Singer CeCe Teneal Comes Out During Orlando’s 5th Pulse Anniversary Celebration
CeCe Teneal lent her powerful solo vocals to the Orlando Gay Chorus's performance of Andra Day's "Rise Up" during One Orlando Alliance's "An Evening of Reflection & Promise" event at the Dr. Phillips Center Front Yard Festival Monday, June 7, 2021.
ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN) – Singer CeCe Teneal surprised everyone with her announcement during One Orlando Alliance’s “An Evening of Reflection & Promise” event at the Dr. Phillips Center Front Yard Festival Monday for the fifth anniversary of the Pulse Night club shooting.
During the panel discussion on the intersection of LGBTQ+ and faith communities, Teneal announced that she is lesbian and has a female partner, sharing the challenges that her partner sometimes faces when they’re out together. “[Sometimes] when we both go into a women’s bathroom, my partner will be asked to leave,” Teneal said. She also mentioned moments in which they’ll both be out eating and waiting to be seated, staff will refer to her partner as “sir”. On the occasion of the fifth Pulse anniversary, she told the audience it only made sense to finally share her truth. “How dare I, with the platform I have, not be transparent and use it to help and empower the LGBTQ+ community?”
Speakers on the panel hailed from different spiritual beliefs, from new age, to atheist, to Muslim.
Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, and Orlando District 4 Commissioner Patty Sheehan, the first openly LGBTQ+ commissioner on the city council, delivered remarks during One Orlando Alliance’s “An Evening of Reflection & Promise” event. Other public officials in attendance were Orange County Commissioner Mayra Uribe and Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolon.
The event wrapped with Teneal’s vocals leading the Orlando Gay Chorus’ performance of Andra Day’s “Rise Up”.
Saturday, June 12, 2021 will mark the anniversary of the Pulse nightclub shooting in which the shooter killed 49 people on Latin Night, which struck at the heart of the Latinx community. Mayor Demings noted that the anniversary is also his birthday, and that celebrating it has been a bit more challenging in light of the 49 lives lost that day. Commissioner Sheehan recalled the mounting demand for to denounce Muslims simply because the shooter happened to be Muslim. “I didn’t do that because denouncing Muslims for their faith is the same thing as discriminating against someone because they’re gay,” she said, expressing joy in Orlando’s unification in the wake of the mass shooting.
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Mellissa Thomas is Editor for Florida National News, part of the FNN News Network. | mellissa.thomas@floridanationalnews.com