More Than Ever, Pride as Resistance, Visibility and Unity

More Than Ever, Pride as Resistance, Visibility and Unity

By Jane Latus

How’s it going out there?

About as you’d expect during a fusillade against your rights, health, job and mere existence, according to the Pride organizers and activists we spoke with getting ready for this year’s celebrations. 

“People in our community are feeling extremely cautious and have an understandably amplified concern for their safety,” says Steph Heine, chair of East Hampton Pride. “The large-scale divide in our country has trickled down to our small towns and seems to have emboldened people against the queer community to abandon all sense of common decency and appreciation for all humans to live happily or even simply exist.”

“To be honest, it’s grim,” says Bliss Kern, co-founder and deputy executive director of OurTransLife.org and counselor focusing in queer and trans mental health, of the mental health of Connecticut’s young queer adults. “There’s a massive front of aggression against their very existence.” 

Younger kids “don’t really know how at risk they are, and that’s a good thing,” says Kern. But for their parents, it’s a different story. “This is terrifying for them. We need to be supporting our parents of trans kids a lot.” 

Kern is also concerned about the safety and health of trans veterans. “Heretofore they have been relatively supported and been provided with services. Now they’re being called traitors.”

Bethel Pride Chair Emily Denaro describes people in her area as on-alert. “They’re waiting to freak out”. 

The key to survival, say many we spoke with, is for every identity in the alphabet to show up for every other one–and not just in June.

Rachel Simon, executive director of the Triangle Community Center, means business, speaking emphatically. “At a moment when the federal government is threatening violence against those who are most vulnerable in our community, like trans children, it is very important that we resist that message and send our clear message that we support all members of our community and want to see them thrive.

“There needs to be a clear message from everyone who doesn’t support the federal policies of divisiveness and hate, especially from people who enjoy any privileges like race, wealth, or being cisgender. They’re the most important people to stand up,” says Simon.

Showing up isn’t just for the government’s benefit, she adds. “It’s powerful to see people within your own community show up and support populations under attack. It also shows youth who are the safe adults in the neighborhood.”

It’s also vital for youths to see the government showing up for them, Kern says. “The older generation can be really skeptical about government officials who come and talk at events, but when young people see representatives of government standing up for them, it matters.”

Kern says it’s crucial for all to show up for each other, year-round. She especially would like to see more cisgender presence at trans events.

Year-round community is Bethel Pride’s focus. It holds a June celebration but provides safe spaces all year. They host a weekly open mic at Molten Java coffee shop, and monthly events like book clubs and plant swaps. 

Says Nora O’Neill, head of logistics for Bethel Pride, of the open mic, “Literally, there are people who only make it through the week because they have this one thing to look forward to. We’re not a support group. Your cup is full of poison now. All we can do is dilute it.”

Bethel Pride Chair Emily Denaro says, “Big events pump you up, but then you feel let down. You have to deal with the other months of the year.” She says the open mics consistently draw young trans adults, nonbinary folks and lots of straight cis people. “It’s also welcoming to allies. It lessens the otherness.”

Many young, small-town events are returning this year, like the second Quiet Corner Pride, which drew an astonishing 2,000 people to Putnam last year. It was the first Pride event in Windham County and founder Ross Johnson believes it’s the first in the state to be fully funded by the town. [This year’s event took place prior to CT Voice’s publication date, so isn’t listed in our round-up of Pride events.] 

Glastonbury Pride President Anthony DiLizia says of last year’s first event, “We told ourselves that if even 200 people attended, we would consider it a success. So, imagine our astonishment when over 1,000 people showed up … and, as if by fate, a double rainbow appeared at the end of the ceremony.”

Check out our listing of events, and make plans to get out and show your support. It is meaningful in so many ways.