridefest 2026, presented by OutRVA, will take place on September 12th this year! Be sure to join us at Midtown Green in Richmond, VA from 12-8pm for the queerest party of the year.

Look forward to:

‍ exciting headliners

diverse entertainment

delicious food

️awesome vendors

and so much more, including amazing activities at the Allianz Youth Pride Pavilion!

As always, Pridefest will be free and open to everyone!

Sponsor Pridefest 

VIP Experience 

Join the Richmond LGBTQ Chamber for a special Author Event at Fountain Bookstore.  Enjoy an evening with Fountain Favorite author Margot Douaihy as she discusses with John Copenhaver at the store about her newest Sister Holiday mystery, Divine Ruin.

Whether you're a longtime fan, an avid reader, or simply looking for an engaging community experience, this event offers the opportunity to hear from the author, ask questions, and connect with fellow book lovers.

Register 

 Mix, mingle, and enjoy:

• An exclusive 10% discount for Chamber members on the purchase of Divine Ruin by Margot Douaihy
• Free Admission

More than just a place to discover great books, Fountain Bookstore is a vibrant community gathering space that brings readers, writers, and ideas together. We look forward to welcoming you for an unforgettable evening of books, conversation, and community!

About the Book: It’s a steamy, restless end of the school year in New Orleans. Sister Holiday is finishing her music classes and preparing for her permanent vow ceremony, a pivotal moment in her journey of faith. But when one of her favorite students is found dead of a fentanyl overdose, Sister Holiday and her partner-in-PI, Magnolia Riveaux, are determined to track down the drug dealers. As students continue to fall prey to this sinister drug, Sister Holiday becomes more desperate to stop the epidemic—while facing her own past with addiction, a demon that is never too far.

With Douaihy’s signature mix of grit, heart, and faith, Divine Ruin tests the limits of Sister Holiday’s devotion in her darkest and most shocking case yet.

About the Author: Margot Douaihy, PhD, is a poet, crime writer, and assistant professor at Emerson College. She is the author of the lyrical hardboiled mysteries Scorched Grace and Blessed Water, both published with Gillian Flynn Books (a Zando imprint) and both named a "Best Crime Novel of the Year" by The New York Times (2023 and 2024). The third mystery in her series, Divine Ruin, published in January 2026 and was an American Booksellers Association Indie Next Pick, a Publishers Weekly Pick, and named a Best Debut of the Month by CrimeReads. Margot is an active member of the Radius of Arab-American Writers, the Queer Crime Writers, the Sisters in Crime, and the Mystery Writers of America. 

John Copenhaver is an award-winning author whose latest novel, Hall of Mirrors, was named a New York Times Crime Novel of the Year and won the Left Coast Crime Award for Best Historical Mystery. His earlier books include Dodging and Burning and The Savage Kind, which won the Lambda Literary Award for Best LGBTQ Mystery. He co-edited Crime Ink: Iconic and serves on the board of International Thriller Writers. A founding member of Queer Crime Writers, he teaches at VCU and mentors in the University of Nebraska Omaha’s MFA program. He lives in Richmond, Virginia. open_in_newwww.johncopenhaver.com

Join the Richmond LGBTQ Chamber the first Friday of each month for our morning networking series. Enjoy complimentary drip coffee and food available for purchase from our host Gold Lion Community Cafe. This event is free to members and non-members.

Your exhibitor fee includes one 6' table and 2 chairs. Exhibitors are encouraged to bring their own table coverings, signage, and swag to decorate their booth.

Many of Virginia's employers have recognized the benefits of an inclusive and diverse workforce. Join our event connecting LGBTQ-affirming companies with great employees.  

The $100 registration fee to participate is waived for members of the Richmond LGBTQ Chamber (join now to participate for free). Companies interested in participating as exhibiting employers must:

• Expect to be filling open positions on or soon after October 15, 2026
• Have a demonstrated commitment to inclusive employment practices in at least one of the following:
• • Membership in the Richmond LGBTQ Chamber
  • Membership in Equality Virginia’s Virginia Fairness program
  • An equal opportunity policy that includes sexual orientation and gender identity/expression

Questions or sponsorship inquiries can be directed to our Job Fair committee at director@richmondlgbtqchamber.org and one of our volunteers will respond as soon as possible.

Join the Richmond LGBTQ Chamber for a special Author Event at Fountain Bookstore.  Enjoy an evening with author of Fountain's 2025 Book of the Year, author Silas House. He'll be talking about his new novel, Tulip Poplars,  with Kelly in the store

Whether you're a longtime fan, an avid reader, or simply looking for an engaging community experience, this event offers the opportunity to hear from the author, ask questions, and connect with fellow book lovers.

Register 

 Mix, mingle, and enjoy:

• General Admission includes a copy of Tulip Poplars book.

More than just a place to discover great books, Fountain Bookstore is a vibrant community gathering space that brings readers, writers, and ideas together. We look forward to welcoming you for an unforgettable evening of books, conversation, and community!

About the Book: Amos and Tom fall in love while working in the tobacco fields during the hot summers of the early 1900s, yet Tom cannot shake his strict religious upbringing nor the responsibilities of his family’s farm. His longtime friend Maeve also pines for a man she can’t have, lest she endanger his already tenuous life in a town and world shaped by racial lines. How do you live a life that feels untrue, and at what point do you risk everything?

The Tulip Poplars is a gorgeous and moving novel spanning most of the 20th century, centering on four people trying to find happiness in a world that demands conventional choices. House tells a deeply intimate story of faith and doubt, race and class, sexual desire and the longing to be good when you’ve been taught that you are evil for loving who you love. Based on the story of an ancestor, House’s new novel takes us from NYC to Southern cities to Appalachia and will leave you with a bigger heart.

About the Author: Silas House was a finalist for a 2024 Grammy Award, winner of the 2022 Duggins Prize, and is a two-time winner of the Southern Book Prize. His writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Time, the New York Times, the Advocate, Time, Garden & Gun, and other publications. He teaches at Berea College and at the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Creative Writing.

Kelly is our fearless leader and an omnivore of a reader who will try almost any type of book at least once. She has been an indie bookseller since 1989, came to Fountain in 2000, and took over in 2008. She has served on countless bookseller boards and committees nationally and internationally but recently has scaled back on those activities to spend more time on the bookstore and personal passions like travel, cooking, and being with important people in her life and the cat.

Join the Richmond LGBTQ Chamber the first Friday of each month for our morning networking series. Enjoy complimentary drip coffee and food available for purchase from our host Gold Lion Community Cafe. This event is free to members and non-members.

Join the Richmond LGBTQ Chamber the first Friday of each month for our morning networking series. Enjoy complimentary drip coffee and food available for purchase from our host Gold Lion Community Cafe. This event is free to members and non-members.