The Watermark was published on September 23, 2004, and celebrated the paper's tenth anniversary as well as the fifteenth anniversary of the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Although the front page claims the issue is the nineteenth, it is actually the twentieth. Following back-to-back hurricanes, Charley and Frances, the issue evaluates the impact of the storms on local Central Florida businesses, such as the Parliament House, newly-opened Savoy, and the Suncoast Resort. It also covers the efforts of Canadian provincial governments to legalize same-sex marriages, the closing of Orlando's pride shop, and the decision to allow gay foster parents to keep custody of their two girls. The Water Colors section details the progress of The Watermark since its inception in 1994, while a pull out section provides a daily schedule of the upcoming Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

Since 1994, The Watermark has been the cornerstone source of LGBTQ+ centered news for the Central Florida region. Founded by Tom Dyer in Orlando, the publication began generating bi-weekly issues beginning August 31, 1994. Since then, The Watermark has consistently published newspaper-style issues every other Thursday. Gaining traction, the publication expanded in 1995 to include Tampa and, in 1997, The Watermark became a permanent piece of LGBTQ+ culture when the publication initiated the first large-scale Gay Days Weekend event, the Beach Ball at Disney’s Typhoon Lagoon. Before 1999, the publication printed 20,000 copies every week, distributing them to over 500 locations between its two major cities. Following 1999, the publication launched watermarkonline.com shifting to an online publication style. In 2016, Rick Claggett purchased The Watermark.]]>
The Watermark, Vol. 11, No. 19, September 23-October 6, 2004: Publications Collection, GLBT History Museum of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida.]]> Watermark Media]]> The Watermark, Vol. 11, No. 19, September 23-October 6, 2004.]]> The Watermark Collection, RICHES.]]> Adobe Acrobat Reader]]> Watermark Media.]]> Watermark Publishing Group and is provided here by RICHES for educational purposes only.]]>
40 Years of the Parliament House is a documentary film about the history of the Parliament House, a gay resort located at 410 North Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando, Florida. The Parliament House Motor Inn chain was founded in Kansas City, Missouri, by Ned Eddy, Sr. and his two sons, Ned Eddy, Jr. and James "Jimmy" Eddy. The Orlando Parliament House was a 120-room hotel and the first motor inn established by the chain. The inn was designed by Alan Berman and was built on Orlando’s Rock Lake by Hodes and Cumming Construction. Parliament House officially opened on February 11, 1962. Ned Eddy, Jr. served as the inn manager and his brother, Jimmy Eddy, was the manager of the cocktail lounge.

With the opening of the Walt Disney World Resort in 1971, came the construction of hotels and motels on International Drive, leaving the Parliament House Motor Inn outside the tourist district. The motor inn soon became a hotspot for prostitution as the OBT area declined. By 1975, the Parliament House was near bankruptcy. On March 27, 1975, William G. Miller (d. 1987) and Michael Hodge (d. 1992) purchased the motor inn and converted it into a gay resort. A couple of years after the deaths of Bill Miller and Mike Hodge, the Parliament House was sold to Susan Unger and Don Granatstein in August of 1999. Unger and Granatstein began renovating the resort, which had been in decline since Hodge's death in 1992. Renovations were completed in 2000. The Parliament House again faced foreclosure in 2010 and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 25, 2014. Stakeholders approved a $14-million debt relief plan in February of 2015.]]>
40 Years of the Parliament House: GLBT History Museum of Central Florida, Inc., 2015.]]> GLBT History Museum of Central Florida, Inc.]]> IDEAS]]> Orlando Collection, Orange County Collection, RICHES of Central Florida.]]> Adobe Flash Player]]> Java]]> GLBT History Museum of Central Florida, Inc..]]> GLBT History Museum of Central Florida, Inc. and is provided here by RICHES of Central Florida for educational purposes only.]]>