TAMPA, Fla. — The city of St. Petersburg's Pride initiative is currently showcasing the “Letters of Love” initiative for the LGBTQ community.
For the month of June, nine pop-up stations have been set up at local businesses and organizations where people can leave a handwritten note with words of support and encouragement for members of the LGBTQ community.
People can also take a card that speaks to them.
What You Need To Know
- The city of St. Petersburg has set up nine "Letters of Love" pop-up stations in St. Pete
- At each of the sites, people can leave a handwritten note of support for the LGBTQ community, and take one if it speaks to them
- To find all the locations or send a virtual letter, visit the St. Pete Letters of Love website
“It’s very important at this point, when we hear so much rhetoric against the LGBTQ community, that we support those within our community — especially our LGBTQ youth, our LGBTQ elders," said St. Petersburg LGBTQ liaison Jim Nixon. "So that we have this opportunity, but also to give an opportunity for the community to come out and say who we are — we are St. Pete, and this is who we are as a community. We support our community in St. Pete — the LGBTQ community is celebrated not just tolerated,”
University of South Florida St. Pete has two of the pop-up stations on campus, and campus governor Abdul Khawaja said it was important to collaborate with the city on “Letters of Love.”
“This was a really creative idea proposed by the city of St. Petersburg in which we installed this ‘Letter of Love wall,’” he said. “Once you write your letter, you just put it in and then take one letter for yourself because you contributed to society.”
Abdul said they’ve gotten a great response, and he’s not surprised, considering how accepting students are at USF.
Originally from Pakistan, Khawaja left his friends and family behind to pursue his education. Even though the “Letters of Love” celebrate the LGBTQ community, he said he knows how it feels to worry you won’t be accepted. And as a kid from Pakistan, he said students in St. Pete welcomed him with open arms.
“Coming over here, I was able to merge right into society, and with the students," Khawaja said. "The students were from a plethora of communities, so it was very easy for me to just merge in. USF provided me a home, a welcoming community."
The second pop-up station in the campus library was filled with just as many cards as the first. Khawaja said he’s thankful for that love for the LGBTQ community — the same love that was shown to him as the new kid from Pakistan.