As recent progress is in full reversal, Pride Month reminds of hard-won rights.
By Alice Herman/Suncoast Searchlight
Original Air Date: July 4, 2025
Host: Across Florida and much of the country, Pride Month has unfolded under a growing shadow. Many of the older LGBTQ+ residents lived through the AIDS crisis, prosecution for who they are, and decades of political hostility. For them, the political tide of the past few years has brought an eerie sense of déjà vu, as Alice Herman with Suncoast Searchlight found.
Alice Herman: The landmark gains of the 2010s were seen as permanent, but now they feel increasingly precarious. In their place: a new wave of legislation targeting trans rights, LGBTQ+ education, and healthcare access—and a creeping fear that hard-won progress could slip away.
In Florida, that fear has taken on a sharp, personal edge.
Under Gov. Ron DeSantis, the state has become a national testing ground for policies that roll back LGBTQ+ inclusion in schools, public health and civil discourse.
Teachers have been told to avoid discussions of gender and sexuality. Book bans, curriculum fights and escalating rhetoric have reshaped daily life.
As many as 7,000 people attended downtown Sarasota’s No Kings protest on June 14, including many from the LGBTQ+ community. Photo by Allison Schott for Suncoast Searchlight.
In conversations with Suncoast Searchlight during Pride Month, elders reflected on what it means to defend, and celebrate, their identities during this time.
The Reverend Lillie Brockleads a mostly LGBTQ+ congregation at Church of the Trinity MCC. She said she has seen three reactions among older folks to the current moment.
Some feel a weary sense of familiarity.
Others sense the ground shifting under their feet. They are taking protective steps—rushing to secure legal rights or quietly changing their routines. Longtime couples are getting married, just as much for the celebration as a safeguard to enshrine their legal rights.
And some, she added, are retreating entirely. Those who were already closeted have “just gone further into the closet.”
This was the third year the Senior Friendship Centers hosted SIlver Pride at its downtown location Between 500 to 750 people the five hour event on June 7, according to organizers. Photo by Derek Gilliam for Suncoast Searchlight.
Community hubs like Brock’s church offer important spaces for people to relax and just be themselves.
That’s true for Ricki Bellamy, who came out to her family and friends as trans earlier this year at 50 years old.
Ricki Bellamy: I knew 2024 was the last year of me hiding in the closet. I had to come out. I was done with it—all the chaos going around, all the hatred I was hearing from friends —and just seeing it on the news, the hatred towards the LGBT community. I knew who I was inside, and it just was a struggle for me.
AH: A former Baptist, Bellamy had heard members of the church make violently anti-gay comments. Reimagining her faith has been an important part of her transition.
RB: I also started just really diving into scripture. I am a person of faith, a person who went to Bible college, and I have started having to dive myself into scripture, studying it even more.
AH: Her faith, she concluded, should make room for people like herself.
Darcel Stevens, an Orlando-area drag performer, speaks with a senior at Silver Pride in downtown Sarasota. Photo by Derek Gilliam for Suncoast Searchlight.
This January she attended church for the first time in clothing that aligned with her gender—wearing black mini boots, black slacks and a formal blouse.
RB: I felt, like I said, the first time I was able to worship as my true self. I cried the whole time, I was so moved by emotion that I was able to do this for the first time.
AH: Yet Bellamy knows there are struggles ahead, and also joy.
RB: It’s like Christmas Day, but it’s also like D-Day because this is also a battle. This is a time that we are continuing the fight for freedom. We’re continuing the fight for recognition. We’re continuing the fight of being free to be who we are.
AH: This has been Alice Herman, reporting for Suncoast Searchlight.
To read the full report, visit suncoastsearchlight.org/lgbtq-suncoast-silver-pride-sarasota.
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