GRAND MARSHAL:
JA’STARIA INFINITI
“Battle of the
Houses
2.0” helped
fundraise for the fifth
annual Tampa Pride
in true and fabulous
fashion. The all-star
talent competition was held at Honey Pot
in January, pitting the Houses of Infiniti,
Bone and Panic against one another for
the benefit of organization.
“All proceeds go to the Tampa Pride
committee,” entertainer and co-organizer
Power Infiniti shared, “and back into
making this year’s Milestone pride event
bigger and better than ever before!”
The competition’s winner, with the
highest score of its 12 contestants, would
serve as grand marshal during Tampa
Pride 2019. That winner was Ja’Staria
Infiniti, representing the House of Infiniti. “A
whole new world of zing was added to our
events this year,” Tampa Pride President
Carrie West says.
OUTSTANDING COMMUNITY
ORGANIZATION:
TAMPA BAY PRIDE BAND
The Tampa Bay Pride Band was
founded one month before the
inaugural Tampa Pride. “It was five
years ago that Tampa Pride started and
sparked our existence,” Tampa Bay Pride
Band Board President Daniel Stevens says.
“There was a call to action because we thought
there should be an LGBTQ band at the event.”
“A thought and idea spurned into the
brains of a small group who are always kids
at heart formed one of Tampa Bay’s great
music makers,” Tampa Pride President
Carrie West adds.
Along with the Tampa Bay Symphonic
Winds, they now boast 60 members and
are an all-inclusive marching and concert
band. “We are one amazing group standing
and working together to be the sound of
diversity and a beacon to the community,”
Stevens says. “It is an amazing honor to be
recognized this year.”
LGBTA COMMUNITY
SUPPORTER: PAT FRANK
“We honor
this
year the
Hillsborough County
Clerk of Courts Pat
Frank for her tenacity
and service as a civil
servant and public official over the years,”
Tampa Pride President Carrie West says.
Frank “has been a trailblazer her
entire life and has had a distinguished
career in public and elective office,” the
county advises. As the recipient of 50
humanitarian, leadership and service
awards, Frank was the first woman named
“Most Effective First-Term Member” in the
Florida House.
It’s within her time in the Florida
legislature that Frank advocated for all
minorities. In the late 70s, she was one of
only a few legislators to vote against a ban
on gay adoption. Decades later in 2015, as
Clerk of Courts, she proudly performed
en masse the county’s first marriage
ceremonies for same-sex couples. “This is
a day that I will never forget,” she shared,
“not only because of it being historic in
nature, but because of the overall feeling
of happiness that was shared by the
couples, their families and their friends.
It was a moving experience and I am
honored to have played a role in it.”
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