- There was music, food, and fellowship, but education was the common theme.
- Saturday, hundreds gathered downtown for the annual Pridefest event in Tallahassee.
- Watch the video above to hear from educators on the progress society has made in acceptance for pride.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT
Coming together to celebrate diversity.
I’m Terry Gilliam your neighborhood reporter in Downtown Tallahassee…
I look at how neighbors attending Pride in the Plaza Saturday feel about the future of LGBTQ rights and acceptance.
"Pride is on display, but I have pride every day… community is extremely important and what we have here today is unity in our community."
That's Anita Hatcher… a 7th Grade teacher in Leon County.
She tells me what's needed for acceptance for the LGBTQ community.
"At the core of what we need to do is eradicate the ignorance, and we do that through education."
Saturday, hundreds gathered downtown for the annual Pridefest event in Tallahassee.
There was music, food, and fellowship, but education was the common theme.
I spoke with FSU Professor of LGBTQ history, Chuck Upchurch, about the progress made in U.S. and Florida history.
"I think we've come a long way… I mean it's exciting. We have so many more rights, so many more recognitions, I think that it's a really hopeful time."
"I really feel that overtime acceptance has grown… every person has the right to exist. Every person has the right to equity."
Both educators say that there is progress, but it's still a work in progress.
Professor Upchurch tells me about the work that goes into paving the road forward.
"We worked at it; we have not assumed that the answers we have right now are the best. We have done community consciousness-raising, we have done academic work to try and really analyze the issues."
People here tell me that this is a way to better understand each other, while growing in the process… In Downtown Tallahassee, Terry Gilliam, ABC27.
