The Annual Pinellas County Equality Florida Gala Dinner raised more than $100,000 on Saturday, Feb. 20. The money will go directly to the organization’s many efforts on behalf of anti-discrimination lobbying and other efforts focused on equality issues for the LGBT community, according to Nadine Smith, executive director. The event was held at the home of Coda Roberson and Jack Herald in the Old Southeast section of St. Petersburg.
“We are very excited about the success of this year’s event,” Smith said. “Nearly 300 people attended the Gala and we are impressed and moved that so many people are contributing to our important work.”
The Gala was the fourth annual event for Pinellas County. Smith said that there are currently 11 similar galas in other Florida communities, with the likelihood that two more will join the ranks by the year’s end. The Gala in Key West, now in its seventh year, is the oldest of all of the Galas statewide. Smith said this year’s Pinellas Gala attendance was almost double last year’s and was the biggest ever for Pinellas County, putting it in the ranks of the top others in the state both terms of attendance and giving.
A number of elected officials attended the Gala including St. Petersburg City Council Chairperson Leslie Curran, and newly elected St. Petersburg City Council Member Steve Kornell. Other dignitaries on hand included Florida Chief Financial Officer and Gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink, Pinellas County Superintendent Julie Janseen, Pinellas County School Board Member Linda Lerner, U.S. Representative Kathy Castor, and retired judge Charlotte Anderson.
“This gathering is important from a political stance as well as a great opportunity for activists to come together,” said Smith. “It not only holds elected officials accountable, it’s a way for those in office or seeking office to connect with an important constituency.”
A feature of this year’s event was the presentation of the Voice for Equality award to Steve Kornell, who is openly gay. Previous recipients of the award have included Lerner, Sink and Kevin Beckner, Hillsborough County Commissioner.
“I’m honored to receive this award and humbled to be in such good company with other recipients,” Kornell said. “I just want to remind everyone that my term is really only a half term since I took the seat vacated by Jamie Bennett when he left to pursue his bid for mayor of St. Petersburg. I’m going to need the support of the community and my constituents, both gay and straight, to help me get re-elected in November 2011.”
Castor said that Kornell represented the entire community, not just the LGBT portion of St. Petersburg.
“I’m here tonight to pay tribute to my friend Steve Kornell who is not only a great voice for the LGBT community, but to the St. Petersburg community in general,” Castor said. “I’m also here to pay tribute to Equality Florida which is a focal point to communicate and educate on a wide variety of human right issues. What I’d like to pay particular attention to in Washington is to getting EDNA (Employment Non-Discrimination Act) passed. I am heartened by the passage of the Hate Crimes bill and that it looks like Don’t Ask Don’t Tell will probably be repealed, but it’s only through efforts like those of Equality Florida that those things happen.”
Sink said the sole reason she was attending the event was because, “I simply don’t believe in discrimination of any kind.” Sink also said this was not the first such gathering she had attended.
Equality Florida is a statewide education and advocacy organization dedicated to eliminating discrimination based on sexual orientation, race, gender and class. The organization reaches over 50,000 LGBT and allied households in Florida, making it one of largest civil rights groups working at the state level.
