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This inaugural event will include a parade, outreach events, parties, a picnic and an art auction.
By MARY JANE PARK
© St. Petersburg Times, published March 16, 2003
ST. PETERSBURG -- For the first time, a major festival focused on gay rights is expected to come to the city this summer.
The inaugural St. Pete Pride festival, June 27-29, will celebrate the city's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community.
It also will commemorate the Stonewall event of June 27, 1969, widely regarded to be a turning point in civil rights for those groups in the United States. (Until a large group of patrons resisted arrest in a police incursion on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village, raids on nightclubs catering to homosexuals were common in cities throughout the country.)
Plans call for a street fair, business expo, family picnic, community outreach events and parties, an antique car show, cultural exhibitions, an art auction and a parade in the city's Grand Central District.
The three-day event also hopes to incorporate numerous established events as part of the city's centennial observance.
Of the nearly 415,000 Pinellas households reported in the 2000 census, more than 2,800 said they were in same-sex partnerships. Statistics experts estimate those numbers to be low because many gays, lesbians and transgendered persons are not comfortable reporting themselves.
St. Petersburg's City Council last year enacted a human rights ordinance that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation in housing, employment and public accommodations.
"We're glad to be part of this wonderful city, and we regularly contribute to it," said Greg Stemm, who is president of Marketing and Communications Systems and a member of SPP's board of directors. "We (appreciate the) value many sponsors have placed on the gay community. We patronize businesses that support us with their patronage."
"A night out on the town 10 years ago was a drive to Tampa," said Carl Kuttler III, another board member and owner of Kuttler Kitchens and Cabinets. "St. Petersburg is now its own destination. We love to live here. We love to be a part of the community as a whole. We don't live in a ghetto here.
"This is a conservative community. We're not celebrating diversity as much as what we have in common. We're all people living together under the sun in St. Petersburg. We're really making a wonderful life and being part of our community."
Organizers acknowledge some of the challenges in planning the event. For example, they have only three months in which to assemble a corps of volunteers and seek local and national sponsorships.
The nonprofit group's Web site is www.stpetepride.com.