St. Pete Pride announced this week that the organization’s Executive Director, Eric Skains, has resigned to “pursue new opportunities.”
In a press release, Skains said that his five years with the organization“have been extremely fulfilling and always challenging,” noting that “retooling and strengthening [the] organization tested [him] in ways [he] never expected.”
Watch out, J.Lo: Tampa Bay has a Jennifer of its own, and she knows a thing or two about being “Real.”
Jennifer Real’s commitment to her craft has ensured that her career has flourished in the St. Petersburg community. The sultry singer won last year’s “Favorite Local Performer – Musician” WAVE Award and performs regularly throughout Tampa Bay, including last year’s WAVE Award celebration and (you may have heard of it), St. Pete Pride.
For more than two decades, LGBTQs in Central Florida have enjoyed friendship and sportsmanship on the softball field. The area’s two largest leagues are celebrating milestones this fall season.
The Suncoast Softball League in Tampa celebrates its 25th anniversary this year and the Central Florida Softball League will mark its 20th year when the first pitches are thrown out this fall. Besides their incredible growth over the years, both leagues have plenty of reasons to celebrate their respective milestone anniversaries in 2017.
Tampa-born Aaron Carter crooned, crushed and cried from the stage last night at Hamburger Mary’s in Brandon—and hey, there’s video!
Ever the social media aficionado, Carter had previously announced his first performance since his heartfelt coming out on Twitter via Facebook. “Looking forward to seeing all my fans in my hometown of Tampa Bay Aug. 10 at Hamburger Mary’s Brandon,” Carter had written, calling his upcoming performance an “intimate evening and pop up acoustic showcase.”
It wasn’t love at first sight for Ryan and Wade, but four years later, they walked down the aisle together.
When Ryan, a Cincinnati native, first met Wade from Port Charlotte, sparks didn’t fly immediately. They were in the same friend group for about a year and a half before dating, but were never involved romantically.
ST. PETERSBURG |Who run the world? Youth.
On August 5, Metro Wellness & Community Centers’ summer camp program for youth presented“Take the Stage!” – its second annual talent show featuring LGBTQ+ youth. The show gave its audience the chance to witness the many talents of Tampa Bay’s young LGBTQ+ community, with participants from middle school and up.
ST. PETERSBURG | Following a tragic motorcycle accident that cost Enigma bartender Ryan Stroehlein his life on July 11, the St. Petersburg LGBTQ community came together to honor his memory and raise funds for his surviving passenger.
On July 27, the Enigma family hosted its “Celebration of Life for Ryan Stroehlein,” which included a video tribute of the late bartender, a breathtaking floral arrangement in his honor and most dearly, words of remembrance, love and support from and for Stroehlein’s friends and family.
In the middle of the night on June 12, 2016, documentarian and filmmaker Sandi Hulon was doing the same thing as many of us throughout Orlando, Tampa Bay and across the world: sitting with eyes glued to the TV in horror as we watched the outside of Pulse nightclub covered in blinking blue and red lights from emergency vehicles on the national news.
There was a shooting. By the morning we would know that 49 were killed and 53 injured in the nation’s worst mass shooting in modern times. But in those early hours, waiting to find out what happened, we got the identity of the first confirmed victim. He was a 34-year-old male from Sarasota. His name was Eddie Sotomayor.
The idiom “love is love” became a rallying cry throughout the LGBTQ community since the Supreme Court made same-sex marriage legal in 2015. But for these four gay and lesbian chefs in Orlando, Tampa and St. Petersburg, food is love.
Most of them grew up cooking at the feet of their families. Jeannie Pierola, chef and owner of the Edison Food + Drink Lab in Tampa, learned from her Spanish and Cuban grandmothers. Top Chef Seattle alum and executive chef at St. Pete boîtes BellaBrava and Stillwaters Tavern, Jeffrey Jew, learned from his father and half-Chinese grandfather.
What’s black and white and was the talk of Tampa on July 28? The answer is Balance Tampa Bay’s Third Annual Masquerade Ball at The RITZ Ybor.
Tampa Bay came out— dressed to the nines— to dance, mingle and to eat cake. Global superstar DJ Toy Armanda, all the way from the Philippines, kept the music pumping and the dance floor filled with masked strangers.
ST. PETERSBURG | When news broke that Ryan Stroehlein had tragically lost his life in a motorcycle accident July 11, shockwaves were felt throughout St. Petersburg’s LGBTQ community.
Some knew him well, and others just as a community ally with an infectious smile and uplifting demeanor; a young man standing behind the bar at local hotspot Enigma. But all agreed that he would be missed.
TAMPA | Balance Tampa Bay is back, masks on and ready, for the Third Annual Masquerade Ball coming to the Ritz Ybor July 29.
Balance Tampa Bay’s first two Masquerade Balls —2015’s inaugural party that had hundreds of paper faces on parade and last year’s Summer Olympics-inspired Rio-themed bash— were some of the biggest celebrations in Tampa Bay, and there is no reason to think that this year will be any different.
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Why anyone wants to serve in the military is beyond me. Let the straights go get killed.We gay folks have... Aug 09, 4:47 PM
That's not who he was aiming for and he never meant to hurt anybody? Was he still 15-20 beers deep... Aug 09, 4:07 PM
Support and love her, bisexual and LGBT , they are normal huamn beings, why not have the same rights with... Aug 08, 4:04 AM
Think about it: No obituary, no funeral announcement, and everything is "confidential". Hmm.... Billy is still alive. At least in... Jul 29, 5:23 PMI like to think that Billy hasn't actually died. He left Watermark, and then couldn't figure out what was next.... Jul 29, 5:22 PM
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