Nicole Berman is the Executive Director of St Pete Pride. Credit: Photo via stpetepride/Facebook

One year ago on June 1st, I stood at City Hall to raise the Pride flag for the first time as the Executive Director of St Pete Pride. I was excited and full of hope for the season.

While that sentiment still remains, I cannot welcome the 2023 Pride season without acknowledging the challenges that it brings. This year the LGBTQIA+ community, my community, has faced countless, cowardly attacks in an attempt to silence our voices, restrict our rights, and erase our presence. Well, I hate to break it to those who think
our community does not belong in Florida, but you can’t cancel Pride. The LGBTQIA+ community is here, is freaking fabulous, and we are not going anywhere. To quote St. Petersburg’s Mayor Welch, “We are St Pete and the ‘we’ means all of us “. As an organization, the commitment of the City of St Petersburg to inclusivity and the St Pete Pride celebration is something to take pride in.

People don’t always realize how important Pride is or why it matters so much. It’s so much more than just an event or another festival. It is both the best party ever and so much more than just a party. I remember my first Pride and how it felt to look up and be surrounded by people who were like me. To feel normal, to feel accepted, to feel amongst family and to feel like for the first time ever I could be exactly who I was. That is an experience that St Pete Pride and the City of St. Petersburg hopes to provide for every single LGBTQIA+ person in and around the Tampa Bay area. No matter what the outside world is telling you, you are beautiful, you belong, you belong with us, not only in June but all year long. St Pete Pride will continue to work alongside a collection of outstanding community partners to ensure that the visibility afforded to us during Pride month lasts long after the glitter is swept off the parade route. We will fight with and for you for Trans Rights, for Black Lives, for your safety and your authenticity in Florida and beyond.

2023 is St Pete Pride’s 21st first season and is arguably one of the most important. This year we are asking you, the LGBTQIA+ community and our allies, to show up, stand up, and celebrate with us. We are endlessly grateful to our trans and drag communities and will continue to support them through our event programming and engagement with advocacy and activist groups. The Pride movement began on the backs of Black and Brown Trans women and they continue to lead the fight for the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community. Without them there would be no Pride, and St Pete Pride will not leave them behind. At St Pete Pride we celebrate Trans Joy, Black Joy, Queer Joy, and the collective experiences of our community. The LGBTQIA+ community is a vibrant and incredible reminder that we are all worthy of love, a full life, and a long one at that.
Without question, St Pete Pride knows that Trans Rights are Human Rights, Black Lives and Black History Matters, all people deserve the right to full bodily autonomy and to make healthcare decisions that best suit them, Drag is Art and is Not A Crime, that young people deserve to share their individual experiences and learn about others, that we should be able to live our lives authentically without government intervention, and that being queer is, quite possibly, the coolest thing you can be.

Creating St Pete Pride events is a labor of love that our team puts its blood, sweat, and tears into. We are not going to back down, be quiet, or be shoved back into the closet. St Pete Pride looks forward to celebrating Pride with each and every one of you. If you’re at any of our events and see me looking frazzled or typing frantically on my phone, please say hi, share your Pride experience, and know YOU are what makes everything we do worth it.

In Pride, Nicole Berman
Executive Director, St Pete Pride