Daniel Knighton/FilmMagicFounding Styx bassist Chuck Panozzo has signed on to be the grand marshal of the 19th annual Wilton Manors Stonewall Pride Parade & Festival, taking place June 16 in Wilton Manors, Florida.
“We are thrilled to have Chuck Panozzo, a Wilton Manors resident and activist for AIDS awareness, serve as this year’s grand marshal,” says the city’s mayor, Gary Resnick.
“Over the years this festival has grown into a destination event that brings people from all different places and backgrounds together to celebrate the milestone achievements of the LGBT community.”
Panozzo came out as gay in 2001, and also revealed he was living with HIV. He has campaigned for LGBT rights and HIV/AIDS awareness ever since.
The parade and festival commemorate the Stonewall Riots, a series of violent demonstrations staged by New York City’s gay community in June 1969 that protested the harassment they had long experienced by the New York Police Department.
The festival will begin at 4 p.m. ET, with the parade starting an hour later and moving along the north side of Wilton Drive. The event will run until 11 p.m. and will include a variety of vendors, exhibits and performances.
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