Polk Pride is increasing its security at its biggest event of the year on Saturday, Pride in the Park. The newest addition is a lookout tower standing more than 20 feet tall by the main stage.
“That makes me feel good,” said Kerri McCoy. “The Lakeland Police Department is taking this seriously, that they want to make sure that we are safe.”
Polk Pride Vice President Kerri McCoy said the organization hired seven officers for security, and several more will be on regular patrols around Munn Park.
“This year we have stepped it up, we’ve hired more, just because of the current political climate,” McCoy said. “So we felt like it would be safer to have more police presence.”
She said the officers will escort drag queens to and from dressing rooms. McCoy said Lakeland PD expects the performances to be kid-appropriate.
“That they send in pictures of their outfits to us as a board to approve beforehand,” McCoy said. “And for us to also get a copy of their music to make sure that it is family-friendly.”
Polk Pride said they do expect protestors, especially after they said some were outside a kids’ pride event earlier in the week. McCoy said she was angered by this, but added there will be a free speech zone at Saturday’s event.
This comes after the Polk County Commission last week rejected an LGBTQ+ pride month proclamation.
“The county is better off if we don’t celebrate or embrace or proclaim anything about lifestyle or sexual orientation,” said Polk County Commissioner Neil Combee.
“The man can become a woman, that a man can have a baby, those things just simply aren’t true,” said Polk County Commissioner Bill Braswell. “The fact that we’re accepting that in society seems a little bit crazy to me.”
But Polk Pride said the increased security is because of the political climate, not the rejected proclamation.
The organization added that it rented out the park and two of the streets surrounding it, so if protestors step out of the free speech zone, Polk Pride said they would be trespassing.