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Business & Tech

Patrons of Christopher Street Bar Ready For St. Pete Pride

An informal group of patrons and staff at Largo's only gay bar are attending Saturday's St. Pete Pride festival and hope the parade will help break media stereotypes.

The Christopher Street Bar shares much of its interior with the average Largo watering hole. There’s pool and karaoke. The bartenders are friendly and know many of the patrons’ names. They pour strong drinks and keep the conversation going.

However, Christopher Street is not your average Largo pub—it’s the only gay bar in town.

Located at 13344 66th St., the bar is named after the famed street in New York City where in 1969 the Stonewall riots occurred and the modern-day gay rights movement was born.

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Protests turned violent for days following a police raid of the Stonewall Inn, then a bar and center of New York’s gay community. The riots are often cited as the first time the community truly pushed back against persecution.

Mitch Demmons, who manages the Christopher Street Bar, sees the gay pride movement as something that has grown since then.

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“Gay pride started with the Stonewall riots and over time it evolved from the violence there to celebrations like St. Pete Pride,” he said.

Demmons will be at the ninth annual St. Pete Pride Promenade Parade and Street Festival this Saturday with an informal group from the Christopher Street Bar. Last year 80,000 people attended the parade, which runs down Central Ave and is set in June to commemorate the Stonewall riots.

Christopher Street patron Michael Sweeney will also be attending St. Pete Pride. He sees the event as an opportunity to expose the public to a broader range of homosexuality than it usually sees.

“The media usually only shows the more ‘out there’ ones in thongs and boy shorts. They never show the norm— people wearing shorts and a t-shirt that says ‘I support pride.’ Straight parades have the same range of people that will be in St. Pete. Saturday,” Sweeney said.

He pointed at the list of event sponsors to note that companies are embracing the gay community’s higher-than-average disposable income. Coca Cola, JetBlue Airways, Macy’s and Wells Fargo are just some of the big names sponsoring the event.

“Am I going to take my business to Target or Macy’s? I’ll take it to Macy’s because they’re a sponsor at the parade,” he said.

Sweeney said although the larger gay community is in St. Petersburg, the Christopher Street Bar is a favorite in central and northern Pinellas County.

Manager Demmons said the bar serves the gay community in the area by providing the same outlet that all bars do.

“In general, bars are places for people to comingle and talk. Christopher Street is basically that outlet for gays. It’s like Cheers, where everyone knows your 'gayme,'” the manager joked.

Sweeney, though, sometimes yearns for a bit more than a bar can offer.

“I’m an outdoorsy guy. The community revolves around bars, but I’d like to see more groups for active things like kayaking,” he said.

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