After several anti-LGBTQ bills were passed this year in Florida, Pride event organizers say now is an even more important time to advocate for equality.
“There is a darkness that’s fallen over the state of Florida,” said David Simmons, President of PFLAG Niceville, an advocacy and support group for the LGBTQ community serving Okaloosa County.
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In May, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a slate of bills targeted to the LGBTQ communityincluding an expansion on the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, banning gender affirming care for minors, and barring transgender people from using public restrooms or locker rooms that align with their gender identity. Another law, SB 1438, prohibits businesses from admitting minors to “adult live performances” such as drag shows. The law caused organizers to rethink their pride events.
Pride month, celebrated in June to commemorate the Stonewall Riots in 1969, is usually marked with parades, festivals, and performances — namely drag performances.
“We were definitely paying attention to all of the legislation,” said Sydney Robinson, one of the organizers for PensaPride. “Even though the laws don’t take effect until July 1, and even though we considered the fact that the first pride was a protest, we wanted people to feel safe.”
Robinson said they opted to remove the drag performances from the day’s schedule. Dine and Drag, hosted by Liberation Pensacola, will be later that evening but only for ages 18 and up.
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“The hardest part was to think we have to police ourselves,” said Robinson. “We had to come up with a creative solution to make everyone feel included. We will have an open mic where people can talk about whatever they want and speak about the issues.”
Brody Parker, the founder of Liberation Pensacola, said it was a good feeling to be able to put something together.
“We want to support our drag performers now more than ever,” he said.
PensaPride has had a “small subset” of protestors in the past, but with the rise of LGBTQ violence nationwide, the organizers did their research to make the event more secure. The answer was admission fees.
“We learned you had to charge admission for there to be barricades at the event, so we decided to charge a penny entrance fee so we could put barricades up,” Robinson said.
She added that there will be a take-a-penny-leave-a-penny situation so no one is left out for not having loose change. For added security, there will be a “safety squad” of EMTs in lieu of police.
Simmons helped organize the first Pride celebration in Okaloosa County in 2017. It’s been an annual event (with the exception of COVID) without incident. But, when planning this year’s festivities, Simmons said they opted to cancel the drag performance to keep the event open to all ages. They also made sure to have security at all events.
The Pride Prom, which will be 6:30 p.m. Saturday, June 24 at The Island Resort on Okaloosa Island, caps off PFLAG’s pride celebration.
“Last year, we had a Pokemon drag show and there were kids of all ages — it was happiness and joy,” said Simmons. “The fear (around drag) is misguided.”
Pride Prom started out as an event for students at Northwest Florida State College which had a Gay-Straight Alliance organization for years until recently. The event morphed into an all-ages event to give the opportunity for anyone to have the prom experience they want in a safe space.
“I met one woman who went with her trans daughter,” said Simmons. “She came up to me and said ‘this means the world to my family.’”
Simmons, who is a professor at Northwest Florida State College, said he fears that younger generations will lose safe spaces when laws such as theexpanded “Don’t Say Gay” billgo into effect. The law bans instruction of sexual orientation and gender identity from Pre-K through eighth grade, restricts reproductive health education in sixth through 12th grade and prohibits schools from requiring students or employees to refer to each other with pronouns that do not align with their assigned sex at birth.
“Suicide rates go up, especially for LGBTQ youth, when they don’t have safe spaces,” said Simmons. “At pride, they can be themselves. Even if it’s for one day.”
In Pensacola, this year’s PensaPride is the largest yet with more than 150 vendors. Robinson said this year is the largest number of sponsors they’ve had. And it’s a comforting thought during uncertain times.
“It shows the spirit of defiance, the spirit of resilience and the spirit of persistence,” she added. “It’s times like this when Pride festivals are more important than ever. We have each other and queer joy will happen no matter what.”
PensaPride is Saturday, June 24 from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at Cordova Square in East Hill. Dine and Drag is 6 p.m. Saturday, June 24 at Whiskey Joe's on Pensacola Beach. PFLAG Niceville's Pride Prom is 6:30 p.m. Saturday, June 24 at The Island Resort on Okaloosa Island.
