Menu
Menu
Niceville PFLAG will use the Niceville Community Center for its Pride Day event, which is scheduled for June 1 this year.
In an email to the Niceville City Council, City Manager David Deitch told the elected officials he would allow the event to go forward with one caveat. “We mutually agreed to execute this event in the community center as planned, but without the drag queen story hour. The other published events will occur as planned. I believe this arrangement will mitigate some of the concerns and issues that have been expressed this week while also ensuring the participants have a safe, joyful day of community and fellowship,” Deitch said in the email.
RELATED: Clergy, LGBTQ+ Advocates React to Klan Comparisons at City of Niceville Meeting
City Councilman Sal Nodjomian, the lone voice of anger against bigoted statements about the Pride Event last week, said “The discussions started at the council meeting and carried on in social media were often painful, but I am encouraged by the outcome. We shed light on the need to be an inclusive community and we lived up to the standards our residents deserve. We don’t have to agree on every issue, but we do need to engage in informed and respectful discourse.”
RELATED: Councilman Nodjomian Says He Won’t Run For Reelection in 2025
Dr. Misti Schneidewind, a PFLAG leadership team member, told Mid Bay News, “[last week’s events were] never the ‘City of Niceville versus the LGBTQ community.’ From the very beginning, this was about building bridges and spreading love. This is not our first time doing this and this is certainly not our first time encountering obstacles. Everything pretty much occurred right on time . Our philosophy has always been ‘pivot, pivot, pivot…let love prevail.’ My communications with the city manager were never anything other than pleasant and professional. In the end love won. Pride 2024 is a go and will be happening at the community center in Niceville on June 1.”
One can find event details at emeraldcoastpride.com. This will be the organization’s sixth iteration of Pride in Boggy.
