Thousands attend Wilton Manors Pride parade, festival
Thousands turned out for the annual Stonewall Pride Parade and Street Festival that took place on Saturday in Wilton Manors, Fla.
The event took place against the backdrop of anti-LGBTQ and anti-drag queen laws that Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed in recent months.
The Republican presidential candidate on May 17 — the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia — signed bills that ban gender-affirming health care for minors, restrict pronoun usage in schools and require public buildings and other facilities’ restrooms and locker rooms to have “separate facilities for men and women based on biological sex.” DeSantis on that day also signed House Bill 1438, which “protects children from explicitly adult performances in all venues — including drag shows and strip clubs” and “imposes fines and license suspension for hotels and restaurants that admit a child into an adult performance.” Stonewall Pride CEO Jeffrey Sterling earlier this month told the Washington Blade during a telephone interview that performers and vendors had to abide by a series of rules that include no nudity, no lewd conduct and no vulgarity or overtly sexual language.
Sterling admitted HB 1438 and the other anti-LGBTQ bills that DeSantis signed “indirectly” prompted Stonewall Pride to implement them, but he stressed they do not apply to those who attend the parade and festival.
