In 2003, a rainbow covered Key West’s Duval Street.
Held aloft by 2,000 volunteers, the 1.25-mile-long Sea-to-Sea Diversity Flag covered the length and width of Duval Street, from sidewalk to sidewalk, and eventually connected the Gulf of Mexico with the Atlantic Ocean.
Conceived by the late Gregg McGrady and executed by local officials, corporate sponsors and scores of volunteers, “flag day” took on a new meaning in Key West on June 15, 2003.
Gilbert Baker, who had designed the original rainbow flag 25 years earlier in response to anti-gay activities in 1978, headed up the crew of volunteers that sewed Key West’s flag. Dozens of them spent months hunched over sewing machines in the old Alice’s Restaurant at Duval and Amelia streets (across from LaTeDa), nearly drowning in swaths of color.
The unfurling was one of McGrady’s best memories.
“How cool was it to see so many people from all walks of life come together to make this one moment in time happen?” he would say. “Key West is attached to this for the rest of our lives.”
The flag was then divided into numbered sections and has been sent to communities around the globe for use in LGBT celebrations, events and displays.
“It’s about sharing the One Human Family message,” says Mark Ebenhoch, who has brought 100-foot sections of the flag to places as far as Australia and as close as Orlando, where Key West’s flag hung in solidarity and solemnity following the Pulse nightclub shooting that killed 49 people in June 2016.
“We want everyone else to have what we have here in Key West,” said Ebenhoch.
Key West will celebrate what it has during its Pride celebration June 7-11, presented by the Key West Business Guild. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, at 8 p.m., the sea-to-sea flag will be recreated with a laser light show above Duval Street, and once again, a throng of volunteers will heft a 100-foot section of the original flag down the street for the Pride parade, which starts at 5 p.m. Sunday at Truman Waterfront.
Just as Baker created the first rainbow in response to anti-gay activities in 1978, Key West’s Pride celebration this year centers on the 20th anniversary of the Sea-to-Sea Flag — once again, when the LGBTQ+ community faces troubling times and anti-gay legislation.For a complete schedule of Pride events, visit the Key West Business Guild at gaykeywestfl.com.
