For the first time ever, a St. Petersburg Mayor has recognized the state’s largest LGBT Pride celebration. Mayor Bill Foster attended the Stonewall Commemorative Sponsors Reception at the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts on Thursday, June 24.
While the mayor didn’t officially speak during the event, he did mingle with many of those who were in attendance during the beginning of the event.
“I’m happy to be here,” Foster said while chatting with Pride supporters. “This is a beautiful building.”
Foster’s relationship with the LGBT community of St. Petersburg has a somewhat tortured history. In 2009, while campaigning for the position, Foster appeared at a Town Hall Meeting sponsored by the St. Pete Pride Board. During that meeting last June, he said he wouldn’t sign the City’s Proclamation declaring June St. Pete Pride Month. He also said that he didn’t plan on attending the June 26 Street Festival because it was too “adult-themed” and that he was “disappointed” in some of the displays he saw during a visit there a few years prior.
Now, however, it is rumored that the mayor may make an unofficial stop by this year’s event.
“The mayor is here, and we’re happy about that,” said Scott Turner, St. Pete Pride Co-Chair, during the Stonewall Reception. “It’s an acknowledgement and that’s a big step.”
