COMMUNITY SUPPORTER:
BARDHA & FREDDY MAMUDI
If you’ve eaten at the
Tampa Bay fan favorite
New York New York Pizza,
you have owners Bardha
and Freddy Mamudi
to thank. The couple’s
eatery has eight locations
in Tampa Bay, including
the Tampa International Airport, expanding
from the Ybor City location which first
opened in 2008.
They’ve flourished because of the
area’s LGBTQ community, they say. “We
were just passionate about making pizza,”
Bardha explains.
“GaYbor came in and supported us,” she
continues. “They took care of us and we
became a family.”
COMMUNITY
ORGANIZATION:
WATERMARK
Watermark
has advanced
LGBTQ interests
for 25 years,
printing up to
20,000 issues of
our newspaper
bi-weekly
and distributing them throughout Tampa,
St. Petersburg, Orlando and the state.
Watermark Publishing Group also
produces numerous annual specialty guides,
including this one, and has maintained
WatermarkOnline.com for more than 10
years. The newspaper proudly donates more
than $200,000 annually in free and sponsor
advertising to worthy local and national
LGBTQ nonprofits.
“We have been longtime supporters of
Tampa Pride and work hard to make sure
Tampa is represented as a thriving and
inclusive city,” owner, publisher and editor
Rick Claggett says. “It is humbling and
amazing to receive such an honor.”
COMMUNITY TRAILBLAZER:
ANGELIQUE “LADY
JANET” PADRO
Angelique Padro,
known to most as the fan
favorite entertainer Lady
Janet, has performed
throughout Tampa Bay
since 2009.
She says she hasn’t
stopped feeling the
support since then, particularly in 2014
when she completed her transition and later
enrolled in nursing school.
“I went on this journey because I wanted a
better quality of life, but most of all because
I wanted to inspire my other trans sisters,”
Padro says. “To let them know that we
are capable to fulfill any job in any industry.
Everything is possible with dedication
and hard work.”
Padro adds that she’ll always be thankful
for Tampa Bay’s LGBTQ community. “I am
who I am because of you,” she says.
COMMUNITY TRAILBLAZER:
JAY CHETNEY
As a veteran of the
Stonewall Riots, which
launched the modern
day LGBTQ civil rights
movement more than
50 years ago in New
York City, Jay Chetney
understands the
importance of community. He’s worked to
better it most of his life.
He’s returning the favor. Chetney, a
trained pacifist, says other members of the
community saved him after he was injured
during the 1969 uprising.
“I was rescued,” he recalls. “Stonewall
finally became that galvanizing moment
in history when we started having public
discussions about our equality.”
He returned to New York frequently
afterwards, adopted his dear friend
Frank Kameny’s chant of the first Pride
parade in 1970.
It’s a mantra he carries with him still: “Say it
clear, say it loud—gay is good, gay is proud!”
| | Grand Marshals FROM PG.23
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/WatermarkOnline.com