St. Pete Pride celebrates 20 years, organizers reflect on how far city has come
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About 300,000 people are expected to visit downtown St. Petersburg to attend one of the largest Pride events in the Southeast United States. This year marks the 20th Pride celebration in St. Pete. ST.
PETERSBURG, Fla. — About 300,000 people are expected to visit downtown St. Petersburg to attend one of the largest Pride events in the Southeast United States. This year marks the 20th Pride celebration in St. Pete.
Brian Longstreth, the original Pride organizer can’t believe how much the celebrations have grown. “Being the 20th year, there are a lot of flashbacks and thinking about what we started and how far it’s come along and it’s a great feeling to see how big it has gotten and changed the community,” he explained. Twenty years ago, the St. Pete Pride celebrations received support from just one city council member — Rick Kriseman, who went on to become Mayor of St. Petersburg — according to Longsteth.
Now, St. Pete is celebrating eight years in a row earning a perfect score on the municipal equality index. The city has also elected several openly gay city council members and created an LGBTQ Liaison position. Jim Nixon serves as the city’s LGBTQ liaison and helps to ensure St. Pete creates policies that help create equality and inclusion.
“We’re always going to fight for inclusivity and being that welcome city St. Pete has become,” Nixon explained. Pride celebrations now extend a full month in St. Pete and every day of the year inclusion is on display downtown, especially in the Grand Central District with murals, a rainbow-painted crosswalk and flags displayed 365 days a year. “You look at Sarasota Pride, Polk County Pride, Pasco County Pride.
Which I never would have thought would have pride celebrations and they are, and I think a lot of that grew from the success of St. Pete Pride,” Longsteth explained. Yet, with that success, LGBTQ community members are also facing adversity. This year, Florida leaders passed a Parental Rights in Education Act, known to crit.