Still Serving

GaYbor renews focus in 15th year

Ryan Williams-Jent

TAMPA | The GaYbor District Coalition is celebrating its 15th year with a renewed focus for serving the LGBTQ community in Historic Ybor City.

The 501(c)(6) organization formed in July 2007 to support LGBTQ and ally businesses, property owners and residents in the popular “gayborhood.” The coalition had nearly 100 members by the following year.

Walter Giovanni, GaYbor’s current president, was an early supporter. A banker by trade, he opened the coalition’s first bank account.

“I was a banker in Ybor City and the secret to my banking career success was the LGBTQ community,” he says. “Everyone loves banking with their own.”

Giovanni also regularly attended GaYbor events. Within a few years, he succeeded its original treasurer. It was during his original tenure that GaYbor helped form the current iteration of Tampa Pride, which celebrated its ninth year in Ybor March 25. While the board was instrumental in its creation, however, he notes that the two organizations have always been separate entities.

“Tampa Pride is a one-day event and GaYbor is 365 days,” Giovanni explains, though the two remain supportive of one another. GaYbor participated in Tampa Pride 2023 and in 2019, it was Carrie West — co-founder and current Tampa Pride president — who urged GaYbor’s leadership to save the organization from losing its tax status.

Giovanni wasn’t serving on the board at the time and “GaYbor had gone quiet,” he says. “No filings were being done and people were asking what was happening.

“Carrie called me, [Treasurer] Michael Wilson and [Vice President] Cee Van Os to say GaYbor needed to be vital and in the community,” he continues. “So we got together to revitalize it.”

GaYbor was reinstated in April 2019, financially backed by LGBTQ businesses like Bradley’s on 7th, City Side Lounge and The Honey Pot, now closed. Giovanni was unanimously elected president.

“Then the pandemic happened,” he says. “We held a few events and got a decent team, but there wasn’t

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much we could do and we fell back down again.”

Despite the setbacks, GaYbor has emerged with eight board members.

Rounding out the list are Secretary Cristina Gilson, Frankie Cerna who oversees events and Christopher Knolton, Dax Colton Schlechty and Luke Anthony.

“GaYbor is more than a namesake, it’s an organization promoting the safe space the LGBTQ community in Historic Ybor,” Giovanni says.

It’s one of the reasons the board unveiled its new branding March 1.

The design features a light post and each color found in the traditional Pride flag. It notes that the GaYbor District is “where our brick roads lead to a rainbow.”

GaYbor is currently laying the foundation for its future. The board is focused on building its membership and advocating for the 11 members currently in its coalition, in addition to the community at large.

“GaYbor, we’re here to support everybody,” its president promises. “Especially in the current state that Florida is in. It’s very hard to be LGBTQ in the state of Florida right now, so now more than ever we need to band together.”

For more information about GaYbor, visit Facebook.com/GaYborDistrictCoalition or email GaYborInfo@gmail.com.