Pride flags waved as Bay County residents marched the Hathaway Bridge

BAY COUNTY, Fla. ( WMBB ) – For years, members of the Gulf Coast LGBTQ Center along with other Bay County residents have been marching over the Hathaway Bridge every June 30th.

It’s the annual Gay Hathaway March.

People came in droves waving their pride flags. Over 50 people were in attendance on Sunday at Carl Gray Park to be a part of a much larger movement.

This event is hosted to close out Pride Month with a bang.

It’s a good opportunity for folks of all ages to come together and march as drivers honk in encouragement as they make their walk across the bridge.

“Yeah. If you were to take the gather Hathaway bars for a face value, you’d be like, Why would I want to do that? It’s hard or smoggy or spraying and it’s a long while driving. The reason why you would want to go is this is because this is what you get out of things that you can really measure. And it’s about the healing that happens from as far as you being able to take those steps up there and represent there’s a liberation that happens for a lot of folks,” Gulf Coast LGBTQ Center Executive Director William Shurbutt-Rardin said.

Gulf Coast LGBTQ Center’s Executive Director says he loves seeing new faces every time he does this event. He says when the Gay the Hathaway hits its 25th anniversary, he and other members plan on doing something really special.

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