“The FBI and the police are here, not only in Wilton Mainors, but also in Fort Lauderdale. “I have never seen so many law enforcement agencies at festivals,” continues Victor Gonzalez. No metal detectors or additional checks were organized. True, it was expressed, rather, in the presence of a large number of police officers who patrolled the territory on cars, motorcycles and even bicycles. In connection with the latest events, as the organizers warned, security measures were tightened.
South Florida's LGBT community is one big family, ”Victor Gonzalez, one of the leaders of Latinos Salud, tells me. “We need to be together, especially after Orlando. On the day when Omar Matin made a shooting at the Pulse club, a Latin American party was held there, so the activists of Latinos Salud tell us that many of its participants were personally acquainted.
The traditional gay parade, which takes place during the festival, began with a minute of silence in memory of 49 victims of the tragedy and procession with the participation of 49 activists of the organization Latinos Salud, who had signs with the names of each of the victims. The name of the festival, now 18 years old, refers to the famous 1969 Stonewall riots in New York - spontaneous demonstrations against police raids at the Stonewall Inn bar. One of the largest festivals of the LGBT community in the United States, Wilton Manors Stonewall, took place a week after the massacre at a gay club in Orlando in one of the cities of Florida, Wilton Manors.