Dre Daigle woke up early on the morning of Oct. 25, 2025, to do his hair and makeup before making his way to Harrah’s Gulf Coast in Biloxi. Hurrying inside to curtail the blistering Mississippi heat, he walked backstage clutching a bag stuffed with his costume so that he could prepare for last year’s Gulf Coast Equality Fest.
Daigle entered the room to the sound of familiar chatter. His friends were in the midst of lively conversation with one another as they put on their costumes and finished final preparations ahead of taking the stage for their drag performance.
For Daigle, the current reigning Miss Gulf Coast Equality, this room is special and holds great memories because it’s a place where time is spent with the family he chose.
“One of my favorite spots is just being backstage with all my friends and my chosen family because I love them,” Daigle, who goes by the stage name Alexa Avery, told the Mississippi Free Press.
Family, especially his found family in the drag world and the larger queer community, is one of the most important things in Daigle’s life, he said. Originally from Louisiana, Daigle moved to the Mississippi Gulf Coast from New Orleans in 2021, primarily to be closer to his chosen family.
This year he’s serving as host for the 10th-annual Gulf Coast Equality Fest, set to take place on Oct. 17 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Great Lawn of Harrah’s Gulf Coast. The event, which occurs annually during LGBTQ+ History Month, is designed to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community on the coast and its supporters. Activities will include speakers, drag performances, live music, local vendors and more.
‘Everybody Is Welcome’
Dawn Taylor, the board president of Gulf Coast Equality, said the theme for this year’s festival is “A Decade of Diversity,” something meant to reflect everyone in the community.
“No matter if you are gay, straight, trans, allies, whatever—everybody is welcome,” Taylor said.
Taylor said she hopes the free, family-friendly event helps create more positive perceptions of LGBTQ+ people living on the coast.
“I just really wanted to make a difference for our community and to actually show the local community, ‘Hey, we all just want to live our lives the same as anyone else,’” Taylor said.
For Taylor, the highlight of the festival is seeing community members come together to enjoy the events and have fun.
“It’s always nice to see that openness and not have to contend with protestors or be fearful,” Taylor said. “It really just does show that we do have probably more allies than what we think we do in the community and people that support us.”
John Perkins, the festival chair of Gulf Coast Equality and a founding member, said that those who founded the organization alongside him in 2016 did so with the goal of forming a community for queer residents and allies on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. At the time of the organization’s founding, Perkins said there were no LGBTQ+ organizations on the coast. Gulf Coast Pride, another LGBTQ+ organization on the coast, also began around the same time.
A decade ago, at the inaugural Gulf Coast Equality Fest, Perkins felt overcome with excitement when attendance surpassed expectations. “I thought there’d be like 20 vendors there, and 60 showed up, and the park was packed the whole day,” Perkins recalled.
Gulf Coast Equality chose October to host its annual festival because it is LGBTQ+ History Month. Perkins hopes that this year’s event will help provide a space where people can feel safe and comfortable being themselves. As someone who identifies as gay and grew up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast during the ’80s, he said the community often lacked a space where people could feel comfortable expressing their identity.
Now, as lead organizer for the festival over the past 10 years, Perkins wants to make sure LGBTQ+ kids growing up on the coast today know there are people that welcome and accept them.
“Growing up in the ’80s being gay, you always got bullied in school and stuff,” Perkins said. “So I want kids to know that it’s OK to be who you are and (that) you shouldn’t be treated that way—everybody should be equal and treated the same.”
For a while, Perkins witnessed Mississippi shift toward becoming a more accepting place for LGBTQ+ people. In recent years, however, he’s observed an increase in hate and discrimination directed toward the coast’s queer community. The annual festival has also recently lost some of its longtime sponsors.
“With the current political climate in the country now, with the hate and division, it’s important to have events like this to let the community know that there are other people out there like them,” Perkins said. “They are welcomed, they are supported, and they have allies in the community because we do have a lot of people that come there that aren’t part of the community, but they’re there to support us.”
‘Come Out and Be Yourself’
Gulf Coast Equality has also hosted other events for the LGBTQ+ community in the region, Taylor said, including a second-chance graduation where the organization partnered with the T.R.A.N.S. Program to host a ceremony for graduates who couldn’t dress how they wanted to when they originally graduated from their respective schools.
The event allowed transgender students who were not permitted to wear clothing that aligned with their gender identity due to school policies to have a second chance to cross the stage in clothes that made them feel safe and able to express their authentic self, Taylor explained.
With the current landscape surrounding trans rights in the state, Taylor and Perkins both said they especially want transgender people in the Gulf Coast community to know this weekend’s festival is also a space for them.
“As we promote the event, you can come out and be yourself, and that’s what we want them to feel,” Perkins said.
“You are welcome, you are safe, and we have the resources to provide to you if you need any help,” Taylor offered.
Organizers for this year’s festival are expecting 65 vendors and between 1,500 and 2,000 attendees.
“Everyone is welcomed, and that’s the way it should be,” Perkins said. “When people come to our event, we want you to be yourselves.”
For most people who attend the festival, Perkins said that the drag show is the highlight of the event and people flock to the stage when the announcement is made that it’s about to begin.
By serving as Miss Gulf Coast Equality and host for this year’s festival and drag performance, Daigle hopes to encourage more people to be open minded and accepting of those who are different from them, and he aims to send the message that everyone has a space on the Gulf Coast.
“I don’t need you to be me,” Daigle said. “I just need you to accept the fact that I’m a human and (that) I’m not doing anything that’s wrong.”
More than just being a celebration for the coastal LGBTQ+ community, the Saturday, Oct. 17, event is meant to promote all types of diversity. “It’s about equality as a whole, so that’s any minority,” Daigle said.
The performer hopes that the Gulf Coast Equality Fest can be a lasting space to bring the community together on the coast for years to come. “It’s exciting to think about the future, being a part of this for so many years,” Daigle concluded.
For more information on Gulf Coast Equality Fest, visit gulfcoastequalitycouncil.org.
Follow the Mississippi Free Press’ coverage of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and read past stories here.
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