Pride Month Is for Everyone This Year!

By: Todd Delmay

Each year in June, Pride is celebrated as an anniversary to the seminal events of June, 1969 in New York City. It was that summer that the local LGBTQ+ community fought harassment and discrimination by sparking the Stonewall Riots in response to a raid of the Stonewall Inn. The protests that followed each night empowered a generation to see that if they were to be liberated and enjoy equality, they would not only have to stand up for themselves, but they needed allies too.

Now, at the federal, state and local levels, progress is made in policy and legislation as well as landmark cases in the Supreme Court. And countless Prides across the country and around the globe recognize the progress made and celebrate everyone that helped make it - including allies! So everyone needs to know that Pride includes them too, especially now.

Florida has become a testing ground for passing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that rallies a vocal minority to a dying view - point. Only 20% now oppose same-sex marriage, and 61% think we should be more tolerant of the LGBTQ+ community. How is it then that Florida passed a number of laws this year that threaten the progress made, and the very Pride events that celebrate it?

Florida has a checkered history when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community. In 1956 the Legislature’s Johns Committee outed employees of the Florida state government, and in 1977 Anita Bryant formed the “Save Our Children” campaign to among other things pass legislation preventing gay people from adopting. But with more allies than ever before we prevailed anyway, and overturned the adoption ban in 2010, and won marriage equality for Florida in 2015 before the Supreme Court made it legal nationwide. It isn’t surprising then that the reaction to progress has been trotting out old slurs and falsehood in hopes of scaring people back to their regressive opinions.

If you are an ally, you understand that we must all speak up when someone is unfairly attacked, otherwise next time it could be you. So I encourage you to find a Pride celebration somewhere this year, and in South Florida we’re fortunate to have Pride events all year. From My Hollywood Pride in January, to Stonewall Pride in June and others as late as November, there are any number of ways to make Pride your own.

Pride comes in many shapes and sizes, but if you think there isn’t a Pride for you because you aren’t LGBTQ+, then you’re missing the point. The rainbow flag is a perfect symbol for how everyone fits under its broad spectrum, and that only by seeing it all do you realize together we are the light that shines with human diversity. Happy Pride!

▸ Todd Delmay is a husband and dad, a businessman and entrepreneur, and an activist for civil rights. Todd and his husband were one of six plaintiff couples that sued for the right to marry in Florida, and were the first to marry when the judge lifted her stay in 2015. Besides 25 years in the travel and hospitality industry, Todd is also President of the Dolphin Democrats, Chair of My Hollywood Pride, President of the Hollywood LGBTQ+ Council, and serves on Hollywood’s Sustainability Advisory Committee. To join Todd and the LGBTQ+ Community in organizing, voter registration and turnout, email todd@lgbtqcouncil.com.