An unprecedented crowd of about 300 gathered outside Greenwich Town Hall on Sunday to celebrate Pride. The event was organized by Greenwich residents Allison Kahn and Karsten Vagner.
Ms Kahn, acknowledging the large crowd, said momentum had built over the years.
“Today is intended to be a peaceful and happy celebration – a coming together of friends and family, neighbors and community leaders,” Kahn said. “Let’s not forget that Pride started as a protest when 50 years ago police beat and arrested people who were LGBTQ. Today, in this town, the police are here to support and protect us.”
She noted that just 30 years ago a person could be fired for being LGBTQ. Today, she said, “We have ‘out’ elected officials, doctors, lawyers, firefighters, and even movie stars.”
Further, she noted the Pride event featured religious leaders and elected officials from both sides of the aisle.
And while marriage equality became law 10 years ago, and she and her wife were celebrating their own ten-year anniversary, Kahn said, “The arc does not always bend toward justice.”
She noted that nearly 500 bills aimed at stripping away rights for LGBTQ people and, specifically, for transgender people, were introduced in state legislatures across the country this year alone, including some in Connecticut.
Even in Greenwich, she said Pride signs had been stolen and vandalized, and people had made hateful comments on social media.
“We stand here with our neighbors and our families, our beautiful children who deserve to grow up in a world that is free from hate and discrimination,” she added. “We stand together to create a message of love and acceptance. And rainbows.”
Kahn said rainbows – created when light leaves water droplets marking the end of a storm – were a beautiful metaphor for the LGBTQ community and its diverse identities.
Greenwich RTM member Karsten Vagner, who organized the event with Ms Kahn, introduced State Senator Ryan Fazio (R-36) who said that as a millennial himself, his generation had seen a rapid change in acceptance and attitudes toward the LGBTQ community.
“That’s enormously positive, and it’s part of the American story of greater liberty, greater acceptance and greater toleration,” Fazio said, adding that the situation was different outside the borders of the US. He referred to new anti-LGBTQ laws in Uganda which in some cases mandate the death penalty for people convicted of homosexuality.
State Rep Hector Arzeno (D-151) said pride month in June was about celebrating love, diversity and acceptance.
“Pride is about more than resilience and solidarity,” he added. “It is a month to remember the trials and triumphs of the LGBTQ community. Progress has been made, but there is more work to do in pursuing a more inclusive society.”
“It is our responsibility, and my responsibility as your representative to fight for public policies that are inclusive and guarantee justice, liberty and equity for all. That means to work hard in order for everyone to have equal access to healthcare, education and the same employment opportunities.”
State Rep Rachel Khanna referred to a “coordinated nationwide attack” against the LGBTQ+ community in recent years.
“Even here in Greenwich the calls to ban books and discussion about LGBTQ+ issues are growing. That is why we gather in great numbers,” she said, noting LGBTQ+ people were parents, students, taxpayers, voters and local business owners.
“We will not allow the rights of our LGBTQ+ community to be compromised,” Khanna said. “In the state house we passed an anti-discrimination statute that strengthens protections for the community and we’re looking at further protections.”
State Rep Steve Meskers (D-150) asked, “What is gay pride? And what does it mean? It means simply that love is love. That you deserve the same acceptance and validation that I want and demand.”
“If you are a believer in a Great Creator you should know that we are all, each and every one of us, made in God’s image and we all deserve that respect,” he added.
Like Steinberg, he chronicled progress over the decades. “The Stonewall riots of 1969 launched us on a journey for equal rights, respect, and equal treatment for the LGBTQ community, a fight we continue on today.”
“Today we are here to recognize and celebrate the LGBTQ community and embrace the diversity of our great country as we continue the struggle against a rising tide of intolerance,” he added.
Selectperson Janet Stone McGuigan said it was important to make love visible. “It greatly concerns me that the world is not always safe, tolerant, accepting or kind, because hate is real.”
Looking out on the large crowd gathered, she said, “This is what it means to make love visible.”
Greenwich Selectwoman Lauren Rabin quoted Whitney Houston lyrics, The Greatest Love of All: “I believe the children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way. Give them a sense of pride to make it easier. I decided long ago never to walk in anyone’s shadow. If I fail. If I succeed, at least I’ll live like I believe. No matter what anybody takes from any of us, the greatest love is loving ourselves.”
“The Greenwich community loves you,” Rabin said. “We celebrate you and we support you.”
Reverend Cheryl McFadden from Christ Church, shared a prayer she made into a poem:
“May we always appreciate the dignity of every human being: straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender. May we see the beauty of and in every person and recognize how each human being is made with purpose and wonder. May we seek forgiveness when we fail to take in another’s beauty, for choosing our own interests instead of bearing one another’s burdens, for remaining silent when we should have cried out, and seeing only differences and not what unites us. We hope for unity, for tenderness, for belonging and justice and freedom. For harmony and bountiful compassion that the world we know that we are all created in God’s image: worthy and magnificent, beloved and chosen.”
Rabbi Kevin Peters from Temple Sholom Greenwich said, “As an out and proud gay rabbi it is an honor for me to be here today. Recently I’ve heard some critiques of the word pride and questions about whether events such as this are even necessary.”
Peters said there were negative connotations around the word pride in the Bible, associating it with ego and haughtiness, whereas Pride in the LGBTQ community referred to having a sense of belonging.
Peters said before he came out he, like many, grew up with a sense of shame about his orientation.
“I came from a loving home, so I wondered why did I struggle so much with this sense of shame…it became clear to me that I grew up in a world where all I saw in a representation of love was heterosexual. Well meaning people would ask me, ‘Do you have a girlfriend?’ silencing any other possibility.”
He talked about “harsh, overt homophobia” and the importance of community pride to “shatter the silence and fill it with affirmations of love, and support.”
“God does not make mistakes. God doesn’t make junk,” he said. “We are all created in the divine image of God.”
First Selectman Fred Camillo said acceptance, tolerance and freedom were an ongoing process. And, while the progress made had been great, he said, “I think the goal of this is to do this until this is no longer needed.”
After the speeches, proclamation and flag raising, there were games, activities and an ice cream truck.
Sadly, Monday morning townspeople woke up to rows of lawn signs under the Pride flag at town hall that said “groomers” with an arrow pointing toward to the flagpole.
Former Greenwich Selectman Drew Marzullo who spearheaded the first rainbow flag raising in 2016 after the mass shooting at a Florida nightclub said in an email, “This horrific and hateful act has been used to fuel a narrative resulting in hostile legislation against the LBGTQ community that has produced dangerous implications. It is not only disgusting but profoundly sad.”
