“See, God loves the gays!” Brooke Eden, a queer country star, exclaimed on stage as the rain cleared up at Palm Peach Pride, which took place Sunday, March 24, in Lake Worth Beach. Located in Bryant Park, the event welcomed thousands of members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community to celebrate Pride.
Initially scheduled to take place over the entire weekend, the rain caused Saturday’s event to be canceled. As the old cliché goes, “the show must go on,” and on Sunday the event continued as scheduled.
The festivities began at 11 a.m. with a parade, before the festival grounds opened up at noon. Dozens of vendors and organizations took up spots in the park, ranging from print sellers, bracelet makers like Bead Mama, and PDQ, a fast-food chicken restaurant advertising a raffle.
Multiple of these vendors and organizations, like Walgreens, handed out free items decorated with rainbows to celebrate.
The event also had many educational and safe sex resources available to festival goers, such as those from organizations like PRISM, a local non-profit focused on LGBTQ+ youth.
Throughout the day, various performers took the stage. The event was headlined by Eden, who began her performance late in the afternoon. Eden is a rising country artist who hails from Palm Beach County. Now she lives with his wife in Nashville. She’s been nominated for CMT Music Awards and GLAAD Media Awards.
Eden’s performance included many of her popular songs, such as “Got No Choice” and “Sunroof.” Members of the audience sang along and crowded around the park’s main stage area.
Other performances include acts such as the Synergy Twins, who played violin over popular music; drag queens like Ariel Rimm and Velvet Lenore, with the latter’s drag family performing multiple dance routines including fire dancing; and a wide array of DJs.
Daniel Franzese, an actor who is best known for his role as Damian in “Mean Girls,” also took the stage. He discussed his life living as a gay Christian and how he came to accept himself.
“...being a Christian has made me a better gay because I think our community needs to give each other grace, respect and mercy,” he said. “We are family, LGBTQ.”
Franzese also co-hosts a podcast “Yass, Jesus!” which according to its website is “a faith and sexuality affirming comedy podcast that believes you don't have to pick between gay and God.”
“It’s so important that you showed up today. I want you to give yourselves a round of applause for coming out again today for your family,” he said. “Celebrating yourself is so important.”
The event was hosted by Compass, a Lake Worth Beach-based LGBTQ+ organization and community center that offers a wide variety of support and educational services for the community. They also provide care for people living with HIV.