Pride and Protest - From Wilton Manors to Tampa

The enemies of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) community accuse us of being a united bloc fostering a sinister “gay agenda” upon a unsuspecting majority. We should be so lucky. In fact, queer people can’t agree on anything, much less an agenda. Nor are we the political masterminds that our opponents think we are. The vast majority of lesbians, gay men, bisexual and/or transgendered people are politically apathetic. We live our own lives and hope that others would respect our privacy. Unfortunately, the world is not as agreeable as that.

Even Pride events, originally organized to commemorate a historical event of GLBT resistance, have become an excuse to party. Recently I attended the Stonewall Street Festival and Parade in my “hometown” of Wilton Manors, Florida. (Though I live in nearby Plantation, for all gay intents and purposes I live in Wilton Manors.) I admittedly had the time of my life; parading with my Saber Leather Club Brothers, interacting with thousands of my fellow humans - some of who were very nice to look at - and enjoying the pleasures that come with being part of a large and organized GLBT community. All in all, Stonewall was a great social event. But was it a political event? Though political groups tried to reach out to the throngs from their respective booths, most participants were not in the least interested in politics, nor concerned about those who seek to destroy us.

But Wilton Manors is not the world. In fact, it is not even the State of Florida. While Wilton Manors and South Beach and Key West might be a bit lavender now and then, on the whole the Sunshine State is rather red. While the tourists are free to enjoy the pleasures of the Parliament House in Orlando, the Sawmill Campground in Dade City and the Suncoast Resort in St. Petersburg - I have enjoyed them myself - we who live in Florida have to deal with a state government headed by the president’s even more conservative brother; and where the laws keep me and my lesbian sisters and my gay brothers from adopting children under any circumstances. On the local level, most county and city governments are controlled by right wing elites who often do as much as they can to show us how they despise us. A case in point is Hillsborough County, where the County Commission reacted to a Pride display at a local library by voting on June 15 to “abstain...from promoting and participating in gay pride recognition and events.”

Hillsborough County is best-known for the City of Tampa, one of the most GLBT-friendly communities in the Sunshine State. Alas, most of Hillsborough County is not Tampa. Indeed if the County Commission is truly representative, most of the people there would rather see us drop dead than show our Pride. In fact, the vote was so lopsided - only one Commissioner voted against this ordinance - that one must conclude that either the Commissioners hate us or they think that we are politically insignificant. If this is so, then the Commissioners may be very much mistaken.

It is a sad truism that the GLBT community - and our heterosexual friends - only come together politically when a major foe emerges that threatens to destroy us all. AIDS is one such horror, though the development of anti-HIV medications during the last decade has lulled us into a dangerous complacency. In Hillsborough, the Commission’s hateful move has galvanized a community that has been apathetic for too long. Led by Equality Florida (eqfl.org), GLBT Hillsborough woke up fighting, first at a town meeting at the local Metropolitan Community Church and then at a “Pride Is Back” march and rally on June 26. Over 5,000 “people of the rainbow” gathered in downtown Tampa to demand the repeal of the County “pride” ordinance. They directed their anger at the Commission as a whole and at Commissioner Ronda Storms, who proposed the measure. “This policy was intended to be an insult to all gay people,” said EQFL’s Nadine Smith. “They hoped to silence a minority, make us invisible and afraid, but their plan backfired. Instead it has provoked outrage from every corner of the community.” Nor was the GLBT community and our friends alone in opposing the County’s ordinance of hate. The City of Tampa quickly distanced itself from the County, and Mayor Pam Lorio wasted no time attacking the Commission’s action. The Hillsborough Chamber of Commerce also distanced itself from their County Commission.

If nothing else, the Hillsborough County Commission reminded us of what GLBT pride is all about. The participants in the “Pride Is Back” march had more in common with the Stonewall rioters than did the Wilton Manors partygoers, myself included. Though I don’t want every GLBT event to be consumed by anger, the fact remain that there are still a lot of people who hate us, and we need to face that hatred before it is too late. This is a lesson that the people of Hillsborough County learned the hard way.

Jesse Monteagudo is a freelance writer and activist who has been working for GLBT rights in South Florida for thirty years. Write him at jessemonteagudo@aol.com.