St. Pete Pride parade draws thousands

Barbara Godwin attended her first gay pride parade 38 years ago in Los Angeles. The parade had two cars and about 100 spectators.

"We were afraid for our lives," Godwin, 79, said today as St. Petersburg's gay pride parade streamed past her.

"Now," she said, "it's almost like it's OK."

Organizers expected tens of thousands of spectators to line the route from the Historic Kenwood neighborhood down Central Avenue to 21st Street North. The parade itself included more than 100 entries and nearly 2,000 participants.

The parade has grown steadily since it started in 2002. It's now the largest Pride event in the state, parade co-chairman Stanley Solomons said.

Solomons said Pride organizers got a letter of recognition from Mayor Bill Foster, a first for the event. Foster didn't attend, however.

For marchers and watchers alike, the parade was a chance to celebrate themselves and their community - the gathering ran the gamut from drag queens in enormous wigs to gay rodeo cowboys to moms with babies on their shoulders.

"It's the ultimate coming out, to be proud of who we are as gay men and women," Christopher Whitham said as he watched with friends beneath a shade tree.

For others, the parade is a reminder that gays lack many of the rights and protections that others take for granted.

"We've made a lot of strides," said Steve Parozanin. "But it's a constant struggle for equality."

Pride parades began in the 1970s to protest discrimination against gays and lesbians. The parades were typically held in late June to commemorate the Stonewall riots in 1969, which erupted when New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village.

Parozanin, a recently retired high school teacher, was a teenager when he watched television reports of the Stonewall riots. They taught him to be true to himself.

"I'm very proud to be who I am," he said. "I'm not going to be a second-class citizen to anyone."

A block or so away a small group of protestors held signs and recited Bible verses over a bullhorn. At one point, they were drowned out by marchers singing "Jesus Loves Me."

Standing a short distance away, Godwin dismissed the protestors and their message.

"If they put that kind of energy into working together, things would be so much better," she said. "There's no reason for people to be hateful, to be biased. There's no reason for it."