What's Right With Ybor: Big Freedia, the wall of love hit the strip on a Friday night

Bounce queen backs that azz up, trans warriors stand up for their friends.

click to enlarge Big Freedia plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Big Freedia plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017.

A big theme in CL's interview with New Orleans bounce queen Big Freedia was love and the bravery to be yourself. The Crescent City cultural ambassador also spoke about living with said consequences of being yourself.

Read: Freedia got big, but it wasn't easy — an interview

“You can’t be fake. You can’t be phony, and you have to be willing to take the consequence that come with it,” Freedia, 39, said. “The most important thing is to be yourself, love yourself and believe in what you’re doing.”

On Friday, a convergence of all of that came together in Ybor City as Freedia took to Crowbar while trans right activists took to Seventh Avenue to stand up for their friends. The events were unrelated, but you can't help but see how a performance by one of the South's brightest gay pop stars and a demonstration by people fed up with unequal rights correlate. 

Anthony Martino was there to cover all of it, and he has these photos to share. Have a look below, and read our interview with Freedia here.

click to enlarge Big Freedia plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Big Freedia plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017.

click to enlarge Samurai Shotgun plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Samurai Shotgun plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017.

click to enlarge Samurai Shotgun plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Samurai Shotgun plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017.

click to enlarge Big Freedia plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Big Freedia plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017.

click to enlarge Trans rights activists demonstrate in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Trans rights activists demonstrate in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017.

click to enlarge Samurai Shotgun plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Samurai Shotgun plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017.

click to enlarge Big Freedia plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Big Freedia plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017.

click to enlarge Samurai Shotgun and QueenOfEx plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Samurai Shotgun and QueenOfEx plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017.

click to enlarge Samurai Shotgun plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Samurai Shotgun plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017.

click to enlarge Samurai Shotgun and Queen Of Ex (R) plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Samurai Shotgun and Queen Of Ex (R) plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017.

click to enlarge Trans rights activists demonstrate in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Trans rights activists demonstrate in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017.

click to enlarge QueenofEx plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
QueenofEx plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017.

click to enlarge Samurai Shotgun plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Samurai Shotgun plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017.

click to enlarge QueenofEx plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
QueenofEx plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017.

click to enlarge Samurai Shotgun and Monica Delagado (L) plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Samurai Shotgun and Monica Delagado (L) plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017.

click to enlarge Big Freedia plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Big Freedia plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017.

click to enlarge QueenofEx plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
QueenofEx plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017.

click to enlarge Trans rights activists demonstrate in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Trans rights activists demonstrate in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017.

click to enlarge Samurai Shotgun plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Samurai Shotgun plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017.

click to enlarge QueenofEx plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
QueenofEx plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017.

click to enlarge Trans rights activists demonstrate in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Trans rights activists demonstrate in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017.

click to enlarge Big Freedia plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Big Freedia plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017.

click to enlarge Pastor Ann Wynne-Phillips speaks to trans rights activists demonstrating in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Pastor Ann Wynne-Phillips speaks to trans rights activists demonstrating in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017.

click to enlarge Big Freedia plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Big Freedia plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 2017.

click to enlarge Trans rights activists demonstrate in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017. - Anthony Martino
Anthony Martino
Trans rights activists demonstrate in Ybor City, Florida on March 3, 3017.

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Ray Roa

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief in August 2019. Past work can be seen at Suburban Apologist, Tampa Bay Times, Consequence of Sound and The...
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