Given time all things change. So do most people. In the last couple of years, especially in Orlando the strides made by the LGBT community have been more than impressive. On a national scale the Supreme Court has partially made same sex marriages legal, but only in those states that vote for it. New Jersey is the most recent state to fall into line, however Governor Christie has vowed to fight the federal court ruling, hopefully to no avail. Progress is being made, in increments, and will continue to be made however slowly. It hurts that the change is so slow, but let’s face it, there are still a lot of people who resist these changes and that does impede progress, yet there is real hope.
As recently as a decade ago you could only find a handful of people who openly said they were other than straight. Today that’s not the case. The LGBT revolution has hit the entertainment industry like gangbusters with hit shows like “Glee” and most of what is being seen on Bravo and straight audiences don’t seem to care, in fact they seem to love it. If you’re old enough to remember “Boys in the Band” you understand what I mean.
In politics, LGBT issues are frequently discussed on network news and opinion shows. Here in Orange County we have Orlando Commissioner Patty Sheehan and State Rep. Joe Saunders, both of whom were elected by sizeable margins. The tide is turning from the days 100 years ago that put Oscar Wilde in Jail or 60 years ago during the Red Scare that put the entire artistic community at risk as well as several governmental employees who worked in sensitive areas, or 50 years ago when Bayard Rustin had to take a back seat in the honors for the March on Washington. Since the Stonewall Riots of 1969 and the emergence of Harvey Milk as an inspiration to everyone there has been marked progress and each year the LGBT community in Orlando and surrounding areas celebrates that progress. All of these celebrations have been special and 2013 was no exception.
Come Out With Pride was a weeklong celebration with events galore starting on October 1 with Director/Producer John Waters doing his standup act at the Abbey, and culminating with loads of events on the weekend including a spectacular Saturday afternoon with a parade around Lake Eola. I’m sorry I missed Waters whom I met in Baltimore about ten years ago when my son-in-law worked as his production secretary on A Dirty Shame starring Tracey Ullman. I’ve always loved his stuff. Official estimates of the crowd varied from 110,000 to 120,000 people, up considerably from previous years and you could feel the positive energy flowing. It was almost impossible to navigate the narrow pathways around the lake, yet everyone had huge smiles on their faces. The best part of the crowd was the younger under thirty set, dressed as outrageously as could be with body art and makeup all over them. It was impossible to tell who was straight and who wasn’t and nobody cared; everyone was having a great time celebrating. The usual food, tee shirt, jewelry and other merchants were having a field day. The costumes, bizarre as they could be were nowhere near as scary as some events I’ve been to where clueless middle aged overweight white guys dressed in colonial military attire dangled teabags from their hats. Someone ought to tell those history challenged types that the modern day mass production teabag wasn’t developed until 1944 during WWII, however this post is about diversity, not narrow-mindedness. This celebration is definitely about diversity, and this crowd was a pleasantly diverse as it can get.
The parade around the lake started at 4:00 PM on Robinson Street and lasted a little over an hour ending up back where it started. Several major corporations not only sponsored the events, but also had floats and marchers in the parade, including Wells Fargo, Disney, Macy’s and many others. Here are the videos of the event from start to finish and you can tell by the cheers from the crowd how much fun everyone was having.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR24iMA4dLg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utIrEjxPyC4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dl74Z6uzX4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fSRHGrysZY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1QwOAVrVb4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jA9nscXi24
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81PbHjsvHdI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7nBVt_2gWg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP6BVcsi4p8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrPyONczzAo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6PYiM94JKs
