On Saturday, a crowd of smiling faces paraded on the sidewalk along John Sims Parkway in what is likely the area's first gay pride parade. Niceville is also the home of another big first of the LGBTQA community in Okaloosa County. Even after the meeting is over, kids will stay for an hour and talk. "The kids typically meet every Monday during the school year. Together, they've done outings such as picnics at Turkey Creek or to see poet Richard Blanco, the first Latino immigrant and openly gay poet to speak a presidential inauguration, who held a reading at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center. The club is a small gathering of students who discuss current events.
"These students deserve to be heard," she said.
But when no one else was available to help, she stepped up.
When science teacher Jan Mullins was asked to sponsor GSA, she was already committed to one club and hesitated about sponsoring another. In 2012, Niceville High School became the first high school in Okaloosa County to host a Gay Straight Alliance (GSA), a student-run club found in high schools across the nation. The way to keep the work alive is by engaging young people to become involved in the cause, he said. Landreth says it has been difficult to meet the needs of the local LGBT community. It's a reminder that the LGBTQA community is still a "focus of hate and misunderstanding." This year's Pride celebrations also follow the one-year anniversary of the Pulse shootings, where 49 people were killed and another 58 were injured at the gay nightclub in Orlando. Throughout the year, the organization holds events and outings as well as educational workshops and panels. This year's theme was "Reignite the Fire," which is a reminder of the early battles and the work yet to be done. In the past couple of weeks, Gay Grassroots held its annual Pride events which included a festival in Pensacola's Seville Square, LGBTQA advocacy training workshop, lectures and a celebration ball. based solely on one's sexual orientation or gender identity." "Despite the recent victory for marriage equality, you can still be denied employment, be fired, denied housing, not be served in a restaurant, bar or store, be denied lodging. "Over recent years we have seen the LGBT rights movement advance faster than any cause in memory," Landreth said. The amendment was later found to be unconstitutional.Įven after the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that declared same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states, Landreth said there are basic rights that still need to be fought for. The organization formed in 2008 after Florida Amendment 2 was passed, which defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman, thus banning same-sex marriages. Navarre resident Doug Landreth is the co-founder and past president of Gay Grassroots of Northwest Florida. Now, in most cities across the country, parades of rainbow flags take over streets to celebrate the progress in the gay community while promoting inclusion and acceptance.īut in the Panhandle, these celebrations seem to be few and far between. Until 1973, homosexuality was listed as a mental disorder in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. The FBI and police departments kept records of known homosexuals and the establishments they went to. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, gay people were ostracized. The riots were in response to a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of Jat the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan.Īt that time in American history, very few establishments welcomed openly gay individuals.
to commemorate the Stonewall riots, which occurred in June 1969. For 47 years, June has been time of celebration and reflection for the LGBTQA community.