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In Orlando, the city that I knew is not the city that gays there know now. The police department appointed its first full-time gay liaison a few years ago. The mayor aggressively courts gay voters and, in 2014, the city council made it harder for businesses to discriminate against people based on their gender identity. Gay people are targeted for violence because they are gay - frequently, even in big cities, even in West Hollywood, the epicenter of gay life, even today. I can think of three violent assaults against gay men in West Hollywood this year alone. According to Watermark, a Florida-based gay newspaper that has been covering Gay Days since it started, about 150,000 people attended this June's six-day gathering, which included 17 pool parties. Relations between “us” and “them” aren’t perfect, but police departments by and large have experienced the same degree of empathy expansion that catalyzed the acceptance of gay rights nationwide. These changes aren’t cosmetic.They’re essential. Its gentle bacchanalia stood as an inspiring display of defiance against hate. And a legion of police officers stood sentry at the parade. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti posed for a picture holding a sign that read, “We (heart) Orlando.” He was flanked by the chiefs of the Los Angeles Police Department and the L.A County Sheriff’s Office. Sunday, June 12, was gloomy and gray in Los Angeles, but it happened to be the day of the city's annual gay pride parade. newscast every Saturday night, I’d make a run to a Subway sandwich stop up the street. It’s a few blocks away from where Pulse Orlando was built. I had left the city for my adult life by the time the nightclub opened in 2004. The Orlando I knew wasn’t ready for such a vibrant expression of exuberant gay life, I guess. 2022s One Magical Weekend at the Walt Disney World Resort. I think my colleagues found it amusing. After helping to write the 6 p.m. This is a forum for Gay, Lesbian, Bi and Transgender guests and their family and friends to. My first job during high school allowed me some breathing space. I worked as an intern and then as an associate producer for WFTV Channel 9, the local ABC affiliate. I wasn’t out at school, but I decided to be out at work.