June is LGBT Pride Month – a time to celebrate and support our fellow humans for who they are and whom they love. Not just in June, but every day let us celebrate love in every form for all that it brings to the world. Love is support, love is recognition, love is pride in yourself and others, love is a kind word, love is acceptance, love is community, love is affirmation, and to quote Lin-Manuel Miranda, “Love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love.” Polk Pride will hold its Pride festivities June 8 through 15 to celebrate the LGBTQ community. Polk Pride alongside LYA and PFLAG of Polk County have made it their mission to be a resource for local LGBTQ individuals, a community with open arms, and to provide them a “safe and supportive environment.” We spoke with members from the Polk Pride Board to discuss their initiatives, goals, and community impact. Why Polk Needs Pride The positive impact Polk Pride, PFLAG of Polk County, and LYA have on LGBTQ youth and underserved members within Polk County truly reaches somewhere over the rainbow and contributes to an overall more successful community. “As I reflect in the past years of our events, the sole thing that I think moves and motivates all of us, especially in an area like central Florida is to see the safe space that gets created for the youth,” said Dustin Shay. “They sometimes don’t have an outlet for who they are as an individual, for who they want to love, sometimes those things feel a little sheltered for all kids, but even more so for LGBTQ kids.” He encourages LGBTQ youth and allies to get involved. “For them to be involved is drastically important, not just for them but for the future of our group because they are going to be our future leaders, coworkers, business owners, and to instill something like that in them at this age within this critical time is great, and that’s why we do it.” To support any of these three organizations, you can become a sponsor, volunteer, donate, join their initiatives or simply like and share their social media. “More importantly than that,” said Shay, “we need the development of the idea. We need people to be participating, we need people to come out, we need people to show support. It’s the message really that we’re trying to flourish through the community.” Prior to the inception of Polk Pride, LYA (Lakeland Youth Alliance) and PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) of Polk County were strong resources for LGBTQ individuals and their families. An executive board member of Polk Pride, Dustin Shay explained that Kristine Lally, now president of LYA, and Scott Guira, founder of Polk Pride, both previously sat on the LYA board. From their perspective working with youth, they had a vision of something that kept young people from having to travel to Tampa or Orlando for LGBTQ activities. With this vision in mind, Guira launched Polk Pride in 2014, with their inaugural event the following year. “He came to a few close people that he thought would be proactive, smart, hardworking, beneficial, already involved in the community and kind of pieced together a little team – and we were all on board,” said Shay. Polk Pride is now made up of six Executive Board Members: Scott Guira, Kerri McCoy, Kristine Lally, Patrick Patterson, Dustin Shay, and Nick Sotolongo. Polk Pride, LYA, and PFLAG of Polk County aren’t formally affiliated, but do share resources and work together to put on Pride. “It’s easier for us to pool resources whether it’s events, communications, marketing, social media. We kind of share across these different platforms so we have maximum reach with the same message,” said Shay. This year, the multi-day Pride festival will include the Pride Launch Party on June 8, Pride for Youth on June 12, Pride in Faith on June 13, Pride Kickoff Cocktail Party on June 14, and Pride in the Park on June 15. Up to 5000 people and around 100 vendors attend their free, family-friendly anchor event, Pride in the Park. “This isn’t a festival just for LGBTQ. We have businesses, allies, family, friends. It is a Pride, but it’s so much more than that,” said Shay. “It’s really about celebration.” The concerted efforts and reach of the three organizations span beyond Pride week. “We found that having PFLAG, LYA and Pride served an area of our community that had not yet been served through other resources – essentially, that’s why it’s here. That’s why it’s valuable,” said Shay. An ultimate goal of Polk Pride, according to Shay, is to have something larger than a festival format. “In a perfect vision, we’d love to have a Lakeland Pride parade or even a larger venue than what we have now at Munn Park,” he said. Pride events are seasonal, happening only in June, but Polk Pride has monthly board meetings and hosts networking and social events throughout the year. In the 2019-2020 year, the group also plans to open some of their meetings in what Shay described as a “town hall format.” In these meetings, Dustin said, “We’re going to invite community individuals to come to some of our board meetings which will offer some delegation of volunteer opportunities.” He added, “While the executive board will still maintain the direction and the vision of the process, we’re going to start involving a little bit more in hopes that we will eventually develop future board members.” 21 A chapter of the Orlando Youth Alliance, LYA started in 2008. Current LYA president, Kristine Lally discussed what drew her to the organization as an ally of the LGBTQ community. “I grew up in this county and saw many friends kicked out of their homes and treated horribly by their families, I wanted to do all I could to support the LGBT youth in Polk County,” said Lally. Lally went on to voice their mission which is shared with their parent organization OYA, “To provide a nonexploitative, safe, drug and alcohol-free, social outlet for youth ages 13 to 20 who are grappling with gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning issues. / To be proudly diverse by opening membership to youth without regard to sexual orientation, gender, religion, race or background. / To serve as an educational and referral service for LGBTQ youth of Central Florida. / To educate parents, academia, health care workers and other human service professionals about the development and diversity of sexuality and sensitize them to the reality and needs of the LGBTQ community. / To facilitate in the development of the LGBTQ youth and to empower them to become leaders in the community.” Along with monthly support meetings and special activities, LYA holds an annual Prom event and are included in the Polk Pride events in June. Lally shared LYA’s vision for the future, saying, “Our long term vision is to continue our growth as a resource and advocate to LGBTQ and ally youth within the local school systems. We have a goal to be a single source advocacy group for the community of students and educators within Polk County.” A step towards this goal, the Polk County School Board has approved their Pride week proclamation for the past two years, with 2019 being the third. Any LGBTQ youth or ally that would like to get involved with LYA can go through their social media or website listed below. Help spread the word! Lally concluded, “We want to be a common thought for those who need the support we offer.” For 25 years, the Polk County chapter of the national group, PFLAG has been a support group for anyone in the community with an LGBTQ family member or friend. The group is there to help answer questions, show support, and offer resources to these families. Shay remarked, “Sometimes the process for the youth or the individual coming out is their own struggle but it’s also a completely different struggle for the parent or the friend or family member – so we provide a lot of materials for that.” PFLAG of Polk County president, Kerri McCoy found out about the group through her aunt who is a lesbian. When McCoy’s son came out in high school, her aunt suggested she get involved with the group. McCoy had no qualms about her son being gay, she fully supported him. “I don’t understand, I don’t need support,” she told her aunt. Her aunt replied, “No, so you can help others.” After three years of working with the group, McCoy became its president. “When people come to us and they do need help, we can provide them with websites to go to, we have a list of counselors that are LGBTQ-friendly that can help them, if it’s a religious issue, we have several pastors and churches that we can point them to, doctors for anybody who may be transgender,” McCoy explained. The group has monthly support meetings and are also a part of Pride week. To find out more about PFLAG, information about attending a meeting, or to get involved, check out their website and social media listed below. Polk Pride See their website for a full list of dates and times of Polk Pride 2019 events. www.polkpridefl.com FB: @PolkPrideFL IG: @polkpridefl LYA lakelandyouthalliance.org FB: @LakelandYouthAlliance IG: @oya_cfl PFLAG of Polk County pflagofpolkcounty.org FB: @PFLAGofPolkCounty

On the night of the Oscars in 2014, Lakeland resident Kevin O’Brien made a personal goal to write and produce a full-length feature film. That night, he bought a website domain and wrote a blog post committing to do something every day to bring him closer to his goal. The product of that initial dream, a movie titled, “At the End of the Day,” has become a piece of a larger conversation surrounding the LGBTQ and Christian communities. The film featuring Stephen Shane Martin, Danielle Sagona, Tom Nowicki, Chris Cavalier, and Susan Steele Mulholland, follows 30-something Dave Hopper who has just lost his wife and counseling practice. He lands a position as a part-time professor at his Christian college alma mater. Conflict ensues when the dean of the college wants to develop a piece of property that was left to an LGBTQ support group. The support group want to open an LGBTQ homeless teen shelter if they can raise the money for the property in time. At the dean’s behest, Hopper goes undercover as a gay man in the group in an attempt to halt their progress. “The awkward and emotional experiences that follow lead Dave on a journey of truth, revealing that life and love are not as black and white as he first thought,” reads the film’s synopsis. Since its premiere in the summer of 2018, “At the End of the Day” has received acclaim from film festivals globally. Jordan Weiland Photography About the Writer/ Director O’Brien moved to Lakeland from Virginia to attend college at Southeastern University. Growing up in the Assembly of God church is part of the reason O’Brien attended the university – to become a youth pastor. He described church as a big part of his life, reflecting on his previous career path, “Looking back on it now, I think that was the only option I could see for my life.” He found filmmaking in his 30’s. Until that point, he wasn’t aware that filmmaking could be a viable career option. He joked, “Movies were just this magical thing that happened somewhere else and showed up at Blockbuster.” He fell in love with making movies and knew that was what he wanted to do with his life. For the last ten years, he’s been taking steps to make it his full-time profession. For the last 8 of those years, O’Brien has been making some 150 plus short films with his company Journey Box Media. A Change of Perspective Through his twenties and thirties, O’Brien began reevaluating his religious and political stances. Relationships he and his wife had formed within the community and the process of adopting their three children were catalysts for this reassessment of his views. On the adoption process, the father of three said, “The whole experience educated us so much on the world we live in and people in our own backyard, how our society works and functions, and misconceptions we had.” He continued, “As they were getting to ages where we’d want to explain things to them and talk about faith and life and what matters – we thought, ‘What do we even believe and why do we believe this?’” Around the same time, he and his wife were friends with a newly engaged lesbian couple at their church. The O’Briens knew they wanted to celebrate their friends and struggled with why their religion historically wasn’t affirming of their love. This, coupled with viewing “For the Bible Tells Me So,” a documentary following five families with openly LGBTQ kids, evaluating the homophobic stance of the conservative Christian church and how these families are affected, added to the shift in O’Brien’s thinking. “Both of us were so heartbroken at the end of that documentary. It struck me in a way that I hadn’t been before,” said O’Brien. The rejection that many of the individuals faced in the documentary really spoke to him. That night, he told his wife that he didn’t know what the story would be yet, but that he was sure this was the conflict he wanted to explore in his film. Making the Movie He landed on the storyline in the summer of 2014 and spent 3 to 4 months outlining it. He shut himself away in a lake house for three weeks and wrote the movie. He came back from writing, launched a website, began raising funds for the project and sought out feedback on his script. It was filmed in the early months of 2017 and premiered in June of 2018. Throughout the making the film, O’Brien and his family immersed themselves in the local LGBTQ community, joining PFLAG of Polk County. “They really kind of became our family,” he said. With this new found family beside them and the support of the Lakeland community, “At the End of the Day” came to life. “We were blown away on the big scale of Lakeland and how much support there was for the movie,” said O’Brien. In support of the movie and its message, people allowed them to use filming locations for free and a whole team of people donated food every day for the cast and crew, along with others donating time and energy to the film in different ways. Around 700 people turned up for the one-night premiere of “At the End of the Day” at Polk Theatre. “It was probably the most magical night of a screening that I’ll ever experience,” he recalled. Joining the Conversation Seeing the film from conception to the big screen was a significant personal accomplishment for O’Brien. “I forget that. If you asked me ten years ago, I would have never imagined that I would have a movie – that I made, wrote, directed, and produced.” Aside from his personal filmmaking dreams, O’Brien wanted to join the ongoing conversation that led to his own reformation. “I don’t think any one story, any one thing like this will do it for anybody. It’s years of ideas and relationships, thoughts and questions and then maybe something catalyzes that,” he said. He continued, “That’s definitely what I wanted to do in the movie was show the story of someone whose ideas about the world shifted and allowed people to ask the questions that they can’t.” To watch the movie or host a screening, check out the website, www.endofthedayfilm.com , where you can also find a podcast of the same name continuing the Christian/ LGBTQ conversation. “At the End of the Day” endofthedayfilm.com FB: @endofthedayfilm IG: @endofthedayfilm

Through her law practice, Foley Immigration Law and nonprofit The Red Tent Initiative, Lakeland attorney, Alison Foley-Rothrock is using her voice to bust stigmas and give power to victims as a survivor, advocate and leader. Alison grew up in the northeast and went to school in Rhode Island where she graduated with her bachelor’s degree and attended law school. “I wanted to be involved in law because I see it as an extension of politics. I’ve always been very political and motivated by ideas of justice and human rights,” said Foley-Rothrock. She has been dedicated to practicing immigration law since 2004. Prior to her law career, Alison looked into teaching and the arts, two things she loves, but decided she wanted to do something that would use her talents in a more impactful way. Starting Her Own Practice In 2006, a year and a half out of law school, after just finding out that she was pregnant with her first child, Alison’s position at a nonprofit she’d been working for was cut. The more she had been immersed in immigration law, the more she felt that helping immigrants, especially immigrant victims of crime, was exactly where she needed to be. The only way she could continue to do that and provide for her growing family was to go into private practice. Foley-Rothrock started her practice, Foley Immigration Law that year. When Alison found herself going through a divorce with a toddler and another on the way, it the security of a steady paycheck led her to take a position at a nonprofit she had volunteered for. In 2010, Alison was offered a job to be in private practice, that would move her family to Clearwater, Florida. “The opportunity both to move south and to go back into private practice […] was too good to pass up,” she said. In November of 2011 when the attorney who had hired her, closed her firm, Foley-Rothrock continued in private practice for herself. She met her husband in 2014 and then fell in love with Lakeland shortly after, moving her family and practice. The Red Tent Initiative In 2015, motivated by her work with nonprofits and her own experiences, Foley-Rothrock started the Red Tent Initiative. “One of the reasons I had always stuck with nonprofits was because I have a real passion for helping survivors of domestic violence and other types of crime, abuse, and exploitation,” she explained. In working with clients at her practice, Alison realized one of their biggest needs was someone they could talk to who could relate to what they had been through. As a child, Alison herself grew up in an abusive home. In adulthood, she found herself in a series of toxic relationships. “Part of my recovery from that was to learn to talk about it with other people and sort of shake off the shame and stigma that comes with being a survivor,” she said. “Statistically speaking, domestic violence happens across all spectrums. The one group who are actually more vulnerable are people who are born in foreign countries and move to the U.S.” She noticed all of the overlaps within the immigration work she was doing. “I was seeing people who were having these layers of vulnerability and disadvantage – having been born in another country, maybe being undocumented, or not having U.S. citizenship yet, or maybe not speaking the language.” “It was only when I experienced it myself and I tried to access services with all of the advantages that I do have – I speak the language, I’m a U.S. citizen, I’m educated, I had the main income in our household – still, it was really hard to pull myself away and find support,” she said. “When I did find support services available, I felt like the attitude of the people who worked in these services tended to be kind of condescending. They asked those same questions that made me feel like it was my fault,” Foley-Rothrock explained. To Alison, this was a gap that needed to be bridged. When working with clients who were facing similar circumstances, Foley-Rothrock lifted the detached, inhuman veil that traditionally exists between lawyer and client. She discovered, “If I would tell them, ‘It happened to me too. I understand what you’re going through because I’ve been there,’ it really changed the whole dynamic between us.” The Red Tent Initiative came out of that idea that sharing survivor stories is a powerful thing. “It defies this idea that this is stuff that we don’t talk about, that the shame and stigma are for the victim to bare going forward, that they’re the ones who have to work through it, the totally false idea that victims are people that you don’t run into every day.” The first Red Tent event was held on March 31, 2015. The date fell at the end of International Women’s History Month and the eve of Sexual Assault Awareness Month. “We felt like it was kind symbolic of how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go,” said the organization’s founder. Foley-Rothrock invited influential women in the community to speak. She was surprised to hear survival stories from all of the women she had invited. Business owners, people who ran nonprofits, community leaders – they each had stories about domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. This inspired the attorney. “If they could just talk about the fact that they’ve been survivors more, it might change the way we all look at survivors and change the way that people who are in situations where they are being victimized think about their own possibilities.” The Red Tent Initiative has since turned into a monthly event, showcasing local artists, musicians, spoken word poets, and visual artists to do a themed show telling the stories of survivors, and giving the floor to survivors to share their own stories.“We couple it with art to make it more impactful and to show the beauty of being a survivor and the strength of survivors and hopefully inspire people to take action,” said the Red Tent founder. Funds collected by the organization are used to fill gaps in which social services aren’t able to meet – needs like assistance with safe houses, groceries, and car insurance. The Red Tent Initiative is a radically inclusive network made up entirely of survivors and allies. If you or someone you know is an exploitative or abusive situation, you can contact the Red Tent Initiative at (813) 424-0652 or through their website at redtentinitiative.org . CityMaker Alison was recognized by the City of Lakeland as a CityMaker in November 2018 by Mayor Bill Mutz for her work as an attorney and advocate. She admitted she felt a little cautious moving to Polk County, an area known for being conservative. Alison explained that she doesn’t fall within the borders of what might be deemed “socially acceptable” to a conservative community. She identifies as queer, her husband is transgender, she has multiracial children, practices immigration law, and advocates for awareness of topics that are uncomfortable for some to acknowledge. “To get an award that to me kind of symbolizes acceptance – not just acceptance but being embraced by this community – it was way more than a pat on the back,” she said. “That really meant a lot to me.” Loud and Proud As a queer-identifying person, Alison voiced that she thinks Polk County is moving in the right direction in regard to embracing the LGBTQ community. “I think it’s important for everyone to realize that everyone who might otherwise be seen as outsiders as not having potential, often become leaders in our communities. It’s important to me to be loud and proud as both someone who is in the LGBT community and a survivor because these are things that a lot of times carry shame and stigma, especially in conservative communities, it’s all the more important for me to put that out front,” said Foley-Rothrock. “If you want to be my friend and my supporter, you have to embrace the whole package. You can’t compartmentalize who I am in your mind, to make me more acceptable.” Photo by Amy Sexson

As we gear up to celebrate Pride Month here in Polk County, I can’t help but think about how lucky I am to have spent a good portion of my life volunteering and working in a theater. I am the Producing Director at Theatre Winter Haven, but the first play I ever did was a production of THE KING AND I at age 5. Most of my life has been informed by the values I learned in a dark theater. Because I was a theater kid, I have been blessed to know and love members of the LBGTQ community long before I knew how to shave. One of the lessons I learned is that a theater is a safe place for those who society hasn’t always embraced. I learned that people I loved and admired inside the theater could be victimized outside of it, just for being who they are. I wish the whole world could be more like a community theater. Because theater, especially community theater, is the one place in the world where being different, being weird, being strange is considered an asset instead of a reason to be bullied or ridiculed. The people I work with are wonderfully odd, magically bizarre, and absolutely march to the beat of their own drummer… (but we ALWAYS clap on the 2 and 4… we are weirdos, not barbarians). In Community Theater, we don’t care about race, sexual orientation or identification, if someone is on the spectrum, or even your age. ART transcends all that other stuff. HECK, we don’t even care if you can act, sing, or dance – because there are a hundred other ways to be part of our community. Sets need to be built, costumes need to be made, tickets need to be sold, and patrons need to be seated. There is something for everyone. Community Theater is a safe place, especially for those who don’t fit in easily. We are a band of misfits. All are WELCOME. In fact, theater has ALWAYS been the home of the disenfranchised, the outcasts, the marginalized. Theater has ALWAYS been an island of acceptance in a frequently cruel world. And the world has often been disproportionately cruel to members of the LBGTQ community. The first Community Theaters were in ancient Greece. And, like the community theaters of today, they attracted the quirky, the different, and those who lived outside the mainstream. The comedies of ancient Greece championed the underserved… the butt of the jokes were always the rich and famous and powerful. At the same time, they celebrated those who were, well, fabulous. Long before there was a RuPaul’s Drag Race, Greek comedies were exploring nuances of gender roles and homosexuality. Then, like now, the theater welcomed and embraced the gay community. I think it takes a similar type of courage to be openly gay or transexual as it does to be successful in theater. There is a fearlessness to embracing one’s true self and being comfortable with that. I contend it is that same brand of fearlessness that makes one shine on stage. The charge of a Community Theater is more than just putting together pieces of entertainment. Our higher purpose is to make our communities better places to live, to work, and to play by making our citizens – especially our underserved citizens – the focus of everything we do. We are black, we are white, we are gay, we are straight, we are Christian and not; we are young and old we are liberal and conservative and we couldn’t be more eclectic or different. But we are a family. We genuinely care and love one another. THE TRADITION CONTINUES AT THEATRE WINTER HAVEN. The world is a different (and better) place than it was when I was a kid, but we still have a lot of work to do. I am proud that we continue to be a safe place for members of the LBGTQ community. Especially for young gay people throughout Polk County. It warms my heart to see the unlikely friendships that are built on our stage and know that these kids are learning the same lessons that I learned as a kid in a theater. I am equally proud that we have role models for these kids who have unimpeachable character, warm and kind hearts, and would walk through fire to protect them. Many of these role models happen to be gay. For those times one needs an escape from the harsh realities of the world, theater offers an opportunity to pretend to be someone else and somewhere else every single day. We get to create worlds that are free from prejudice and full of grand adventure. Within our walls and on our stage we get to drop our labels and be whoever the script dictates we be. For a few hours each day, we get to leave the outside world behind. The fact is, Community Theater is a place where people who are not yet comfortable in their skin can find a home as easily as those who have already learned to celebrate what makes them different. In theater, we love people to be unique. No one ever got a starring role by being just like everyone else at an audition. Part of the job description for an artist – especially an actor – is standing out, and that doesn’t happen by fitting in. We admire the differences in each other and, in time, those who struggle with who they are realize that’s what makes them unique also makes them great – both as actors and as humans. The best part about community theater is that, not only are we welcoming and accepting, we are an antidote to loneliness. There are some problems in our world that are too big and too complex to comprehend. But if isolation and loneliness are part of those problems – then more people need to find a community theater and play with us. I promise there is a friend somewhere in the wings of a theater – and that friend won’t care if you are gay or not. I invite all members of the LBGTQ community to come and work with us. I am sure you will find a welcoming home.