Florida Agenda

Gay Pride Lives On In Wilton Manors

By James Michaels

For the first time, the City of Wilton Manors is sponsoring the Stonewall Street Festival and Parade which will be held this Sunday, June 19th. This move followed the collapse of Pride of Greater Fort Lauderdale, which organized the annual festival and parade for the previous 11 years.

Up until 1998, Pride South Florida held their annual PrideFest in June; however, that year, citing cooler temperatures and dryer weather plus the possibility of taking advantage of the annual South Florida tourist season, Pride South Florida decided to move the annual PrideFest to the month of February.

Upon Pride South Florida’s announcement, a group of people got together for lunch at Georgie’s Alibi and decided to form a second gay pride organization, Pride of Greater Fort Lauderdale, and to hold their own gay pride festival and parade in the month of June. They also decided that, instead of holding their festival in the convention center or a park, they would hold the festival on Wilton Drive with the parade itself going through the festival. Finally, in order to better honor the Stonewall Riots, they decided to name their event the Stonewall Street Festival and Parade.

Several other people joined the group, and soon John Boteler, Rocky Bowell, Karl Clark, Terry DeCarlo, Joel Geary, Gretchen Hasselkoff, Bill Huelsman, Bob Kecskemety, Dale Madison, Terry Norman and Tony Ramos started to plan the first Stonewall Street Festival and Parade, scheduled for Sunday, June 25, 2000, hoping to attract 5,000 participants.

Planning for the first festival did not go off without a hitch. For one thing, none of the people involved had any experience in holding an event the size and scope of a gay pride parade and festival. Second, all the paperwork required to create a non-profit organization had yet to be approved, so the first festival operated under the cooperation of the Poverello Center. Also, there was some resistance from the Wilton Manors City Commission about holding a gay pride event on Wilton Drive, which was, itself, under construction with widening, repaving and putting in center median strips and the State of Florida’s Department of Transportation had to give their final approval for totally opening Wilton Drive for both the festival and  regular car traffic.

Tensions ran high, but the state ultimately gave their approval the week before the festival. Finally, there was some community resistance and some organizations that had normally participated in gay pride events rejected the idea of a second gay pride event being held in the area and refused to participate.

Making fun of South Florida’s notorious afternoon rain storms and heat, Pride of Greater Fort Lauderdale provided “rain insurance” to participants in the form of rainbow-painted umbrellas which were for sale.

The parade ran from Fort Lauderdale High School north to Dixie Highway. The festival, which had a carnival theme, ran only from NE 6th Avenue

to NE 9th Avenue. The Wilton Manors Police Department estimated that 7,500 people attended the first Stonewall and the afternoon June rains held out until right after the festival ended.

The second year (2001), the festival expanded from NE 21st Court to NE 9th Avenue. Police estimated 10,000 people attended that year despite the rain which started about 1 hour before the scheduled end of the festival.

Each year, attendance in the festival grew and the crowds got used to – and even expected – the afternoon rains and the high temperatures. In 2002, the festival was all but totally rained out and in 2009 the temperature in the parking lot at the Shoppes of Wilton Manors was recorded at 104 degrees.

Last year, 2010, an estimated 20,000 people attended Stonewall. Though the attendance was the largest ever, the festival lost $30,000. The Stonewall organizers faced last minute expenses and an early morning lightning storm kept the tent company from setting up the festival in time. The overnight weather delay meant that the street bars and ticket booths weren’t completed – only two of the eight bars were complete before the festival and parade started. (The bars are the single largest income producer for the festival.)

Pride of Greater Fort Lauderdale attempted to pay the entire debt they owed, but were only able to garner another $10,000 to pay their creditors. Pride of Greater Fort Lauderdale officially closed their doors on October 31, 2010, being one of four gay pride organizations in the U.S. to shut down last year.

The City of Wilton Manors was determined to keep the Stonewall Street Festival and Parade alive. In late 2010, the city put out a notice to private promoters to take over the festival. The contract was awarded to Miami-based Wedner & Friends Special Events Management and Marketing, which has an extensive track record in producing GLBT festivals and parties. The combination festival and parade, which has free admission, takes place this Sunday, June 19th, from 4 to 9 p.m.

Alex Vaughn

Gay Pride has been synonymous with the constant fight for equality and acceptance into greater society. From the Stonewall riots through to the pushing against Anita Bryant in the 70s, up past the Aids phobia of the 80’s and 90’s. The past leaders of the community stood up and provided us with the ability to not only live openly and freely here in Florida but with a voice as equals in society as a whole. When Pridefest comes to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday will we be thanking them and using our voices? Or have we forgotten the real meaning of Pride?

I sadly suspect the latter. Pride synonyms include; conceit, self-esteem, egotism, vanity, vainglory. That says a lot doesn’t it? The Antonym, humility. Think about that. Pride was named as the opposite to shame. We have no reason to feel ashamed of who we are because of the fact we are gay. However if your personal gay ‘Pride’ sits more with a synonym than humility, there is shame in that.

We enjoy all the advantages that revolutionaries fought long and hard for; the fact we can live life here in Florida openly, we can hold hands in the street, kiss in the supermarket with minimal resistance. We can hook up at a bar without fear of arrest or persecution and as times move on we can now enjoy a Domestic Partnership. However, there is still much to be done, and it is now down to this generation of gay people to do it. To remember the political undercurrent of Pride. The questions is, has Pride just become another weekend we demonstrate the hedonistic and selfish view society has of the gay population?

I say no. I say let’s re- educate ourselves, thank those before us and continue the push to be fully accepted. Pride South Florida came about like Stonewall as a reaction of political changes in the country. Check out the history of Pride Fest on their website. They explain,

‘Pride in South Florida started as a protest and has grown as the political strength of the LGBT community grew… South Florida’s Pride celebrations have been rooted in Protest. Their efforts inspired and galvanized gays and lesbians across the country. In the 80’s, AIDS challenged Pride to give visibility to a new issue. Pride assumed a responsibility to remind the city and the media of the lives being lost to AIDS. In the 1990’s AIDS phobia fueled a growing fervor of religious extremism. “Ex- Gay” ministries claimed that Gays can change their sexual orientation through Jesus, in a controversial “Truth in Love” campaign. In 1998, more than 3000 South Floridians rallied to protest Reverend D. James Kennedy of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church and his “hate campaign guised as Christian love.”’

I didn’t know that, did you? The above is a tiny fraction of the power of the Pride movement, just here in Florida, let alone nationally and globally. That is inspiring and is the spirit of ‘Pride’.

Don’t get me wrong celebrating who we are with a great party is what we do best! So let’s not forget that, enjoy the music, the talent, the vendors and the drinks. Socialise and share in the community spirit of being proud. This weekend is about a community who does not apologise and who has no shame for who we are.

But who are we? Who we sleep with is not something to be proud of. Being hedonistic, drinking ourselves stupid and being promiscuous all under the banner of ‘pride weekend’ is not either.

Pride comes from within as a result of achievement. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to those before use whose commitment and dedication to equal rights achieved a better, equal and safer life for us… we should be honouring them and continuing their work, not just enjoying the spoils of the war. This Pride, do something to be proud of, contribute to society. Help out at a homeless shelter or an old age home. Speak to your representative about political issues and or causes you want to join or push. Give your time to those less fortunate in the community; remember pride was started because a group of people came together as a community. Contact the Pride Center or Equality Florida and find out what you can do. Sign up for the AIDS Walk, or make sure you attend the NO H8 Photo Shoot against Prop8 on Sunday.

Contribution to the bettering of the community and society is really something to be proud of. That is still what is lacking here; we all exist separately, fractioned off by ‘type’ and a myriad of other clique terms.

This weekend it is crucial we show unity and pride for being part of a community that doesn’t back down to bigotry or hate, but that celebrates the power of a group of individuals who wouldn’t be bullied, abused, or made to feel like lesser members of society because of who they love.

Who you sleep with is not a proud contribution to society. It’s what you do to benefit society as a whole with your strengths and support as a member of a community that is strong, powerful and accepting. That is Pride.

Alex Vaugn is the Editor-in-Chief
of the Florida Agenda. He can be
reached at editor@FloridaAgenda.com