As the St. Petersburg Times' Michael Van Sickler reports today, the LGBT community is detecting faint rumblings of change in its relationship with the St. Petersburg Mayor's Office. In contrast to Rick Baker, who apparently hid in a bunker somewhere during St. Pete Pride to avoid contact with potential sinners, his equally conservative successor, Mayor Bill Foster, is not only slated to attend the sponsor's reception tonight for the state's biggest LGBT event, he might even show up at the parade itself — to see whether there are any "adult-themed" shenanigans going on. He also signed a letter of welcome that appears in the St. Pete Pride program, although, like Baker, he didn't put his name on the city proclamation supporting the event because of his perception that it's not "family-oriented."
Regarding Foster's reluctance to sign, Equality Florida's Nadine Smith raises an interesting hypothetical question in the Times piece:
This article appears in Jun 24-30, 2010.