GULFPORT, Fla, – Downtown Gulfport celebrated Pride on Saturday with a daylong event that benefits the Gulfport Library’s LGBTQ Resource Center, the only one of its kind in Florida.
What You Need To Know
- Saturday was the 2nd annual LGBTQ Resource Center Pride Event in Gulfport
- The LGBTQ Resource Center at the Gulfport Library has been lauded nationally
- The St. Pete Pride event is scheduled for June 25
The Resource Center was created in 2015 when the city remodeled its public library and began with 250 books. Since then, it has expanded to over 10,000 books, CD’s and DVD’s.
“The library is really one of the focal points of this community,” says David Mather, the library’s executive director. “Whether it’s for the LGBTQ collection, or just our programming in general, or for our children’s programming, we really have a great community around us in a city that supports us.”
The library has been recognized nationally for the LGBTQ Resource Center. It was the recipient of the National Medal for Museum & Library Services in 2019.
Throughout Pride month, the Resource Center is hosting its 5th annual ArtOut exhibit, called “Queering the Pandemic.”
It received over 70 submissions this year.
“One of the things about this exhibit, you just don’t see rainbows and unicorns and lollipops,” says Susan Gore, president at the Resource Center. “You see the depth and the breadth of different artists and different expressions. Both painting, quilting and photography and all sorts of different ways (of artists) expressing their experiences.”
The Resource Center is accepting applications for its LGBTQ+ scholarship for any LGBTQ+ student who lives, works or goes to school in Pinellas County at any accredited education institution through June 15.