“I’ve no doubt in my mind that we’ll get there, and events like this are a very important part of that because need to be open, we need to be honest, we need to show our faces - we need to show who we are.” “That is only one small battle in the ultimate war against homophobia and the war and the movement for full LGBT equality,” Smith said before the parade. The parade’s grand marshal was openly gay Iraq War veteran Rob Smith, author of the memoir “Closets, Combat, and Coming Out: Coming of Age as a Gay Man in the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ Army.” READ MORE: US Coast Guard's Priority Number 1: Save Lives Off Florida StraitsĪ decorated former infantryman, Smith also is an LGBT activist who said winning the fight to repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is just one part of achieving LGBT equality. military color guard, “brides” promoting marriage equality and marchers in bright-colored tutus. KEY WEST (CBSMiami/FKNB) – This year’s annual five-day Key West Pride celebration culminated with an all-welcome parade down Duval and Whitehead streets Sunday evening which featured a 100-foot-long rainbow flag, a joint U.S.
