Given the angry tenor of the current local debate on homosexuality — first with Operation Rescue’s attacks on Disney, then the Orlando City Council’s split over rainbow flags downtown — the city’s invitation to the opening of the East Washington Street Beautification Project seemed just a bit ill-timed. Said the invite targeting the gay-friendly residents and businesses of the Thornton Park neighborhood: “Come on OUT.”
This article appears in Jun 3-9, 1998.