It’s time for Orlando’s Come Out With Pride: an extravaganza that serves as a means to a very important end. Last year’s event was the biggest yet, attracting an estimated 45,000 revelers who enjoyed the vendor booths, the colorful parade, the food and drink, the inspirational rally, and the double-barreled entertainment featuring an original stage production and two world-renowned musical performers.
This year COWP promises to be even more fabulous, with parties and events spanning four days, all leading up to Sunday’s festivities. I serve on the Board of the Metropolitan Business Association, the organization of volunteers that produces this annual event, so I can say this with firsthand knowledge: These folks work their tails off, and they know how to throw a great party!
I want everybody to have a wonderful time at COWP… but here’s the kicker. It’s a great party, that’s for sure. But to me, and hopefully to you, it’s not only about the party. It’s about “The Cause.”
The Cause, of course, is the continuing battle to secure our civil rights as citizens of equal value and dignity as all other Americans. Yes, things have improved for our community, but we all know that we are not there yet. We are not equal, we do not have all of our most important civil rights, and we are not treated with dignity and respect by our government or by many of our fellow citizens. The battle is most decidedly not over, and The Cause cannot be forgotten.
This event was intentionally named “Come Out With Pride.” It reflects two separate but related directives: Come Out, and With Pride. The core purpose of COWP is to create an annual event that will motivate each of us to step out and step up; to come out of the closet and proudly demand our rights.
That was the message of Harvey Milk, the gay rights icon immortalized in last year’s Oscar-nominated Milk. He said, “I ask my gay sisters and brothers to make the commitment to fight… for themselves, for their freedom, for their country. We will not win our rights by staying quietly in our closets. We are coming out to fight the lies, the myths, the distortions. We are coming out to tell the truths about gays. I am tired of the conspiracy of silence, so I’m going to talk about it. And I want you to talk about it. You must come out.”
Last year the enduring memory from COWP was the sight of Orlando’s Mayor, several City Commissioners, the police chief and other dignitaries standing together on stage proclaiming their support for our equal rights. That was followed by an emotional tribute to Matthew Shepard featuring families of local hate crime victims.
This year that moment will come at the 5:30 rally at the Lake Eola Bandshell, where the featured speaker will be emerging gay rights activist Stuart Milk, who is Harvey Milk’s Fort Lauderdale-based gay nephew. On August 12th of this year, Stuart accepted the Presidential Medal of Freedom—our country’s highest civilian honor—on behalf of his Uncle Harvey. Stuart noted that he never told Harvey that he is gay. “It took his death for me to come out to everyone in my life,” he said at the White House. Hoping to inspire others to do what he did not, Stuart will no doubt urge all of us to commit to Harvey Milk’s vision and his call to us to come out, stand up and fight. We cannot wait until our heroes, or our friends or family members, die before we decide to take a stand.
The fact is that most of us still can’t marry, or even enter into civil unions or domestic partnerships. Many are not even protected from employment and other forms of discrimination. In Florida, we can’t adopt. We can’t openly serve our country in the military, and we can’t sponsor our foreign partners for U.S. citizenship. We are harassed and assaulted and murdered— all just because we are gay. Don’t ever forget that Harvey Milk was assassinated, that Matthew Shepard and Ryan Skipper were murdered, and that countless others have suffered and continue to suffer this fate, just for being who they are and living their lives honestly.
October 12—the day after this year’s COWP—marks the 11th anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death. It also marks the beginning of the murder trial of the second man accused of murdering Ryan Skipper.
I hope you party ‘til you drop at COWP, but I also hope that you will remember Harvey Milk and Matthew Shepard and Ryan Skipper. I urge you to use this event as a time to reflect and to rededicate yourself to the fight for our rights, and for our very lives. Remember The Cause.
