For eight years, Pam Iorio has served as mayor of Tampa, and for each of those eight years, she has attended and welcomed moviegoers to the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.
The TIGLFF Board honored the two-term mayor, who will leave her post in March, with a film tribute and a plaque on the second night of the 21st festival at the Tampa Theatre.
“I’m lucky I didn’t wear the same outfit any of those years,” the mayor quipped following the film presentation. “The chances of a repeat outfit are pretty good—I lucked out.”
Iorio went on to thank the TIGLFF board and its supporters for “serving diversity” and keeping “Tampa as a great place to live.” Iorio has been a long-time supporter of the LGBT community—attending Pride events and other festivals other than TIGLFF.
“I’ve always said that I love Tampa and I want it to be a place where everyone is welcome and where everyone wants to live,” she said. “When my kids finish college, I want them to come back here to a city that is all-inclusive.”
TIGLFF Board President John Thomas presented Iorio with a plaque and showed a photo of a tree adopted in her honor outside the new Tampa Museum of Art. A stone nearby commemorates Iorio and TIGLFF 2010.
“Come find me by that tree and we’ll all sit under there together,” Iorio said.
TIGLFF runs through Sunday, Oct. 17.
