GayDays raises funds for Pulse memorial
Events’ ticket sales to benefit onePulse
GayDays, one of the most jubilant annual events in Central Florida, is showing solidarity as the first observance of the grimmest day in Orlando history approaches.
The LGBTQ event is stepping up to support the onePulse Foundation and honor the 49 killed on June 12 in the Pulse nightclub shooting.
“We lost five individuals involved with GayDays as participants or performers,” said Steve Erics, creative director of entertainment for GayDays. “We reached out to the Pulse owner to support Pulse’s vision for the memorial. We want to help create a legacy and raise money for this memorial.”
The onePulse Foundation earlier this month said the nightclub property will become an “iconic, meaningful, national” memorial and museum.
All tickets sales from three GayDays events will benefit the onePulse Foundation: The KickOff Party on Tuesday, the Love! onePulse Cabaret Show on Saturday and a tea dance pool party
Sunday.
Pulse owner Barbara Poma recalled that Erics and Chris Alexander-Manley, president of GayDays, contacted onePulse to help.
“We were truly inspired,” she said. “It is so comforting to see how the entire LGBTQ community and its businesses are uniting to create change and awareness.”
This is the 27th year for GayDays, which started in 1991 with a visit to Disney’s Magic Kingdom. That tradition will continue Saturday, with theme park patrons wearing red shirts.
The overall attendance for GayDays was estimated at 180,000 last year. This year’s event will honor those lost at the popular gay nightclub, in life-affirming ways.
The cabaret show will offer 15 acts, run roughly 90 minutes and feature Broadway songs.
“The performers have been told nothing sad,” Erics said. “There will be no ballads. It’s supposed to be a celebration of life. It’s supposed to be uplifting.”
That’s in keeping with the spirit of the overall event, which features 10 pool parties with 30 DJs over five days.
“GayDays is a celebration of who we are as individuals,” Erics said.
There will be theme park visits not only to Walt Disney World, but also Universal Orlando and SeaWorld Orlando. The week also features performances by the group FHB, recording artist Malka Red and the female trio Blush, managed by Mathew Knowles, father of Beyoncé and Solange Knowles.
“These events are helping our community to keep dancing and show that regardless, we are one and we won’t let hate win,” said Neema Bahrami, a Pulse survivor and event coordinator at the onePulse Foundation.
“GayDays Inc. has been such a force for our community and has truly brought so much worldwide attention to the Orlando LGBTQ community,” Poma said. “Their generosity is just another way they are showing the world just how united we are in Orlando.”