South Florida Sun Sentinel
May 10, 2021 3:44 PM
Usually held in June to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, a pivotal moment in gay and lesbian history, organizations here eventually pooled their resources and managed to pull off a virtual livestream version in May.
But the inaugural ambitious Pride of the Americas festival, which was expected to draw hundreds of thousands of LGBTQ+ people from 35 countries in the Caribbean as well as the South and North Americas, was nixed entirely a mere six weeks before it was to take place at various venues throughout Broward County after years of planning.
That was then, this is now.
This year as SoFlo is starting to get its resorty vibe back, groups such as Pride Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach Pride and Miami Beach Pride all plan to stage Pride-related events, even if some of the details have not been nailed down yet.
And it remains to be seen how many COVID-19 safety protocols will be enforced, though most of the organizations say they will uphold mandatory mask-wearing, and social distancing, and will provide hand sanitizer stations.
Keep coming back to this post as we will update with information as it comes in.
The 41st annual LGBT celebration Pride Fort Lauderdale brought thousands of people to the Fort Lauderdale Beach Park on Sunday, Feb. 11, 2018.
The greater Fort Lauderdale-based Pride group is planning a Floatarama June 12-13.
- The flotilla of decorated boats on the New River will take place Saturday, June 12, starting at the Historic Stranahan House Museum (335 SE Sixth Ave., Fort Lauderdale) and ending with a raft-up party in Sunrise Bay (near the Coral Ridge Yacht Club). If you don’t have a boat, you can enjoy the event with the Water Taxi Flotilla Experience. To register a boat, go to PrideFL.ee4.us/parades.
Men on their bikes are pictured at the Palm Beach Pride Parade in downtown Lake Worth on Sunday March 31, 2019. (Jennifer Lett / Sun Sentinel)
Compass Community Center — which is the Lake Worth-based LGBTQ+ organization for all of Palm Beach County — plans on staging an open-air market from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. on June 5. Compass traditionally has Pride celebrations in March, but this year decided to err toward caution and produce an event that would allow for plenty of social distancing.
- The Palm Beach Pride Market will have vendors for produce, prepared foods, plants and flowers, handicrafts and fine art.
- In addition to a DJ, there will be onstage appearances by female impersonators Melissa St. John, RaeJean Cox, Velvet Lenore and Rianna Petrone.
- Mask-wearing is mandatory and there will be hand sanitizer stations. Admission is free. The market will be at Bryant Park, South Lakeside Drive and Fourth Avenue South in Lake Worth.
Stonewall National Museum & Archives
The Stonewall Museum will be hosting its first in-person reception since the COVID-19 pandemic started. The event for the “Don’t Ask, Do Tell” exhibit — which examines the LGBTQ+ community’s reaction to the 1993 directive about their service in the armed forces — will be Friday, May 21 from 6:30-8 p.m. The event is free, but you must register on Eventbrite.com. The exhibit will be up from May 7-July 16.
- There will also be an exhibit titled “MIS-Information,” which is about all the inaccuracies around the HIV-AIDS crisis in its early days at the dawn of the 1980s. The exhibit is up May 7-July 16.
Though they don’t have specific dates for everything locked down yet, Miami Beach Pride will take place Sept. 10-19. What we do know is that there are plans for:
- A Women’s Pool Party at the Kimpton Palomar South Beach hotel with poolside cocktails, bar bites and music on the two-tiered rooftop pool deck.
- Miami Beach Pride Bar Crawl including Nathan’s Bar, Twist, Hotel Gaythering and the Palace Bar & Restaurant.
- There will be a festival and parade Sept. 18-19.
Members of the Gold Coat Derby Grrls roller derby team perform in the Miami Beach Gay Pride Parade, Sunday (Joe Cavaretta, Sun Sentinel)
Appolonia Cruz of New York rides on the Borinquen Medical Centers float in the Miami Beach Gay Pride Parade, Sunday (Joe Cavaretta, Sun Sentinel)
