Miami financial advisor Damian Pardo said it’s time to shatter the “mythology” that LGBT people are unwelcome — and unsafe —on Calle Ocho.
“There are gay business owners. There are gay people living in Shenandoah and in Silver Bluff. They are already there,” Pardo said. “There is a whole community of transgender women that live and work there, and they feel safe, comfortable, happy there. They don’t want to live anywhere else. But that story hasn’t been told about Little Havana.”
Pardo, a longtime gay activist who “grew up on the streets of Little Havana,” is co-producingGay8, a free street festival Sunday to celebrate LGBT art, music and culture in the heart of Calle Ocho between 14th and 17th avenues.