Fantasy Fest Celebrates 'Animeted Dreams & Adventures'
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KEY WEST (CBSMiami/FKNB) — Two Key West men leading the fight for same-sex marriage equality in the Florida Keys have been chosen as this year's grand marshals of the city's annual Fantasy Fest.
Festival officials announced Friday they had chosen Aaron Huntsman and William Lee Jones as the parade's grand marshals after the couple won a ruling from a Monroe County judge that overturned Florida's statewide ban on same-sex marriage for residents of the Keys.
However, they still can't marry because Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi appealed the ruling and recently requested a final verdict from the Florida Supreme Court.
"Being chosen as grand marshals for Fantasy Fest is a great honor towards our fight for marriage equality and it's a great opportunity to stand up as one human family here in Key West and show the rest of the state, if not the world, that equality needs to be for everybody," said Huntsman.
Fantasy Fest is internationally recognized for its untamed revelry and lighthearted spirit. Among its more than 40 masquerade parties, costume competitions and galas are an exotic Headdress Ball, a costume contest for pets and their people, and a high-spirited masquerade march starting at the Key West Cemetery.
The 2014 festival is themed, "Animeted Dreams & Adventures," inspired by Japanese anime and other forms of creative animation — while Huntsman and Jones are "animeted" by their desire for marriage equality in Florida.
Saturday night, Oct. 25, they will travel at the head of the 3Wishes.com Fantasy Fest Parade through Key West's historic downtown. The procession typically draws more than 60,000 revelers to applaud its costumed marching groups, street dancers, bands and lavishly decorated motorized floats.
Accommodations are still available for Fantasy Fest, but tourism officials stress that people should make reservations before traveling to the festival.
The Florida Keys News Bureau contributed to this report.
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