The City of Miami Beach held its inaugural Gay Pride parade on Ocean Drive on April 18. The parade was the first city-supported gay pride event in Miami Beach.
“It is hard to believe a city as diverse and as inclusive of the GLBT community as our city has not had an official Miami Beach Gay Pride in the past,” said Mayor Matti Bower on the parade's Web site. “I am very proud to be a part of such a historical event in our community.”
According to police estimates, more than 20,000 people attended the festivities, twice as many as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force's annual Winter Party Festival that attracted some 10,000 attendees to its 15th annual event in February.
The parade took over Ocean Drive from 5th to 15th Streets with more than 64 entities participating, including local marching bands, walking groups of supporters, and grand marshals Patti LaBelle and designer Richie Rich. Gay and lesbian couples who’ve been together for more than 20 years—dubbed "Legacy Couples"—rode in convertibles.
“People have wanted to have a pride event for years, and no one really stepped up to make it happen," said Cindy Brown, operations director for Miami Beach Gay Pride, the organization formed to plan the event. "But when Matti Bower was elected as mayor [of Miami Beach in November 2007] she had a strong initiative to bring the gay community back to the beach, and this is one of the ways that she came up with,”
The event also included a fair and expo in Lummus Park with live music and 86 booths for the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, Wire magazine, Miami Beach Visitor and Convention Authority, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, and other sponsors.
