Hundreds gather to celebrate Manatee Pride at the Riverwalk in Bradenton

Food trucks and vendors lined the Riverwalk in Bradenton as Southwest Florida locals gathered to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community with drag and song performances Saturday afternoon.

At the Bradenton Riverwalk Pavilion, more than 400 people gathered to celebrate Manatee Pride, an LGBTQ+ family event benefiting ALSO Youth, a Florida non-profit supporting LGBTQ+ youth in the state. Local organizations were scattered in tents along the grass as performances at the pavilion rang through the speakers, with choirs singing songs such as "One Day" by Matisyahu and "Born This Way" by Lady Gaga.

A drag performer also read "The Boy with the Rainbow Heart" by W.S. Mason to a group of about 20 children. Momma Ashley Rose, the 44-year-old drag queen who read on stage, wore a red dress with different pride colors draped down the skirt.

She said drag queen book readings are about teaching kids love and acceptance.

"Everyone is loved, accepted and wanted no matter who they are," Rose said. "We really just want to spread love and kindness. And give the kids tools or how to deal with bullies and how to deal with sadness or anger, fear, just basic life skills and how to be kind."

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On March 3, Randy Fine, a Republican state representative from Brevard County, filed a bill that would punish venues for admitting children to see "adult live performance(s)." In an interview with News 6 in Orlando, Fine said, "we’ve got adult entertainers, men dressing up as women, that think it’s OK to perform sexual programs before children in the state of Florida."

Rose said it was "ridiculous" of Fine to label all drag performances as adult entertainment. She said rhetoric such as Fine's has caused an increase in harmful rhetoric and violence against the LGBTQ+ community."We're like the Disney Channel of drag," she said. "They accuse us to be groomers and we're not grooming anybody. If anything, they're the ones grooming people to hate."

Several studies have shown members of the LGBTQ+ community are far more likely to be victims of violence compared to straight people. Tyler Butler, one of the hosts of the event, said several groups, including the Proud Boys, tried to get Manatee Pride shut down because of the drag queens.

Laws overseen by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have felt targeted toward the LGBTQ+ community, he said. One such law is the Parental Rights in Education Act, dubbed "Don't Say Gay" by opponents, which prohibits the discussion of sexual orientation in K-3 classrooms in Florida.

"It feels like we're going back in time, instead of forward," he said

Jason Champion, the 48-year-old president of Project Pride and Sarasota resident, said the governor goes too far with laws such as "Don't Say Gay". He said he believes in parental rights, but, "parents do not want to have to co-parent with Ron DeSantis."

"The temperature is very high right now, but as a group of people that have fought through HIV, the Holocaust and COVID, we're here and we're going to be stronger than ever and better than ever," Champion said. "DeSantis is not going to stop us from doing what we do."

Among the attendees were several students from New College of Florida. DeSantis appointed several new members to the school's board of trustees including Christopher Rufo, a conservative, verbal opponent of diversity, equity and inclusion policies. The new board makeup swiftly abolished the college's Office of Outreach and Inclusive Excellence, fired its president and appointed Richard Corcoran, a DeSantis ally, to the interim position.

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New College has a sizable LGBTQ+ student population, with many voicing their opposition to DeSantis' takeover of their college.

Bianca McElderry, the 20-year-old secretary for an LGBTQ+ club at New College called Queery, attended the Manatee Pride event with her friend Ellie Jalbuena-Cook, who is also a student at New College.

McElderry said she sees a possibility where, if DeSantis were elected president in 2024, there could be an overturning of Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court case which ruled that same-sex marriage is protected under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, much like overturning of Roe v. Wade with abortion rights.

She said when thinking of fighting back against attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, she's taken the mantra of "Do not go gentle into that good night", a poem by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas.

"It's just a matter of how we can bounce back from it, and how we can keep pride alive, how we can keep the community alive, how we can keep people alive," McElderry said.

Follow Herald-Tribune Education Reporter Steven Walker on Twitter at @swalker_7. He can be reached at sbwalker@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Manatee Pride brings hundreds to Riverwalk in Bradenton