Less than a month after the Naples City Council voted to approve the permit for the 2023 Naples Pride Festival in Cambier Park, Naples Pride announced they will host the drag show portion of the festival indoors due to safety concerns.
Naples Pride’s decision comes after a string of legislation — which opponents have labeled anti-LGBTQ — were introduced in the Florida Legislature ’s 2023 Legislative Session, and as drag performers have become increasingly politicized nationwide.
“It’s easy because we’re big, bright characters,” said Naples-based drag queen Alyssa Lemay. “It’s easy to make us the boogeyman.”
Lemay has been performing drag for more than 20 years. Originally from Ohio, she started off as a DJ in the Cleveland area and said her career took off after moving to Florida. She was crowned Miss Naples Pride in 2022 and is scheduled to perform and DJ at this year’s festival.
“It’s always been a live-and-let-live area,” Lemay said of Naples. “Just recently is when people got real vocal about not liking drag.”
She credits the rise in anti-drag rhetoric to conservative politicians like former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
“I think they just gave everyone permission to be hateful.”
Gov. DeSantis has quickly become a prominent political figure in the U.S. with his attacks on what he calls the “woke ideology,” including topics such as Critical Race Theory, sexual orientation and gender identity.
During the 2023 Legislative Session, lawmakers have expanded on the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” law, advanced two bills that would prohibit gender-affirming care for minors, and are prepared to pass SB 1438, which would penalize any establishments that “admits a child to an adult live performance.”
DeSantis is expected to sign SB 1438 into law in the coming weeks, which opponents say targets drag shows.
In anticipation of the bill passing, one Pride organization in Port St. Lucie chose to cancel their parade celebration and make their festival a 21+ event. Pride Alliance of the Treasure Coast made the announcement on April 19 in a Facebook post.
“The political climate that we are currently in has us all very concerned for our community,” the organization wrote. “We will need to be on the side of caution…”
Naples Pride’s decision to host their drag show inside was influenced by the same legislation, but also by an increase in opposition from the Naples community.
A majority of that opposition came from supporters of the Stop Naples Drag group during a City Council Workshop on March 20.
“One key step in grooming is exposing children to sexualized content at a young age,” said one speaker, Teddy Collins. “They normalize things like Pride Fests and drag shows by calling them ‘family friendly,’ even though it’s full of sexual content.”
“This has to do with… filth being displayed openly,” said Naples resident and business owner Alfie Oakes. “This is about the children.”
When contacted to answer further questions about his position and support of Stop Naples Drag, Oakes did not respond.
Following the hearing of public comment on March 20, Naples Mayor Teresa Heitmann requested the council reconsider their votes on approving the Pride Festival. The motion ultimately failed.
Mayor Heitmann originally voted on March 1 to approve the festival’s permit. She was one of five yeas and two nays.
Stop Naples Drag was organized in response to that decision. The group posted a petition online the next day, which has since gained more than 7,000 signatures.
The petition website cites Republican Councilman Terry Hutchinson. Huthcison, who voted against the festival, as an organizer of the petition. However, a spokesperson for Stop Naples Drag did not want to be named.
The group said while they feel Naples Pride’s decision was a step in the right direction, they’re not done fighting for their cause.
“Drag shows have become increasingly common in America’s society,” the spokesperson said. “It’s inappropriate for children, and that should be clear to see.”
Stop Naples Drag maintains that their opposition to drag shows is not an opposition to the LGBTQ community.
“This movement has nothing to do with being anti-LGBTQ. We aren’t in opposition to the Pride Festival being held, we’re in opposition to the sexually explicit drag show taking place in front of children.”
But Naples Pride board member Callhan Soldavini said the message from opponents is clear.
“It was never about drag and certainly still isn't,” she said. “It’s an attack on the LGBTQ community at large, and Pride festivals at large.”
Prior to this decision, Soldavini and other Naples Pride members were adamant about not moving or canceling the drag show. She said moving any portion of the festival indoors defeated the purpose of Pride. While she still feels that way now, she knows the move was necessary.
“It was one of the hardest decisions our organization has had to make,” she said. “We're trying to make up for it in every way possible and still put the safety of our guests first and make sure we have a Pride celebration in a year we really need it.”
Naples Prideannounced the change to the festival on social media on March 23.
“We will spare no expense to protect our beloved entertainers from any further defamation, lies and threats against them, our organization and our LGBTQ+ community,” the post read.
Soldavini said she views this change as temporary, and one that hopefully won’t be necessary in the future.
As for Alyssa Lemay, she was originally against the decision and said it felt like giving in to the hate; but after reading and hearing what she called “serious threats” towards drag performers, she understood.
While the exact location is yet to be announced, drag performances at Naples Pride 2023 will be held at a nearby venue just a short walk away from Cambier Park. Still, Lemay worries that the indoor move will discourage people from seeing the drag show, or coming to the festival at all.
“People have made some serious threats against the Pride Festival,” Lemay said. “This may be a year people kind of say, ‘Eh, let's just hold back on this.’”
The festival is scheduled for Saturday, June 10. For this year’s event, Naples Pride has used the slogan “rise, resist, persist.”
This story was produced by Democracy Watch, a news service provided by Florida Gulf Coast University journalism students.
The reporter can be reached at knsnook2767@eagle.fgcu.edu.
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