As we prepare to celebrate another LGBTQ Pride Month, I have been thinking a lot about the first time I felt proud and a part of an LGBTQ community.
I came about nearly 20 years ago, and while my family accepted me for who I am with open arms, I still didn’t feel like I was a part of a community bigger than myself. I was serving in the U.S. Air Force under the watchful eyes of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and a not gay-friendly George W. Bush administration, so while I had come out to family and a few close friends, I still couldn’t be my authentic self 24/7.
Up to the point of me coming out, I planned to make the military my career and do 20 years, but after coming out and having that feeling of being able to breathe and be myself, I knew that was no longer in the cards for me.
I did my time and got out in 2007 and moved back home to southern Georgia. I made new friends and for the first time lived openly and freely as myself but I still didn’t feel a sense of community. I was in a smaller town and even though I had my family and friends, it still felt a lot like when I was in the military.
After nearly two years of Georgia on my mind, my younger brother convinced me to move with him and some friends to Orlando. Here I met more LGBTQ people than I had ever met in my whole life. I went to gay bars and the occasional Gay Day at the Magic Kingdom, but I still hadn’t found that sense of Pride that I had seen on TV and in the movies.
It wasn’t until 2013, when I walked into the Watermark office in Orlando to interview for a job, that something felt different. It was like what I had been searching for my whole life was waiting patiently for me to find it in that Watermark building on Ferncreek Ave. I was in college at the time and I went in the next day and dropped all my classes so I could take the job at Watermark.
My first day felt like the scene from the film “Moulin Rouge!” when the young writer Christian meets the bohemian performers in Paris. They were wild and weird, and they felt like my people. Granted, I didn’t start as a writer with Watermark, I was selling advertising space, but I knew that one way or another I was going to make it to the editorial side one day.
I started with Watermark in the spring, not too far from the start of June. It was the first time I went into LGBTQ Pride Month feeling like I had an overabundance of Pride. I worked my first Gay Days expo and attended my first pool party at the DoubleTree SeaWorld. I can only imagine what I looked like to everyone else there: wide-eyed with my head on a swivel and way too much energy. They must have thought I just stepped off the bus from Smallville and this was my first taste of city life.
The month was filled with events and parties and Pride celebrations, and it ended with the entire staff making their way to St. Petersburg and riding on a float in the St Pete Pride Parade. I had never been in a parade before and could not believe the love and support everyone had for the LGBTQ community. People were waving flags, blasting music and cheering so loudly that it felt like the earth was shaking. No one even seemed bothered when right in the middle of the parade, the sky opened up and rain poured down on us. We just kept on dancing and celebrating.
It was an amazing experience surrounded by some of the best people I have ever met. So as we welcome another LGBTQ Pride Month, even though at times it feels like there are more defeats than victories, remember to celebrate who you are and if you see a reluctant gayby on the sidelines, let them know it is OK to be their authentic self and to celebrate it. Happy Pride Month y’all!
In this issue, we look at where Pride Month started, which of our U.S. presidents have recognized it and how you can celebrate it in Central Florida and Tampa Bay this year.
We have included a schedule of events as well for Orlando’s big LGBTQ weekend at the start of June to help you stay organized as you take in a pool party or two.
In arts and entertainment, we have a collection of celebrity interviews with some LGBTQ icons — Sandra Bernhard and Margaret Cho. We also check in with Canadian singer Riotron.
In Central Florida, an openly gay firefighter is suing the City of Orlando for discrimination and harassment he received from the Orlando Fire Department. We also hear from one of the yearbook editors at Lyman High School in Seminole County after they successfully fought back against the superintendent who wanted to censor images of the LGBTQ Pride flag from their yearbook.
In Tampa Bay, state Rep. Michele Rayner suspends her Congressional campaign to re-run for the state House and Hillsborough County plans a “Love is Love” community wedding to kickoff Pride Month.
From all of us here at Watermark to each and every member of our community, we say Happy LGBTQ Pride Month and thank you for being you.
