{"id":20728,"date":"2025-06-28T03:02:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T03:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/20728\/"},"modified":"2025-06-28T03:02:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T03:02:13","slug":"jacksonville-leaders-celebrate-pride-month-announce-mayors-lgbtq-advisory-committee-members","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/20728\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville leaders celebrate Pride Month, announce Mayor\u2019s LGBTQ+ Advisory Committee members"},"content":{"rendered":"

The City of Jacksonville held its 2nd official Pride Month celebration at City Hall on Friday.<\/p>\n

Several speakers took the podium, including Mayor Donna Deegan and Jimmy Midyette, Assistant Director of the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission.<\/p>\n

Midyette brought the audience back through the city\u2019s LGBTQ history, including his participation in what he calls its first pride parade in 1997.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeasured by today\u2019s pride parade we have in Jacksonville, River City Pride, it was scant. But what it was for us, those who were there, it was transformative. It was empowering. We were doing something. We were making a difference, and I\u2019ll never forget that feeling,\u201d said Midyette.<\/p>\n

\"Jimmy<\/p>\n

Jimmy Midyette, Assistant Director of the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission, speaks at the city’s annual Pride Month event<\/p>\n

Jacksonville\u2019s outspoken LGBTQ history goes back even further, however. River City Pride kicks off annually at Willowbranch Park – honoring the site of Jacksonville\u2019s first LGBT Pride Picnic in 1978.<\/p>\n

Mayor Donna Deegan also spoke, emphasizing her goal of fostering more collaboration with the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the mantras I try to lead by is \u2018love over fear,\u2019 because love and unity are our only paths forward,\u2019 said Mayor Deegan. \u201dAnd in that spirit, it is important that we strengthen the relationship between Jacksonville\u2019s LGBTQ community and our city government.”<\/p>\n

Mayor Deegan announced the first-ever members of her 11-person LGBTQ Advisory Committee, which was created via Executive Order in 2024. Some of those advisors include Cindy Watson of JASMYN, performer Karissa Wade, Mason Manion of Equality Florida, and Mayo Clinic\u2019s Jacob Eleazer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only through our collective efforts that we will continue building a community where everyone feels that sense of belonging,\u201d said Mayor Deegan. \u201cWe stand together to do the work not only during Pride Month, but also every day of our lives as we create a safe, inclusive, and equitable city for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Jacksonville<\/p>\n

Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan issues a proclamation recognizing LGBTQ+ Pride Month<\/p>\n

She ended her time on stage with an official proclamation, recognizing June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

[DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n

[SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The City of Jacksonville held its 2nd official Pride Month celebration at City Hall on Friday. Several speakers…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":20729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,10083,3188,723,7310,19271,19274,15967,19272,9863,19273,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-20728","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-donna-deegan","10":"tag-fl","11":"tag-florida","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-jimmy-midyette","14":"tag-lgbt-pride","15":"tag-lgbtq-community","16":"tag-lgbtq-history","17":"tag-pride-month","18":"tag-river-city-pride","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114758768676384000","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}