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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Overturning of DOMA celebrated at Gainesville’s Pride festival

<p>Bruce Blackwell (left) and Brandon Wight have been together for 47 years. The couple fulfilled their dream of legal marriage on Sept. 17, 2004 in Martha’s Vineyard.</p>

Bruce Blackwell (left) and Brandon Wight have been together for 47 years. The couple fulfilled their dream of legal marriage on Sept. 17, 2004 in Martha’s Vineyard.

Rainbow colors flooded Bo Diddley Community Plaza on Saturday at Gainesville’s annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Festival.

The day included a parade, shops, advocacy booths, food and live music in the downtown plaza.

This year’s festival stands out because it also commemorates the overturning of the national Defense of Marriage Act, said Terry Fleming, co-president of the North Central Florida Pride Community Center, which hosts the festivities.

“The community is excited,” he said.

The event typically sees about 5,000 people throughout the day and about 1,500 people in the plaza at any given time, Fleming said.

This year’s turnout was about the same as last year’s, he said, but he noted that Pride attendance has been growing over time. He said this year’s parade included more floats.

“You can see the response,” he said. “People are into it.”

Fleming added that one of the reasons the festival is held so late in the year, instead of in the summer to commemorate the Stonewall riots, is to tap into the student community in Gainesville while it is nearby for classes.

“You can’t engage the student population in the summer,” he said.

Some students who attended the festival said they appreciate how open Gainesville is to the LGBTQ community.

“People are pretty open about it,” said Laura Robayo, a 22-year-old UF first-year pharmacy student. “It’s not a big deal to see someone who is gay.”

Others came from out of town to attend the events.

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Bethany Powers, a 20-year-old waitress of Ocala, said she came to the event because Pride events don’t happen in her town.

“Any Pride we hear about, we’re like, ‘Hey, let’s go to that,’” she said.

A version of this story ran on page 8 on 10/28/2013 under the headline "Overturning of DOMA celebrated at Gainesville’s Pride festival"

Bruce Blackwell (left) and Brandon Wight have been together for 47 years. The couple fulfilled their dream of legal marriage on Sept. 17, 2004 in Martha’s Vineyard.

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