Digital subscriptions provided by the City of Gulfport THE GABBER.COM No. 2814
May 25, 2023- May 31, 2023
There was a time when a drag show in Gulfport on the first day of Pride Month wouldn’t have been big news, let alone landed on the front page of The Gabber Newspaper. But that was then. This is now. In Florida’s current anti-drag, anti-trans climate, Drag at the Hickman on June 1 could be viewed as an act of defiance: a declaration of queer joy and a celebration of an art form that has been a mainstay of popular entertainment from Shakespeare to RuPaul, from Milton Berle to Mrs. Doubtfire. Even more important is the beneficiary: the Gulfport Public Library’s renowned LGBTQ+ Resource Center, a collection of more than 10,000 books, CDs, DVDs and online materials. The Center’s the only one of its kind in a Florida public library. In this time of book-ban hysteria, support of a public institution that shares information for and about LGBTQ+ lives is more crucial than ever. Hosting a drag show at the Catherine Hickman Theater wasn’t the Resource Center’s first idea for Pride month. The Center, known for such programs as its popular ReadOut literary festival in February, planned
MORGAN LE SHADE/BLACK ROSE PHOTOGRAPHY
By David Warner
Mr. and Mrs. Gripp (Edson Abadia, Jr., left, and Michael Knapp) will host Drag at the Hickman June 1.
a film series. But when that didn’t work out, a drag show seemed a timely alternative, said Susan Gore, the all-volunteer Center’s savvy and
determined board president. Like many other Gulfportians, she had grown familiar with the work Drag continued on page 8
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