Out & Proud
Sarasota celebrates the
LGBTQ community year-round
RYAN WILLIAMS-JENT
From Stonewall on, LGBTQ activists and
allies have honored our community’s
collective history with Pride celebrations
as diverse as we are nationwide. We remember our
triumphs and tragedies; the good, the bad and the
fabulous, and vow to continue our fi ght for equality.
Sarasota’s no exception. Year-round, community leaders and members gather
to offer the city’s LGBTQ citizens and visitors a safe place to laugh and love—
offering a wide variety of festivities celebrating our shared LGBTQ experience.
For many celebrants in Sarasota, that begins in March with Manatee Pride.
» MANATEE PRIDE
Manatee Pride is a program of Prism Youth Initiative, Inc., the
area non-profit dedicated to empowering LGBTQ youth. An
all-volunteer effort aimed at uplifting LGBTQ people who live,
love and visit Bradenton and its nearby communities, Manatee Pride exists
to educate, commemorate, celebrate, liberate and empower the LGBTQ
community.
The event celebrated its fifth year at the Bradenton Riverwalk Pavilion
in March 2018. “It’s incredible to be in our fifth year, we are just so happy
to be able to do this,” Prism Youth Initiative board president and Manatee
Pride committee chair Valerie Fisher shared with Watermark. “We’re so happy
that we’re apparently well-received by not only the LGBTQ community, but our
straight allies and just the community in general.”
The family-friendly event featured a plethora of entertainment and vendors.
Manatee County’s craft brewer Darwin Brewing Co. even concocted a Manatee
Pride beer for the celebration, something Fisher advised was indicative of the
loving support Manatee Pride receives from the community at large each year.
“It’s a very happy and fun event,” Fisher describes the celebration. “I think
that is the sense that people get. It’s joyful … People just come and have a
great time.”
Learn more about Manatee Pride’s next offering by visiting
watermarkonline.com and manateepride.com.
» HARVEY MILK FESTIVAL
The Harvey Milk Festival will
celebrate a decade in Sarasota
May 4-11, 2019; 10 full years of
honoring the life and legacy of openly
gay activist and politician Harvey Milk.
“We exist to honor Harvey. It’s
really a community event,” founder
and Harvey Milk Festival President
Shannon Fortner says. “It really carries
itself in and of itself; a lot of people in
our community are supportive and feel
a connection to it.”
The annual celebration features a
variety of attractions, including live
music, film, performance art, speakers
and vendors. The nonprofit seeks to
foster emerging talent in artists who
reject discrimination, while promoting
equality for the LGBTQ community by
supporting equal rights legislation—a
perfect fit for Sarasota. “We’ve always
had such great support from the city,”
Fortner says.
Fortner says the festival’s ninth
year had a strong team and a successful
outing, something she looks forward
to for its 10th. She says the festival is
dreaming big to accomplish its mission,
adding more variety this year with
events like a 5K.
“We’re excited to offer something
new for the community,” she says. “It’s
one more way for even more people to
get involved. We dream big and have a
lot that we want to see happen.
“Everyone coming together for
the community is so important,”
Fortner continues. “We have a very
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/watermarkonline.com
/manateepride.com