- February 5, 2025
-
-
Loading
Loading
Char Rywant can remember when the Daytona Beach area had 17 gay bars, the biggest being the Zodiac, and there was no LGBT label, only gay or lesbian-friendly venues.
However, in the 45 years that Rywant has been a Volusia County resident, she has seen the dynamics of the LGBT community in the district start changing as more people began to move into the region. Rywant said that the area's LGBT community had at one time been open to everyone, drawing people together as one.
However, Rywant now sees an LGBT community that is scattered throughout the county with different groups or locations to connect with but without one central place to meet and find support.
"The biggest issue we're running into is council doesn't want gay people here, doesn't want the gay bars. They don't mind gay establishments, but don't talk about it," Rywant said. "Divisiveness is still in this town."
Donna Choate, the pastor at New Church Family, where Rywant is vice president, said that it isn't so much that there aren't places to go, it's that there are still people in the county who could benefit from more outlets that are right in the community. She said that while the culture is more accepting than when she was growing up, there are still people who need that local support, whether that means working through discrimination they have faced in the past or talking with their family about coming out.
Rywant and Choate both said that ideally, Volusia would have a center, like the LGBT+ Center of Central Florida in Orlando, for people to go to find events, get support or find the information they need.
"We just haven't found the thread to pull us all together," Choate said. "There's room for growth in the solidarity of our own community; it's very divided in ways. We have a huge community and I'm only seeing a small piece of it."
Vhynni Pickens, who is also known as Brittani Michaels, grew up in Volusia and has been an entertainer since 1988. Pickens said that in the '90s the LGBT community was more tightly knit than it is now. It was around 2000 when Pickens saw a younger group coming into the area and the sense of community seemed to change.
That change extended to the gay bars Rywant remembers, the bars she said were for not only the LGBT community but anyone who wanted to be included. Now the number of those bars has been been more than cut in half.
And because June is LGBT Pride Month, it can be easier to find events happening, but it's during the other 11 months of the year that some residents would like to see more. Port Orange resident Chris Kaplan said that while there are events across the state for the LGBT community, it becomes more difficult to get plugged in if it isn't a large city like Orlando. Kaplan said there are different events and get-togethers that are LGBT-friendly, but that usually means she has to go elsewhere to be a part of them.
"I guess the whole culture has to change," Kaplan said. "That's not just Volusia County. It starts from the top down. This whole culture is very finger pointing and divisive and hateful."
Kaplan that while Volusia does have a diverse culture and the community comes together for many different reasons, there is still more that could be done to bring in a more inclusive LGBT community.
But according to Pickens, a lot of that starts with educating the next generation about how the LGBT community has come together and what violent incidents, like Stonewall and Pulse, have done to change the unity of individuals.
"The community is really big, but the community isn't really pulled together," Pickens said. "We need to wake up and really learn the history."
