Why Pride Matters, Perhaps More Than Ever

By Allison Hope

 June is Pride Month, a time for us to honor and celebrate the contributions of the LGBTQ community and to commit to creating a welcoming town and society in which all are safe to be themselves.

Greenwich and Connecticut more broadly have long been inclusive of LGBTQ residents and visitors. Our town has become an even more LGBTQ-friendly place in recent years, with a growing population and a Pride celebration that sees better attendance every year.

Importantly, Greenwich is in many ways a shining beacon for the rest of the country in its bipartisan support for the LGBTQ community. Elected officials from both major parties, as well as religious leaders, civic leaders and allies have offered visible support for residents who identify as LGBTQ. That is critical for our safety and for keeping us moving in the right direction towards equal rights.

Still, we are not immune from the vitriol that we see playing out across the rest of the country. More than 500 anti-LGBTQ bills were introduced in state legislatures this year alone, threatening to undo hard-fought equal rights and to strip our community of access to healthcare, family building, education and civic activities. LGBTQ teens are experiencing bullying, depression and suicidal ideation at higher rates, and discrimination against LGBTQ and people and all minority groups are way up.

Indeed, even in our own town, we’ve been privy to hate and ignorance targeting the LGBTQ community, including people trying to censor free speech and literature in our public libraries and schools, people hosting staunchly anti-LGBTQ elected officials from other states and funding their campaigns, and someone putting up hateful, anti-LGBTQ signs in the veil of night.

These efforts are misguided and largely unsuccessful. As we have seen throughout all of history, not even the Holocaust erased us. You cannot break our spirit or our existence. More than 1 in 4 teens are identifying as LGBTQ; we are only going to grow in number and prominence. We must coexist and be open to learning more about what makes us unique, recognizing that what unites us all is stronger than what divides us.

We come together this Sunday, June 2 at Town Hall (1 p.m., rain or shine!), families and friends, civic leaders, neighbors, allies alike, to honor our LGBTQ residents and to show that there are more of us than not who believe that all humans deserve fair treatment and to live safely as our true selves.

Pride matters for John, who we met at Greenwich Pride two years ago, who has lived in town for his entire life and said he wishes there was an event like this decades ago, as he would have felt less isolated and freer to be himself as a gay man.

Pride matters for Victoria, a high schooler who is nervous about being out because she doesn’t know how people will react, and worries about bullying, which she has seen other LGBTQ teens in town face.

Pride matters for Julie, who is just starting school in Greenwich and who has two dads. Her dads hold their breath for the day she gets picked on because her parents don’t look like everyone else’s.

For John, for Victoria, for Julie (who are real people in our town, though their names have been changed), we gather in honor of them, and so many others who have not felt safe stepping into their truths.

We gather so that no child or teen is made to feel less than because they or their family is LGBTQ. We gather so that no adult should have to hide in social isolation simply because of who they are or who they love. We gather to stand up in the face of hate and ignorance and say that love outshines hate any day of the week.

What I want to focus on as we kick off Pride Month this June is joy. LGBTQ people have always existed. We are prized scientists and artists, doctors and lawyers, civic leaders and essential workers. We are celebrities and CEOs; students and teachers. We are parents and friends, neighbors and coworkers. We are young adults just discovering who we are in the world and how we can live as our true selves. We are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, pansexual, nonbinary, and a host of other identities and expressions. We open our arms and create space for all.

We are joyful in our authenticity. This June, we celebrate our joy. We invite you to join us. Happy Pride!