Venice’s LGBTQ community and its allies will celebrate diversity and visibility during the inaugural Venice Pride Nov. 3.
The celebration will be held on the five-acre campus of SunCoast Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), described as a safe spiritual home for the LGBTQ community and its allies, from 1-5 p.m.
“Our theme is ‘We Are Here,’” Senior Co-Pastor and one of the celebration’s organizers Rev. Vickie Miller says, “mostly to make a statement that the LGBTQ community and our allies are present in Venice. We want our voices to be a part of the community; we want to be unified and work together on issues that impact us.”
The festivities begin at 1:30 p.m. with a ribbon cutting ceremony and continue with entertainment and a pet blessing. “We know that many of us are pet lovers,” Miller says, “so we thought it’d be a great way for people to come out and celebrate all of creation together. We’ll have a pet pride parade in addition to that.” The gathering will also feature nearly 50 vendors.
“The message we really want to share is that when we are connected as a community, then we can impact our community for the better,” Miller says. “That’s our main purpose at this point: to connect and unify us.”
For more information about the inaugural Venice Pride, visit Facebook.com/VeniceFLPride or VeniceFLPride.com.
