Well, if this isn’t a perfect metaphor for resilience and repair in response to adversity and attacks.
A giant, 100-foot section of Key West’s iconic sea-to-sea rainbow flag, the one that stretched the length of Duval Street in 2003 and started as the wild idea of the late Gregg McGrady, took a beating last year in a windstorm while it was hanging in Orlando as a memorial to the 49 victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting.
Sewn and assembled in Key West by Gilbert Baker, the creator of the original Pride flag, and thousands of volunteers, the flag, when unfurled in 2003, celebrated the 25th anniversary of the rainbow flag as an LGBTQ symbol as well as celebrating the historic diversity of the southernmost city and its One Human Family motto.
The Gay Lesbian Community Center became responsible for this massive project and its financing. The center’s executive director, Scott Frazier, and directors of the Sea-to-Sea Flag Project, Heather Carruthers and Tom Wheaton, brought the project to fruition.
After it had stretched from sea to sea, the flag was divided into 100-foot sections that were made available to other cities and organizations.
One, Section 93, has been around the world, from the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court in celebration of same-sex marriage; to Sydney, Australia’s Pride festivities to Colorado Springs, Rowen County, Kentucky and Orlando, where it has hung every year for the anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shooting.
This is the 10th year that Section 93, which has become known within the LGBT community as the “sacred cloth,” will commemorate the mass shooting in a gay bar. This year, the cloth will fly for the entire month of June in honor of those lost and those who survived.
Additionally, Section 93’s sister section will travel to Atlanta to fly in solidarity with Orlando during Atlanta’s Pride celebration.
But before Section 93 could return to Orlando this week, there was work to be done. The cloth had been punished, persecuted and torn apart by violent wind and thunderstorms. It was weakened and tattered, but not for long.
Last weekend, an army of volunteers, led by Sushi aka Gary Marion, gathered at the Key West Woman’s Club on Duval Street.
The colors of Section 93 were piled on the floor of the club, while more than a dozen people got to work with patches of fabric and matching embroidery thread.
“I’m very pleased with the results and so grateful to the Key West Woman’s Club, its members and The Seam Shoppe,” Sushi told the Keys Weekly on Wednesday, May 27. ”The flag had really gotten tattered in the storms and was sun-damaged. After all, it’s been all over the world since 2003.”
Sushi gathered Sunbrella canvas in colors that matched the flag and asked the woman’s club if any members could embroider.
“We had 20 volunteers show up and we spent about three hours. Now it looks like it’s been loved and taken care of. I’m so proud to have been a part of this.”
After a full day of fixes, the flag is mended.
“Gary, you and your gang of volunteers have made it possible for the flag to fly again this year and spread its message of hope, unity, inclusion and acceptance,” John Nolte, the former partner of McGrady, wrote on Facebook. “Gregg would have been so proud. Again, thank you.”
Mark Ebenhoch, who has taken on the responsibility of Section 93 and its travels, thanked Sushi & all the volunteers and donors.
In the face of punishing attacks by violent forces, the Key West community came together. They mended the holes and fortified the vulnerabilities.
The Pride flag, the symbol of the LGBT community & its allies, emerged stronger and more meaningful than ever before.
Is this sounding familiar at all?
