Businesses celebrate gay pride

Now in its 11th year, the St. Pete Pride Festival has drawn widespread support from the business community, says the group's executive director.

The five-day event, which began June 26, is held annually to celebrate the gay, bisexual and transgender community of Tampa Bay through educational programs and activities.

Businesses that threw their support behind the festival this year include Grow Financial Federal Credit Union, Raymond James Financial, Ernst & Young, Bank of America, Fifth Third Bank, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Wells Fargo, to name a few.

In fact, many of the 300-plus exhibitors are businesses, says Eric Skains, executive director of St. Pete Pride. Skains says the event also received support from elected officials in St. Pete and Tampa, as well as local counties.

Grow Financial has been an official sponsor of St. Pete Pride for three years.

“We really celebrate diversity at Grow Financial,” says Adrienne Drew, a spokeswoman for the Tampa-based credit union, which has a diversity committee.

Last year, the credit union posted photos of the event on its Facebook page, Drew says, and only one comment was marginally negative. The writer asked why Grow Financial supported St. Pete Pride.

Although there may be a variety of answers to that question, from a business perspective, attendance is the simplest: more than 125,000 people are expected to attend this year's event.