LAKE WORTH BEACH, Fla. — When you see the extra colors added to the progressive pride flags and the seemingly endless alphabet letters added to the L-G-B-T-Q-I-A acronym, you may be wondering, what going on here?
To put it simply, LGBTQ+ is an umbrella term for many marginalized groups to be seen and heard with one voice. This year, organizers of Palm Beach Pride hope employers will continue to make some inclusive changes for their workers.
"Palm Beach Pride means different things to different people," said Julie Seaver, the executive director of Compass Community Center, which is in charge of the festival in Bryant Park. "For some, it means love and visibility and showing up in a safe space to just be who you are."
More and more high-profile companies, like Texas Roadhouse, PNC Bank, Carrier, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, FPL, Too Jays, and media companies who own WPTV NewsChannel 5 and 97.9 WRMF are signing up to be in the parade on Sunday to support their LGBTQ+ employees.
"For them to stand up with employees, which I'm sure they employ many LGBTQ+ people, I think that's a huge step," said "Melissa St. John," a drag queen known as "The First Lady of the Palm Beaches."
Some question if the companies are just paying lip service, but others are hopeful.
"If we really want to get things done, if we really want to change hearts and minds, then we have to allow for second chances and for people to show up for their family and their friends and their co-workers in a way that we've been asking them to show up for us for decades," Seaver said.
Organizers hope employers learn about healthcare, family planning, housing needs for their LGBTQ+ employees. And for the most marginalized populations.
"The Trans and Nonbinary community, they face the most amount of discrimination based on lack of information,” Seaver said.
The Grand Marshal for this year's parade is a trans woman who has performed at Palm Beach Pride since its inception.
"My journey is the same as yours. I'm just trying to live my life, be respected, be loved and understood as well as anybody else in this community," said "Velvet Lenore," who is Miss Florida FI at Large.
Lenore has a simple request, "Educate yourself before you judge people for who they are because you never know who that person can be in your life one day."
Compass said progress for the workforce is happening, and want to remind community members of that fact.
"Try not to be too upset that it took so long to happen. But be happy that you're a part of that change," said Seaver.
Palm Beach Pride is Saturday and Sunday from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. and will attract an estimated 30,000 people.
Sunday, the busiest day, features the parade which will get underway at 11 a.m. along Lake Avenue. WPTV’s Joel Lopez and T.A. Walker will serve as emcees. If you can't make it down, it will be streamed on WPTV's Facebook page.
