{"id":322826,"date":"2026-06-28T21:55:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T21:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/322826\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T21:55:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T21:55:20","slug":"at-st-pete-pride-revelers-celebrate-lgbtq-resilience-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/322826\/","title":{"rendered":"At St. Pete Pride, revelers celebrate LGBTQ+ resilience, joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ten years ago, after a gunman stormedan LGBTQ+ nightclub in Orlando<\/a>, mourners plastered the shuttered bar with tributes to the victims and messages of hope.<\/p>\n

Four years ago, as state leaders approved what came to be known as the \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d bill, hundreds of teenagers staged walkouts in protest<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And last year, when state crews painted over rainbow street murals<\/a> in St. Petersburg and across Florida, neighbors covered the pavement with colorful chalk art of their own.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, as throngs of rainbow-clad revelers partied in the streets, the St. Pete Pride festival pulsed with all of it: the joy and pain, the protest and resilience. Organizers and paradegoers said the event felt like a moment of resistance amid a yearslong spate of anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and legislation.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe were built for moments like this,\u201d said St. Pete Pride president Byron Green-Calisch, who helps organize the annual festival and parade along St. Petersburg\u2019s waterfront. \u201cAnytime the state legislature gets aggressive in talking about queer people, more people show up to the parade.\u201d<\/p>\n

And show up they did: Couples and kids, dogs and drag queens, draped in flags, tutus and strings of shiny beads.<\/p>\n

Wearing a matching rainbow suit jacket and shorts, Kristopher McCullough and his husband, Wesley, traveled from Gainesville for the celebration. Atop McCullough\u2019s head was a plush rainbow unicorn headthat he found at Goodwill years ago.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the outfit he\u2019s worn to Pride for the last four years \u2014 his \u201cannual ritual to spread joy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Gabby Rosa, of Miami, towered above the crowd on a pair of aluminum stilts, wearing a pink outfit inspired by Chappell Roan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to let people know that queer people exist,\u201d Rosa said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe genuinely had to fight for this and to be out like we are,\u201d said attendee Emily Esser, who was covered in rainbow from her eye contacts to the colorful butterfly wings on her back.<\/p>\n

This year more than ever, Green-Calisch said, the festival felt like a return to the roots of Pride.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s celebration fell on the 57th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, when LGBTQ+ protesters and advocates rioted for days after police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York City.<\/p>\n

\u201cPride is the celebration of a riot that was started over an oppressive government that was restricting how queer people showed up in public discourse and public spaces,\u201d Green-Calisch said. \u201cWe are still facing horrible, aggressive policies from our governments that don\u2019t allow us to show up.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In recent years, Gov. Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers have taken aim at LGBTQ+ issues, following a national trend among Republican-led legislatures.<\/p>\n

They have passed measures<\/a> that restrict children\u2019s access to puberty blockers and hormone therapies and made it a criminal offense for some people to use restrooms that don\u2019t match their sex at birth.<\/p>\n

State and federal leaders have also cracked down on efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.<\/p>\n

Last year, following a directive to keep roads “free and clear of political ideologies<\/a>,” state crews painted over St. Petersburg\u2019s Progressive Pride street mural. This month, St. Petersburg raised a Pride flag<\/a> above City Hall for the last time before a law banning local governments from funding diversity, equity and inclusion efforts takes effect in 2027<\/a>.<\/p>\n

During the parade, as crowds belted Gloria Gaynor\u2019s \u201cI Will Survive\u201d and Jennifer Lopez\u2019s \u201cLet\u2019s Get Loud,\u201d St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said, \u201cI\u2019m proud to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Jade Fukunaka, who traveled from Sarasota, said Pride is a \u201creminder of the people who came before us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beside her were bottles of colored dye and a sign that read, \u201cPaint me your favorite color.\u201d She braced herself as a child squeezed yellow dye all over her clothes.<\/p>\n

Fukunaka started the project alone in 2023 \u2014 the same year she came out as lesbian. On Saturday, her partner stood with her, drenched in color.<\/p>\n

Though attendees may not have noticed a shift, organizers said Tampa Bay\u2019s Pride landscape looked different this year.<\/p>\n

St. Pete Pride faced funding challenges after losing money from corporate sponsors, Green-Calisch said. As of Thursday, the nonprofit was around $146,000 short of its roughly $700,000 Pride Month budget. Green-Calisch said he urged attendees to donate at least $1 during the event.<\/p>\n

Across the bay, Tampa Pride announced in December that it would take a one-year hiatus<\/a> due to \u201cthe current political and economic climate.\u201d A Facebook post that month cited challenges with corporate sponsorships, reductions in public grant funding and restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion programs under DeSantis.<\/p>\n

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One constant was the presence of private security and city police \u2014 a point of tension for some LGBTQ+ groups.<\/p>\n

The People\u2019s Pride Coalition, made up of local grassroots organizations, demanded that St. Pete Pride end its partnership with the city\u2019s police department and cut ties with corporate sponsors. Organizers decried the police department\u2019s 287(g) agreement<\/a>, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement initiative that lets local officers perform limited immigration agent functions.<\/p>\n

In past years, coalition members have met with St. Pete Pride leaders and marched in the parade. This year, however, they say they have been ignored. Green-Calisch said he is available to coalition members and that St. Pete Pride has worked to meet a chunk of their demands.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the coalition hosted its second annual People\u2019s Pride Night with music, vendors and drag performances with the aim of bringing Pride \u201cback to its roots<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Sarah Woodham, Saturday\u2019s festivities were a relief.<\/p>\n

Woodham brought her daughter and colleagues, all of whom are neurodivergent and queer, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen everyone around us is telling us to be quiet and shut up, we are loud and proud and happy,\u201d Woodham said, cheering as a firetruck rolled past. \u201cThat\u2019s gonna piss people off, and I\u2019m glad it does.\u201d<\/p>\n