Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
We inform. You decide.
Friday, March 29, 2024

First Magnitude hosts fundraiser for queer history project

<p><span id="docs-internal-guid-9e71a605-235e-e46a-1884-315249796575"><span>Erica Merrell and her associate from Wild Iris Books, Florida’s first feminist bookstore, laugh with patrons at the Pride Extravaganza event Sunday.</span></span></p>

Erica Merrell and her associate from Wild Iris Books, Florida’s first feminist bookstore, laugh with patrons at the Pride Extravaganza event Sunday.

As Jessica Holmer gazed at Mary Parrish’s portrait Sunday, she said she felt inspired.

Fifteen portraits outlined the front entrance of First Magnitude Brewing Company, located at 1220 SE Veitch St., from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday as part of the Pride Extravaganza fundraiser event for the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program’s Florida Queer History Project. Holmer was one of about 200 people who attended the fundraiser.

Each portrait included a self-told story from a person who attended the Equality March for Unity and Pride at Washington, D.C., on June 11. The extravaganza, which was First Magnitude’s first queer-focused community event, raised about $1,300 for the queer history project from the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program.

Holmer, a UF mass communication graduate student, paused as she walked in front of Parrish’s portrait and read her interview. Holmer said she identified with Parrish’s story.

“The way she says she had to learn about who she is herself through past experience and from others, that’s universal, no matter if it’s about your sexuality or anything you could be going through,” the 30-year-old said.

About nine UF students from the oral history program went to the Capital to interview attendees of the June Equality March for Unity and Pride, in collaboration with UF’s Center for Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Research, said Robert Baez, the oral history program’s coordinator.

After the trip to Washington, D.C., Baez said she and the other students who went to record interviews from the rally felt what they had collected was gripping enough to turn into a broader project.

“We were wanting to take a conversation that’s happening on a national level right in our nation’s capital and really bring it to Gainesville to develop a sense of community and unity among the LGBTQ+ people here,” the 25-year-old said.

Although the First Magnitude fundraiser was free to the public, tickets were available for donation and included a free beer and discounted drinks for the rest of the evening, said Ben Guzman, the event coordinator for the brewery. Guzman said he thinks it’s important for venues like First Magnitude to help create open spaces in Gainesville to bring communities together.

“I see us as more of a community center that just happens to serve beer,” Guzman said.

Katie Sonneman said she drove 35 minutes from Ocala on Sunday so her children could feel a sense of home and community at the event.

Sonneman said last year, her 15-year-old daughter, Orion, came out to her as lesbian. It was about three to four months ago when her 13-year-old son, Marshall, expressed questions about his identity and started identifying as transgender.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox

Sonneman said events like the Pride Extravaganza fundraiser assured her that Orion and Marshall won’t feel alone while discovering their identities.

“There’s nothing back home in Ocala for them,” she said. “It’s important for me as their mother to do what I can for them to find places where they can feel open.”

Erica Merrell and her associate from Wild Iris Books, Florida’s first feminist bookstore, laugh with patrons at the Pride Extravaganza event Sunday.

Support your local paper
Donate Today
The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.

Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Independent Florida Alligator and Campus Communications, Inc.