West University Avenue resembled a moving rainbow Saturday afternoon, with hundreds of people carrying colorful flags as they marched for LGBTQ+ pride.
At the parade’s final resting spot, Bo Diddley Community Plaza, 17-year-old Jasper Suskin wrapped himself in a pink-and-light-blue flag, a symbol of transgender pride.
After five years of attending the Pride Parade and Pride Festival, annual free events held by the Pride Community Center of North Central Florida since the ’90s, Suskin said the positive, inclusive atmosphere keeps him coming back.
“I’m all about equality,” he said, smiling.
About 5,000 people gathered throughout the day on the plaza, listening to live music and watching dance performances until about 9 p.m. At a Kid’s Pride station, children got their faces painted and did cartwheels.
Helen James-Storey, the vice president of the center, said this year’s festival saw the transgender community represented more than ever before.
In years past, she said, people asked her where to find organizations supporting transgender people. She didn’t have many places to send them, she said.
But this year, of the more than 40 tents at the plaza advertising local organizations, several were covered in pink and light blue, offering support for members of the community.
“We’ve wanted to see that here, and I’m so glad to see that happening,” she said.
Though she was excited about the number of people who attended the event, she said she wished more of those who came would volunteer at the center throughout the year.
The center provides year-round services to the LGBTQ+ community, including support groups, free HIV testing and an emergency hotline, she said.
“There is a lot of work to do,” she said.
To kick off the festivities, Mayor Lauren Poe introduced Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who was in town Friday to train Hillary Clinton campaign volunteers.
Wasserman Schultz urged members of the crowd to keep the LGBTQ+ community in mind when voting in the general elections.
“Love is the law of the land,” she said.
While she spoke, however, about five people shouted over her, chanting “Bernie” in unison. Some booed after the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee left the stage.
Despite the interruption, Wasserman Schultz said she was glad she could make time to attend the Pride celebration while campaigning for Clinton, which included an appearance Friday at the Gainesville Police station. That appearance was also interrupted by a Bernie Sanders supporter, as other supporters protested outside, upset at the DNC’s apparent undermining of Sanders’ primary run against Clinton.
Wasserman Schultz did not address the hecklers, opting instead to remind the crowd of the purpose of the festival.
“LGBT equality is really important to me,” she said.
Morgan Millett, a 22-year-old Spirit Halloween worker, spins poi on Bo Diddley Community Plaza during the Pride Festival on Saturday. Millett said she has been practicing poi for two or three years, but she felt she was more skilled at hooping.
Malik Fogg, 4, plays cornhole on the lawn of Bo Diddley Community Plaza during the Pride Festival.
Seen through a hanging peace sign in the Soul Essentials pop-up shop at the downtown Pride Festival, Marissa DeVito, a 21-year-old bartender at Sonny’s BBQ, points and laughs at a crystallized phallic symbol.
Jennifer Burke, a 40-year-old treasure hunter and jewelry maker from Ocala, poses in her Soul Essentials shop during the Pride Festival downtown on Saturday.
Morgan Millett, a 22-year-old Spirit Halloween worker, kisses Nikki Mason, a 19-year-old Florida School of Massage alumna, while doing acroyoga on Bo Diddley Community Plaza on Saturday.
