5.22.14 Editor’s Desk

Sitting in the Mayor’s Office on the second floor of St. Petersburg City Hall felt like a homecoming of sorts. Over the past seven or so years, I have consistently asked the Mayor of St. Petersburg to chat with me about the LGBT community and the festivities surrounding and including the annual St. Pete Pride parade and street festival.

Each time I received either no response at all, or a polite “not interested” message from a City Hall staffer that worked directly with the mayor.

Translation: The mayor’s office wanted me to bug off.

For more than a decade, it’s felt like the LGBT community of St. Petersburg was akin to an unwanted step child that was simply tolerated but never embraced by a disconnected father figure.

When St. Pete Pride and Rick Baker met, the elected patron of St. Petersburg who was at the helm during the organization’s birth refused to acknowledge the organization’s existence. By extension, he decidedly refused to acknowledge the LGBT community. Even as the celebration grew to 80,000-plus attendees, Baker turned his gaze away from the financial benefits and impact on his city hosting the largest Pride event in the Southeast and let the “other leaders” of the city sign proclamations and attend the celebration.

It was so bad under Baker that when his predecessor, Mayor Bill Foster, simply acknowledged Pride’s existence, we basked in what felt like a long-awaited warm embrace from City Hall.

Sure, the one-term mayor told us outright that he didn’t approve of the parade and that he would never participate in it. But at least he showed up at Pride-affiliated events like the Stonewall Reception. He even spoke at an Equality Florida gala held at the Dali Museum and preached about the importance of diversity.

In the months leading up to the 2013 celebration, the then-mayor didn’t want to sign a simple proclamation declaring June St. Pete Pride month. It was at the urging—okay, constant bugging—by local activists and one grand marshal in particular who finally got him to sign something welcoming people to St. Pete Pride. And that proclamation avoided directly mentioning the LGBT community—much like his speeches on “diversity” managed to do.

But it was a first, and it felt great.

This year, however, it’s a whole new ball game. Sitting in Mayor Rick Kriseman’s office, looking at his collection of awards from Equality Florida, Watermark, The Tampa Bay Business Guild and The Gazette, I was able to ask him about his participation in this year’s Pride festivities and share directly in his excitement about Pride month.

As St. Pete Pride continues to grow in its 12th year—remember, it’s now a weekend-long event with a concert on Friday, a night parade on Saturday and a street festival on Sunday—it’s about time that it gets the respect it deserves from the leader of the city.

Not only will Kriseman walk in the parade—something he’s done numerous times as a councilman, a state representative and as a mayoral candidate—he said he will encourage city employees to walk as well. So don’t be surprised if uniformed policemen, firemen and more are part of his entourage the evening of June 28, the date of the parade.

He also hints at some other momentous actions coming out of City Hall next month, such as plans to sign the Mayors for Freedom to Marry petition and other “colorful” expressions of Pride to pop up throughout the month.

If I sound giddy, I apologize. But this is a big deal.

Not only did the mayor seem excited about St. Pete Pride this year, he was more than willing to share stories about his introduction to the LGBT community and the motivation behind support. (His sister is a lesbian, and his best man was a gay man.)

St. Pete Pride has always been a monumental achievement. Conservative Florida has come a long way in a dozen years, and so has the city the festival calls home.

But finally, in 2014, a welcome mat has been put out for LGBT residents of the city, and the state. And that it’s in front of City Hall is simply amazing.