Throughout Pride weekend there was no hate, no contempt, no sadness, and no negative energy.
On a hot Orlando day, the city transformed into a rainbow wrapped love-fest that is Pride. Thousands lined the streets and Eola Park for food, fun, and entertainment.
Everywhere you turned was some semblance of pride.
Whether it be the dogs in rainbow flag bandanas, rainbow flags gracing the gardens of house after house, or the local restaurants having their staff wear the rainbow themed wrist
bands, shirts or stickers while waiting on their proud patrons it was easy to feel the love all around.
At about 4 o’ clock everyone lined the streets for the historic Orlando Pride parade that was filled with vendors, businesses, and venues that make Orlando so great.
One of the incredible instances during the parade was when I was walking down one of the blocked off streets and saw a group of rainbow flag bearing kids from ages 5-10.
They were elated and overjoyed to be waiting for their favorite float and showing people their own pride. I asked one young girl if I could take her picture and she immediately jabbed
her pride flag upwards towards the sky and smiled as big as she could.
Our future, if we leave it in the hands of these beautiful children will be a happier, more welcoming and accepting world.
Pride has always been a weekend, where our LGBTQ+ community has come together to enjoy a number of fun events.
This year at Orlando Pride the headliner of Saturday night’s main stage was international superstar Pabllo Vittar.
She did not disappoint, with her hard-hitting beats, her neon-soaked stage, her high energy dancing, and incredible voice it was hard to take your eyes off of her.
Her set lasted the better part of an hour, and all of us were looking to get a few more songs out of her.
On the other end of Eola Park the incredible Jennifer Holliday took the stage to wow us with her vocals and stage presence.
In its entirety the entertainment for Orlando Pride was incredible.
The crew at Come Out With Pride Orlando definitely had their hand on the pulse of what’s new, now, and next in the LGBTQ+ community.
As the day turned to night, it was no surprise that the phenomenon known as Girl The Party took Orlando over, as they routinely do every Saturday at Southern Nights Orlando.
Girl The Party the queer party put on by queer women, for queer women, (and welcoming to all parts of our LGBTQ+ community) welcomed hundreds more patrons celebrating pride
in style. The main event of the evening, as it always is, was the ever-captivating Les Vixens Burlesque crew who tore the roof off the place all night long.
Their hours of gogo dancing and head turning performances had all of us picking our jaws up off of the floor.
As usual, the crowd of nearly 1000 patrons that night had to be asked to leave, because if we had a choice the party would have gone on all night. But alas, as we left Southern
Nights Orlando, one theme remained; Pride.
Throughout Pride weekend there was no hate, no contempt, no sadness, and no negative energy.
It was all love. In the city beautiful, with not a cloud in the sky we all took part in something our community needed-a safe place to land, be free, and be unabashedly ourselves.