Nat. LGBTQ Task Force's Michael Bath Wants You to Party for a Good Cause this Weekend

EDGE: Has the anti-LGBTQ+ reign of Ron DeSantis made it harder to create these community events? Have people been saying, "Why would I go to Florida?"

Michael Bath: Yes, absolutely. Our executive director, Kierra Johnson, has received calls from folks around the country saying, "Why are you doing this in Florida when all of this is happening? You should go somewhere else." Her response, and the organization's response, is no, we are here for every LGBTQ community member across the country. The fact that the community in Florida is facing greater challenges [means] we're not disappearing. We're actually going to double down. We're not going away. We have some of our people here working to educate people on how they can get people show up at the polls. They can organize in a way to help turn the tide so this anti-gay hatred that's been spewing from Tallahassee, we start to get rid of it.

When you think Winter Party, you think of people dancing on the beach and having a good time. And yes, they're doing that; they are living into what our tagline. It's a great place where they can be free of whatever at home keeps them from being completely free. But then, as they're attending the events, they're also helping us raise money to do the work for freedom, and one of the things I'm also proud of is our committee. Our Winter Party Committee has actually grown a lot of leaders in the LGBTQ community. One of our former co-chairs went on to run Miami Beach Pride for quite a while; another one was the executive director of [South Florida LGBTQ+ community center] Pridelines for 15 years. Winter Party represents a little bit of a microcosm of the Task Force.

This year's Winter Pride Festival runs Feb. 28 – March 5 in Miami Beach. For more information, follow this link.