June is here, a month that signifies many different things to people, from graduations and weddings to the return of the summer solstice and everything that comes with it. For the LGBTQ+ community and its allies, it heralds Pride Month, a celebration of the LGBTQ+ community and all that is under its diverse and vibrantly colored rainbow.
In that same vein, how fitting the theme of this year’s CommuniTEA Dance — the annual Pride Month celebration presented by the Arsht Center, with support from presenting partner, the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau — is Under the Rainbow. But more on this beloved community event later.
A PROUD HISTORY
(Courtesy of WorldRedEye.com)
Audience favorite MC FayWhat?! returns to CommuniTea Dance this year.
This year marks 55 years since the first Pride marches were held in June 1970 in New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. More specifically, on June 28, in recognition of the one-year anniversary of the early morning police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City’s Greenwich Village. This raid led to a series of riots and demonstrations, becoming a pivotal moment in LGBTQ+ history. While other demonstrations had preceded the Stonewall Uprising, the ones surrounding Stonewall, to quote the iconic line shouted by the Howard Beale character in the 1976 film “Network,” was the LGBTQ+ community collectively saying, “I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!”
The first Pride March in Miami-Dade County was on Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road in 1972. Later the same year, both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions were held in Miami Beach. Miami-Dade’s LGBTQ+ community, through advocacy and demonstrations at the conventions, took advantage of the opportunity to bring national attention to the gay rights movement.
(Courtesy of WorldRedEye.com)
Fun on the dance floor at CommuniTea Dance 2024.
A few years later, Miami-Dade County was again in the national spotlight in the battle for gay rights. This was through the efforts of Ruth Shack, a progressive politician and newly minted commissioner who, in 1976, proposed a county ordinance barring discrimination due to “affectional or sexual preference” in the workplace, housing, and public accommodations, which was unanimously passed in January 1977 by Shack and her fellow commissioners. The ordinance was met with backlash, prominently led by Anita Bryant, who was Florida’s orange juice spokesperson. Through Save Our Children, the grassroots campaign quickly formed by Bryant and her coalition of conservative supporters, the ordinance was overturned in June of the same year.
Bryant became the national face of the anti-gay rights movement, quite literally too, as she famously had a pie thrown in her face by a gay activist while on an anti-gay rights tour in Iowa. Ultimately, her career suffered because of her intolerance and discrimination, and even more karmically in 2021, her granddaughter came out publicly by announcing her upcoming marriage to another woman, and how she was grappling with extending an invitation to her grandmother.
PRIDE IN ACTIVISM
(Courtesy of Cindy Brown)
Cindy Brown, program director for Lambda Living
Cindy Brown was a high school student at Pinecrest’s Palmetto Senior High School during Bryant’s 1977 crusade. Brown, who has dedicated her life and work to LGBTQ+ advocacy and activism, is currently the director of Lambda Living, a Jewish Community Services of South Florida program for LGBTQ+ seniors.
“I always make a point of asking people if they know who Anita Bryant is,” Brown said. “People don’t understand the significance of what she did. We were one of the first in the country to pass a gay rights ordinance, which turned into a major movement nationally. After it was repealed, it took another 20 years to get it to pass again. It’s important to know.”
Brown was at the forefront when the ordinance was passed the second time around.
“Nobody gave us anything,” she said. “It took blood, sweat, tears, and money to accomplish what we have. The money spent – millions and millions across the nation for battles fought and won without ever winning the war – and now we’re having to fight the same battle.”
Her point of fighting the same battle is well taken. The 2022 passage of Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, along with all the fallout that has accompanied it, the anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment, and the related rollback in rights and representation, especially targeting transgender persons, has been front and center this year.
MAKING PRIDE A TRADITION
(Courtesy of WorldRedEye.com)
CommuniTea Dance 2024 attendee showing their pride.
Brown figures prominently into the history of Miami-Dade County’s Pride activities as well – she and Carlos Perez produced a Pride event on Oct. 13, 1998, National Coming Out Day. It was one day after Matthew Shepard died.
The next Pride event in Miami-Dade County was in 2009. Brown said the community’s focus turned to political activism.
“We had the passage of the Human Rights Ordinance and more acceptance from the broader community,” she said. “As horrible as Matthew Shepard’s murder was, it brought new awareness to the brutality people in the LGBTQ+ community face. It changed hearts and minds to create an opening for greater understanding.”
(Photo courtesy artist management)
Sagittae
In 2009, Brown helped create Miami Beach Pride as its founding executive director, a position she maintained until 2015. Held in April, when Mother Nature is more weather-friendly, the multi-day festival has grown into the local LGBTQ+ community’s signature annual Pride event, with people from all over the country and world traveling to Miami Beach to attend the event.
“The hardest thing about Pride in 2009 was creating it from scratch, and the best thing is I got to create it from scratch,” said Brown. “It was very much a Pride event that represented everyone – doctors, teachers, car mechanics – people from every walk of life.”
The diverse representation continues to this day.
“I know it’s a good thing and that it is helping people,” said Bruce Horwich, chair of the Miami Beach Pride board of directors. “If someone 18 or 20 years old is not sure if they should come out, or they’ve been thrown out of their house, Pride may help them realize it’s okay to be gay, as they see everything from older men holding hands to all the community there.”
Horwich believes that having June as Pride Month, an official designation conferred by President Bill Clinton in 1999, and Pride events like April’s Miami Beach Pride, are every bit as important and necessary today as they have been in the past.
(Photo courtesy artist management)
Dominick Trixx
“Progress is generally made with two steps forward and one step back,” said Horwich. “This year, we had 10 or more steps back. Our community cannot go back in the shadows. We must be ever-present, not just for ourselves, but for all people, no matter your gender identity, color of your skin, your religion, your sexual preferences. We cannot let someone else's ignorance push anyone back into the 1950s. Our differences are what makes this country great, not ignorance.”
Even with the oppressive policymaking nationally and statewide, Horwich stated that the board hasn’t really made changes to programming.
“We never backed away from anything,” he said. “While others were steering away from drag artists, we felt we needed more drag to take the approach that we’re not backing off as to who we are. There’s nothing sexual about it. It’s performance art. It’s going against the whole idea of Pride if you can’t be proud of who you are and what we are.”
However, there have been some consequences, including pushback from corporate sponsors and the loss of state grants.
“We did feel the financial effects as corporations shied away from their DEI programs,” said Horwich. “Hopefully they will see those programs are necessary for this country to progress and will come back to having responsible corporate policies.”
ENGAGING LGBTQ+ YOUTH IN PRIDE
(Photo by WorldRedEye)
The packed house at The CommuniTEA Dance at the Arsht in 2024
Pridelines, Miami-Dade’s longstanding community organization serving LGBTQ+ youth and their allies, was founded in 1982 at Miami Dade College by LGBTQ+ youth and their allies in the aftermath of Bryant’s Save Our Children campaign.
“It was really about young queer people coming together to support one another in difficult times and them seeking the leadership of adults who had, a generation, two generations before, also been through trying times,” said Daniel Molloy, Pridelines director of programs, grants, and gifts.
According to Molloy, much of Pridelines’ work was driven by the widespread discrimination LGBTQ+ people faced in the 1980s, here and across the country, from losing their jobs to the roofs over their heads.
“Not only could folks be evicted, but even at Miami Dade College, folks could be terminated, students expelled for their gender identity, their orientation, their expression,” he said.
At that time, there were real fears stemming from the potential repercussions because of being LGBTQ+, and gay people yearned for a connection with people like them.
(Photo courtesy artist management)
Ariesela
“You know, not only were they seeking to be in community with one another, but they were doing so in a clandestine nature, because they had to,” said Molloy. “They needed to be able to connect with one another, but doing so put themselves at risk, personally and professionally. Folks had to go undercover to be able to support one another.”
The fact that LGBTQ+ people had to come together to support one another in secret is an appropriate response to those who still ask why LGBTQ+ people need a Pride Month. And when people ask why there isn’t a straight Pride month, the fact that such a question is still posed is representative of a discriminatory mentality that continues to exist and – newsflash – reinforces the need to celebrate Pride.
“We want to make sure LGBTQ youth become LGBTQ adults, and it is more important than ever to have spaces where LGBTQ youth see the community and know we are human beings, just like any others,” said Michael Riordan, executive director of Pridelines. “We are mothers, brothers, fathers, daughters, sisters, uncles, aunts. For young people to see themselves represented out in the world is crucial to them growing up strong, healthy, and with pride. And family-friendly Pride events really are places where we're in community, and those young people understand and know they have a future.”
Because of the rise in anti-LGBTQ+ sentiment, Riordan believes Pride events and activities are returning to being more advocacy-meets-activism focused, rather than only celebratory.
“I definitely believe the times we're in are going to lead to increases in advocacy across the board, and I don't think the LGBTQ+ and human rights movement is going to be any exception to that,” said Riordan. “But it's also important that we stop and celebrate as well. We have to keep the joy in this and show people there is a brighter future, a future where everybody is treated with dignity and respect. That joy in itself is a form of advocacy.”
(Courtesy of WorldRedEye.com)
Emmy Award-winning DJ Musicat will be back spinning the beats this year at CommuniTEA Dance.
PRIDE ON BISCAYNE
(Courtesy of Artist Management)
VINCINT, pop sensation headlining this year’s CommuniTEA Dance.
The big Pride Month celebration is the CommuniTEA Dance at the Arsht Center on June 8. The event, now in its ninth year, will be headlined by pop sensation Vincint, fresh on the heels of their star turn at this year’s Coachella.
Also in the entertainment line-up, Emmy-winning DJ Musicat is back this year, along with emcee FayWhat?! Local drag artists Ariesela, Sagitaee, and Dominick Trixx will all perform. Complementing all this entertainment, is the Pride Marketplace, the event’s showcase of local LGBTQ+ and ally organizations, artisans, creatives, and small businesses.
The genesis of the CommuniTEA Dance was to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting tragedy at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando.
(Courtesy of Justin Namon, RAHAUS)
Jairo Ontiveros, executive producer & Dorothea Green Chair of Education and Community Engagement
“An interdepartmental group of staff wanted to do something,” said Jairo Ontiveros, executive producer & Dorothea Green Chair of Education and Community Engagement, who has been involved since its inception. “We thought of a tea dance for the LGBTQ+ community because it is such a tradition. It was our part of putting our arms around the community, and nine years later, here we are.”
Ontiveros said that in developing CommuniTEA, three things were important.
“First and foremost that it celebrates and represents the community at large and South Florida; that we’re celebrating and highlighting local artists in our community; and that we spotlight community organizations doing work year-round.”
The programming at CommuniTEA this year is evidence that the Arsht has stayed true to the tenets that has shaped it since the beginning.
“I think for us at the Arsht, celebrating people, the community, the arts, it’s all integrated,” said Ontiveros. “Representation matters and we welcome people from every walk of life. The Arsht is for everybody, and we strive every day for inclusivity.”
PRIDE MONTHS EVENTS 2025
PRIDE in NBV
Fri., June 6, 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.
Happy’s Stork Lounge, 1624 79th St. Causeway, North Bay Village
Featuring Karla Croqueta and other performers, sponsored by North Bay Village Commissioner Richard Chervony.
CommuniTEA Dance
Sun., June 8, 4 – 8 p.m.
Arsht Center, 1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
Free, but must RSVP
Thursdays at PAMM: Pride Night
June 12, 7 - 10 p.m.
Perez Art Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
The Pride celebration at Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) will be held on its waterfront terrace and will include a floating film screening of "Wicked," community activations, drink specials at Verde, and more. Inside the museum, enjoy Pride-themed tours in the galleries. Programming on the terrace is free with RSVP. Gallery admission is $18 for adults. To RSVP, visit pamm.org. Become a member or renew your membership with the promo code PRIDE325 to get three extra months.
Glow Up Pride Mixology Class & After Party
Fri., June 20, 7 p.m. - midnight
Tulum at the W Miami, 485 Brickell Ave, 15th Floor, Miami
The evening includes a Pride-themed mixology class at 7 p.m. and the Neon Party from 8 p.m. to midnight. Tickets are $25. To reserve, visit OpenTable.com and search Glow Up Pride.