St. Pete kicks off Pride month with flag raising, community celebration

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - St. Pete kicked off Pride month Thursday morning with a community celebration outside City Hall.

This was the first year the annual flag raising and the Pride pop-up event were held on the same day.

Pride Month in St. Pete

"It's very special," Nathan Bruemmer, the LGBTQ Coordinator for the City of St. Pete, said. "I mean, we have birthed the largest pride celebration in the state of Florida, and honestly, it competes often with Atlanta Pride, so maybe, you know, it's definitely one of the biggest in the nation and one of biggest in the Southeast and also the largest in Florida."

"And the economic impact for that event and its growth over the last 24 years for the event alone brings in over $60 million, and the impact in community year-long, we can't even measure," he added.

What they're saying:

"Hate thrives when people are isolated, silenced, or made to feel invisible," City Council Chair Lisset Hanewicz said. "It requires us to understand the fights of others, especially in those fights are different from our own."

"It requires to remember that inclusion is not a weakness. It is a strength, our strength. And it requires us to proclaim that diversity is not a slogan. It is the lived reality of our community and the cornerstone of a democracy," she said.

"In St. Petersburg, we know that a city is strongest when every resident can participate fully, openly, and safely. This is what this flag represents," Hanewicz said.

"This is the place for everybody to be," State Representative Michele Rayner, said. "So, if you are the girls, the gays, the theys, the accomplices, this is your time. This is our moment, not just in pride, but throughout the year to show up, to show out, and to resist with joy, and to resist with pride."

"We've seen attempts to divide communities, attempts to erase people and history, attempts to make our neighbors feel unseen, unsafe, and unwelcome simply because of who they are," St. Pete Mayor Ken Welch said. "Those moments foster hate and division. They create uncertainty. They create fear, especially for young people who are still learning to embrace who they are and where they belong. But today here in St. Petersburg, that is not who we are. We send a different message. We send the message to our LGBTQ friends and family that you belong here."

The first 400 people on Thursday morning got a free, limited-edition St. Pete City Pride flag. St. Pete resident Jeff Oliver got in line more than an hour before the event. 

"What makes St. Pete so special is what they do for all diversities here in St. Petersburg," Oliver said.

What's next:

St. Pete has several Pride events throughout June, including the Pride parade the last Saturday of the month.