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Like most of the country, Floridians traveled to New York City to participate in the annual Christopher Street Liberation Day in the early 70’s, marching from the Stonewall Inn to Central Park.

In 1972, Miami’s Gay Activist Alliance held the first Pride March in Florida when several activists marched up and down the 21st Street Beach in protest of Miami’s archaic laws banning gay bars and cross dressing. The march drew attention and the offending laws were repealed, galvanizing the gay community and energizing local activists.

In 1977, the Dade County Commission quietly passed a pro-gay human rights ordinance. Fundamentalist religious groups were angered and formed an umbrella organization, Save Our Children, with Anita Bryant as their spokesperson, to repeal the ordinance. Local South Florida activists responded by forming the Dade County Coalition for Human Rights to counter the false and misleading information that was being disseminated by the Save Our Children campaign.

The ordinance was defeated by electoral repeal in early June of 1977, but the spirit and cooperation among gay groups and activist remained undeterred. The Coalition formed a sub-committee that planned and organized a protest celebration for National Gay Pride Day on June 28, 1977 to commemorate the Stonewall Riots. Several hundred people marched through Coconut Grove carrying signs and shouting slogans, ending in a street party and beer blast. Trying to muster pride in the face of defeat, Gay Pride in South Florida was born.

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