Nat. LGBTQ Task Force's Michael Bath Wants You to Party for a Good Cause this Weekend

Psrty-goers at a previous Nat. LGBTQ Task Force Winter Pride event

Sometimes, with the storm of punitive anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that GOP-led state governments are pushing, it can seem like we are living through dark days. Combine that with the February blues, and you have the perfect reason for throwing a week-long festival of music, festivities, and parties under the sunny skies of Florida.

Wait, though: Florida? Ground Zero for much of the extreme anti-LGBTQ+ right's attacks on our families, our children, and rights to exist in public spaces?

That's right – Florida. The state might be a focus of Draconian policies designed to target and silence minority communities of every sort, including ours, but it is also home to the Nat. LGBTQ Task Force and its annual Winter Party Festival. Like they say, partying well is the best revenge – and if there's one thing our community knows how to do, it's come together in force to show that queer joy is unstoppable.

"This annual event started in 1994 as a single dance party on the beach and has since evolved," the festival's website explains, "including events like Ignite on February 29th, Elevate Pool Party and HEAT on March 1st, Under One Sun at Oasis Wynwood on March 2nd, and the marquee event The Beach Party on March 3rd.

"For the LGBTQ+ community and allies, this is a great opportunity to enjoy community, rejuvenate, and recharge under Miami's golden sun," the site adds. "This year the official host hotel will be the Royal Palm South Beach Miami – an iconic 1930s Art Deco hotel on the beach."

The fight for equality is as expensive as it is unending, and money is a key ingredient to defending ourselves as individuals, families, and as a community. The Winter Party Festival is a major fundraising event to help power efforts to resist the legislative attacks pummeling our community. As the Task Force's Events Director, Michael Bath, tells EDGE, "We have donated to date $3.6 million back to local community from these events and they have issued grants to over 100 organizations."

All of which makes partying not just a right but a duty!

EDGE chatted with Michael Bath to find out more about the festival, and the group that puts it all together – the National LGBTQ Task Force.

EDGE: The National LGBT to Task Force describes its mission as "advancing full freedom, justice and equality for LGBTQ people." Can you say a little what that means, and how the Task Force works toward those goals?

Michael Bath: What it means is we are doing everything to make sure that every member of the LGBTQ community is able to live their full lives, and they can take their whole self anywhere that anyone else could go. It's basically having the same rights, the same freedoms, the same privileges [as everyone else does].

One of the biggest ways we do that is we have a national conference called Creating Change that happens every January. It's a convening of activists from all around the country. We're a relatively small organization, so we can't be everywhere, but if we can train people – give them the skills that they need to fundraise, to recruit volunteers, to talk to legislators, to get out the vote – if we can train them to do that in their home communities, then our reach increases exponentially. So that's part of what we do with Creating Change, we help develop and train leaders. It's an exchange of information, an exchange of ideas.

What we're trying to do is go where folks aren't already organizing and bringing people together to train them on how to effect change in their communities. We also have a policy group that is based in Washington, and they work with legislators and legislative assistants to give them intel they might not otherwise have, give them perspectives that will help guide elected officials in making decisions that will support pro-gay, and vote against anti-gay, legislation.

EDGE: That's all very important work, and just as important is to express our defiance through partying. So, let's talk a little about the Winter Party Festival's 31st edition. How has the event changed over time?

Michael Bath: It has its roots in activism: The first Winter Party was conceived by four gentlemen who lived here in Miami. This was 1994, and there was going to be a ballot initiative... an anti gay initiative [to ban local policies against anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination]. They decided that we need to organize for this. What better way to raise money than to throw a party? So they planned this one-day party on South Beach. Before it could happen, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the amendment couldn't be on the ballot; the language wasn't right. [Editor's note: The New York Times reported at the time that the Florida Supreme Court "said the proposal violated state law by dealing with more than one subject. It also ruled that the ballot language was misleading. The decision dealt only with the wording of the proposal, not its intent."]

But they throw the party anyway, and they give the money to a local organization. The party was so successful, they decided, "Why not do this every year?" And the parties have gotten bigger. The crowds have gotten bigger. The beach the party is still [going every year]; there really is nothing like the beach party. I can't describe it... to look out on the sea of smiling faces, there's nothing that compares to that.

EDGE: What are revelers going to be looking forward to doing and seeing when they come to the parties you have lined up for this year?

Michael Bath: Well, first of all, great music! I think that if I had to pick one thing people look forward to, it's being able to throw your hands up in the air. There's a quality of dancing shirtless in early March on the beach. That's kind of like "Fuck you!" to winter.

As far as the parties go, this year we're doing our first outdoor nighttime dance party, HEAT. I don't remember the last time we did an outdoor dance party at night. We've chosen a DJ for our Under One Sun party, Derrick Carter, who isn't like a traditional circuit DJ. We're want to evolve this into more of a queer music festival, [and Carter] will appeal to a larger and more diverse audience. We have the Beach Party, with DJs Dan Slater and GSP doing back-to-back spinning, which they've never done before. We're gonna have a much larger stage presence, more of a show atmosphere.

There's a magic with Winter Party that feels like a huge chosen family reunion. If we have a tagline, it's probably there's so many stories of people who have met their partner, met their best friend here.

EDGE: Has the anti-LGBTQ+ reign of Ron DeSantis made it harder to create these community events? Have people been saying, "Why would I go to Florida?"

Michael Bath: Yes, absolutely. Our executive director, Kierra Johnson, has received calls from folks around the country saying, "Why are you doing this in Florida when all of this is happening? You should go somewhere else." Her response, and the organization's response, is no, we are here for every LGBTQ community member across the country. The fact that the community in Florida is facing greater challenges [means] we're not disappearing. We're actually going to double down. We're not going away. We have some of our people here working to educate people on how they can get people show up at the polls. They can organize in a way to help turn the tide so this anti-gay hatred that's been spewing from Tallahassee, we start to get rid of it.

When you think Winter Party, you think of people dancing on the beach and having a good time. And yes, they're doing that; they are living into what our tagline. It's a great place where they can be free of whatever at home keeps them from being completely free. But then, as they're attending the events, they're also helping us raise money to do the work for freedom, and one of the things I'm also proud of is our committee. Our Winter Party Committee has actually grown a lot of leaders in the LGBTQ community. One of our former co-chairs went on to run Miami Beach Pride for quite a while; another one was the executive director of [South Florida LGBTQ+ community center] Pridelines for 15 years. Winter Party represents a little bit of a microcosm of the Task Force.

This year's Winter Pride Festival runs Feb. 28 – March 5 in Miami Beach. For more information, follow this link.