Progressive Rainbow Street Mural, highlighting the original St Pete gayborhood and the birthplace of St Pete Pride in 2003. 25th Street & Central Avenue in the Grand Central District, Saint Petersburg, Florida Managed by the City of St Pete LGBTQ+ Liaison and working with St Pete Pride, we raised over $10,690.00. The Artist who is overseeing the installation and design process is Andrea Pawlisz of
The Fresh Art Studio. She is a local Le***an artist who has been in the community for a very long time and is well-known in the arts community. She was eager to assist in the design and oversee the installation. She will also be using local LGBTQ artists to facilitate the installation, and local LGBTQ-owned businesses will assist in the prep work on the intersection. It is vital that we recognize the LGBTQ community and the Grand Central District for their contributions to making our city a diverse and welcoming community. But we cannot do that without recognizing intersections within the LGBTQ+ community honoring LGBTQ+ people of color–whose activism inspired the very first Pride—and different gender identities. The Grand Central District was the birthplace of St Pete Pride and the original Gayborhood in St Pete. Having a pride street mural at 25th Street and Central Ave. anchors its history and celebrates the vision that in St. Pete, we recognize our differences, what we look like, whom we pray to, and whom we love…that is what makes our country great. That’s what makes St. Pete is a place where diversity and differences are celebrated and embraced. The LGBTQ+ community makes an enormous contribution to life in our city, and it is crucial for us to reflect the rich diversity of that community. I would like to think that recent events the world has faced have allowed for a refocusing of our attention on the issues affecting those most vulnerable. Therefore, the use of progressive colors, hopefully, means increased awareness of intersecting forms of oppression and the need for intersectional inclusion. Movements are benefiting from this, for example, the Black Lives Matter movement, and so, of course, there has been cross-pollination to the LGBTQ+ movement where finally, q***r, trans people of color (QTPOC) and our issues are being recognized. The meaning behind the street mural design is a perfect encapsulation of where the LGBTQ community stands. We need actions of solidarity, and they must outmatch virtue signaling. As we see a rise in the prominence of racist and transphobic rhetoric in the U.S., awareness must lead to positive change.
