Edwin and Will attended the wonderful Harvey Milk Festival in downtown Sarasota that has grown over the past few years.

It used to be held in the Rosemary District but this year the third annual Harvey Milk Festival was held in Selby Five Points Park in the midst of downtown.

We stopped by on Saturday when the festival attracted a large crowd and included a performance stage that featured performances by local bands. People enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and set up lawn chairs and spread out blankets to be outside for a celebration of life, acceptance and diversity.

There were many vendors on hand with leaders from the Sarasota LGBT community, who gave giving freely of their time and energy to share
Harvey Milk’s message of Hope. We have included a video of Harvey in this post.

ALSO Out is a local Sarasota organization that works to empower young people in the LGBT community.

The ALSO Out Youth Drop-In Center is a drug- and alcohol-free place that supports Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Questioning youth and their allies.

Check out their website http://www.alsoyouth.org.

The Manatee County GLBT Allied democrats also had a booth.

We got the opportunity to speak with volunteers Cole Williams and Jerry Ishida. Cole Williams is working to become a delegate for the state of Florida at the Democratic National Covention.

Check out their blog http://manateeglbta.wordpress.com

There was a lot of excitement about President Barack Obama’s public support of same sex marriage and the LGBT community is already mobilizing to support the first sitting president to take a public stand for same sex marriage.

We also met Marianne Egan and Edward James, who are working with LGBT for Obama. There is meeting at 6:30 pm on Thursday, May 17 at 305 Gillespie Ave., Sarasota.

You can learn more about LGBT support of President Obama at http://www.barackobama.com/lgbt.

We also spoke with Richard Zimmerman, Jill Collum and Stephen Warne
from Step Out Sarasota. Step Out Sarasota is working to build a vibrant
and engaged GLBTQ Community Center in Sarasota County that supports and
enhances the quality of life for everyone in the community.

Check out their website. http://www.stepoutsarasota.org

We created a video montage with highlights from the festival as well as video of two bands that performed at the festival.

There was also a fun after party at Throb Night Club with a performance by RuPaul Drag Race star Dida Ritz.

Visit Will and Ed for more at www.gityourgayon.com