This time around nothing rained on Orlando’s gay Pride celebration. The vendor festival around Lake Eola went off without a hitch. The GLBT History Museum mobile exhibit showcased its new display about Iranian gay activist and poet Saviz Shafaie. The UCF student-produced play Break Through: Bringing Down the Barriers performed at 2 p.m. Two hours later, the parade with its grand marshal, LOGO star Jonathan Lovitz, began to make its rounds through the streets of Downtown Orlando.
According to Orlando Police, an estimated 85,000 people showed up at Orlando’s Pride 2.0 celebration on Nov. 13. Attendance numbers were 20,000 less than expected, but COWP’s profits still managed to break even in spite a whopping $15,000 debt incurred from postponing the event.Audebert attributes the lower-than-anticipated attendance numbers both to having to reschedule the event and moving the event from a Saturday back to a Sunday, as in previous years.
2011 was supposed to be the first year that Orlando Pride took place on a Saturday to encourage visitors to make Come Out With Pride a four-day weekend celebration. Audebert and his team had no choice but to move the rescheduled event back to Sunday because a Saturday date was not available in November.
COWP 2011 drew 10,000 more people than in 2010 and the organization is “back in the black” thanks to the Orlando LGBT community’s tireless fundraising over the past month.
COWP did not reach its goal of netting a $15,000 profit, but Audebert said he knew that was not possible going in. He and his team were most concerned with getting out of the red and putting on a flawless event the second time around.
Parade grand marshall Jonathan Lovitz also spoke at the event, praising the organizers and the LGBT community in Orlando for maintaining their energy and making it possible to celebrate Pride six weeks after the Oct. 8 rain out. Other Pride speakers included activist Mary Meeks and City Commissioner Patty Sheehan.
Meeks addressed Orlando’s proposed domestic partnership registry. Sheehan reflected on the positive changes that have taken place in Orlando since her historic election as the first, openly gay city commissioner 11 years ago. She also later told Audebert that she was amazed at how seniors from a downtown retirement community came out to watch the parade. Sheehan said that not only did they participate in the parade, but they also stuck around for the fireworks. In all of her years of living in Orlando, she said she had never seen that happen before.
As Audebert ran the event from behind the scenes, he said he felt a new kind of celebration in the air. People stuck around longer than they have in the past. He also noticed the diversity of the crowd.
“In previous years, we have always seen a lot of gay males,” he said. “Here you could see a diversity of teenagers, seniors, men, women, straight, gay, and so on. I've never seen that before. It was a great energy.”
He also noted that approximately 25-30% of the event’s attendees were straight allies.
Out and proud gay parents participated in the parade for the first time since the end of Florida’s gay adoption ban last year. A baby zebra named Keena greeted visitors at the Zebra Coalition booth raising awareness about LGBTQ youth issues. The full day of festivities climaxed with the Lake Eola fountain illuminated by rainbow lights and an unforgettable fireworks spectacular over the lake.
Pride 2.0 had a few bittersweet moments. Mr. Sisters’ staff mourned the gay bar’s abrupt closure announced just that morning through an email from management. Laid off staff somberly marched in the parade in solidarity fronting an impromptu facade of black masks.
Audebert said that the closing of Mr. Sisters also reminded him of the importance of supporting one another and serving our own community.
“The week after Pride, I sent out a message encouraging people to hire the staff who lost their jobs from Mr. Sisters. Three people have already been hired,” he said.
When Audebert and the COWP team made the decision to cancel Pride 1.0 due to safety concerns over the bad weather, they faced a seemingly impossible series of obstacles to overcome.
They had to communicate to thousands of anticipated visitors that Pride 1.0 was canceled, and, in the pouring rain, break down the event that they had just spent hours setting up. The event staff divided and conquered with MBA president Gina Duncan leading a phone bank in the MBA office that got the word out to the media and the public while Audebert led a second team to tear down and pack up all of the event equipment.
Next, the COWP and the MBA had to quickly identify another date with Orange County Parks and Recreation to reschedule Pride. Audebert also hammered out a budget to pay for the duplicate expenses from essentially putting on two Pride events back-to-back. Organizers only had a little more than 30 days to make this all happen, once their target date of Nov. 13 was confirmed.
“There should be huge accolades to Mikael. He absolutely eats, lives and breathes this event. He frets over every little detail," said MBA president Gina Duncan. “His efforts to making this happen are so appreciated.”
Duncan said going into Pride, the event was financially further ahead than it had ever been. She credits this as one of the factors that helped the COWP operation land on its feet. Audebert pointed out that last year’s Pride event lost money, without the challenges of a weather postponement.
Another saving grace for Pride, said Duncan, were the businesses and community members who rallied to raise funds to pay COWP’s $15,000 plus debt. Duncan saw COWP’s financial crisis as an opportunity to test Orlando’s commitment to Pride and the local LGBT community. She said it was a chance for the community to prove that they “truly talk the talk and walk the walk”.
In addition to the fundraising efforts of local businesses in Thornton Park and the surrounding community, The Walt Disney Company, Darden Restaurants, Universal Studios Orlando, Wells Fargo, Sun Trust, and Chase were among some of the event’s biggest supporters. Disney provided equipment and production support for the main stage and the parade. ADT Security Systems was the largest financial donor, followed by Coors Light.
Though many companies from Orlando’s tourism business were sponsors or participated in Pride, Audebert said he was disappointed not to see Sea World Orlando, Busch Gardens Tampa or Rosen Hotels participate. He said he hopes that will change next year.
Duncan said Pride is now back on track financially and the MBA is able to resume their community grant and scholarship programs that were on hold due to the unexpected postponement costs.
“There were two weeks where we had a fundraising event every night,” said Duncan. “Everybody truly came together. It shows that Pride means something. It makes Orlando a better place to live. This has been the best yet.”
Echoing Duncan’s sentiment, Mayor Buddy Dyer, said, “One of the reasons I love Orlando is that we celebrate the diversity of the people who live here.”
Dyer was the first Orlando mayor to ride in the city’s pride parade.
To Dyer, this also shows in the city government’s push to establish a domestic partner registry.
“To be a proudly diverse city, you have to be pro-active,” he said. “Orlando was the first city in Central Florida to provide domestic partner benefits to city employees, and we’ll be the first to offer a Domestic Partner Registry to residents.”
Even with such change, the annual Pride event is a reminder that there is still work to be done. The week Pride took place Florida House Representative Scott Randolph announced he was introducing legislation to the Florida House of Representatives to make fair employment the rule throughout the state.
“I’ve filed a bill called the Competitive Workforce Act. It if passes, we will no longer let the fear of discrimination prevent anyone from bringing their business, their family, their talent and their money to our state, ” said Randolph.
Audebert, Duncan and the rest of the COWP team are already getting ready for next year’s Pride slated for Saturday, Oct. 6, 2012. They are also running a “Pride for Tots” toy drive with the local LGBT community to provide toys to local shelters this holiday season.
The COWP team is working on developing a contingency fund to self-insure Pride, in case of another rain out in the future. Audebert said that COWP has event insurance, but it does not cover weather.
“There is weather insurance but the premium is not worth the cost and does not account for any loss of sales,” said Audebert.
He said the event went “fantastically” well.
“I keep hearing people say it was the best one yet, it was flawless, it was tasteful and family-friendly,” Audebert said. “Commissioner Sheehan said her phone has been ringing off the hook all week with compliments.”
Most of all, Audebert prides himself on the fact that Pride 2.0 was testimony to the hard work of his entire team who came back after Oct. 8 and said “We’re not done yet.”
