June is Pride month in St. Pete. There’s no major parade, but there are smaller events each weekend.
On MidPoint Monday, WMNF’s Seán Kinane interviewed Nathan Brummer, the board president and executive director of St. Pete Pride. He talked about the history of LGBTQ Pride celebrations in the U.S., in the Tampa Bay area and in St. Pete.
In the past, the signature event of St. Pete Pride has been a massive parade. It’s not happening this year. In 2019 Pride had 265,000 attendees. Over the years, St. Pete Pride moved from the Grand Central District to the St. Pete waterfront;.
This year Pride is spread out over four weeks. Last weekend it was Pride OUTside including a 5K run; this weekend it’s Family Week with events on the waterfront at the new St. Pete Pier and at North and South Straub Park.
The government of the State of Florida is chipping away at LGBTQ rights? On June 1, the first day of Pride month, Governor Ron DeSantis signed law stopping trans girls from joining girls sports teams. On June 2 DeSantis cut funding from the budget for many programs to help LGBTQ Floridians, including for mental health counseling for Pulse survivors.
Gulfport Pride and Tampa Pride were in May.
