NEWBURYPORT — With patchy blue skies fighting ominous gray clouds for space, hundreds of people lined both sides of Green Street on Saturday to watch Pride Parade participants strut their stuff as they marched to Brown Square.
Stepping off from the Bartlet Mall on High Street, paradegoers hooped and hollered as they made their way down Green Street.
After reaching the bottom of the downtown thoroughfare, those in the parade hooked right onto Water Street and looped around Market Square before heading up State Street. With a marching band providing plenty of joyous tunes, the parade took a right onto Pleasant Street and continued rocking until reaching Brown Square.
There, a village of tents were set up for the three-hour Pride Festival. The festival featured food trucks, games, photo ops with drag queens, an overall sense of camaraderie and yes, pride. Rainbow flags, rainbow shirts, rainbow pants and even rainbow tutus were ubiquitous in Brown Square and beyond.
The third annual Pride Parade and second annual Pride Festival were part of the whole weekend of celebrations that began Friday afternoon with the raising of the Intersex-Inclusive Pride Progress flag in front of City Hall. The events marked the start of Pride Month, which takes place nationally each June.
Last June, the city flew the Pride Progress flag. The Intersex-Inclusive Pride Progress flag raised this year includes a yellow circle, representing people born with primary and/or secondary sex organs of two genders.
Under the threat of rain, more than 75 people, including members of the City Council, came together to watch Mayor Sean Reardon hoist the banner.
“Our celebration of Pride is more than symbolic, it is essential,” he said. “It is an act of visibility, of solidarity and a defiance in the face of efforts to roll back progress.”
Newburyport Pride is the local nonprofit organization that works with the city to plan the annual events.
Pride Co-Chair Tarah Luciano said the Intersex-Inclusive Pride Progress flag is a reminder that people in the LGBTQ+ community are not alone in Newburyport.
“You are not a problem to be fixed,” she said. “You are a person to be celebrated.”
School Committee member Kathleen Shaw gave the keynote address. Drawing from her experience as a child and family therapist, as well as a parent to a member of the LGBTQ+ community, she spoke about what she called current turbulent political times.
Shaw pointed to President Donald Trump’s executive orders stopping diversity programs and proclaiming there are only two biological sexes as one move that has sent a chilling message to young people questioning their own identities.
“Let me be clear, queer youth and people belong in our city, schools, sports teams and community,” she said.
Shaw then implored local youths to reach out to family members, school staff, mental health professionals as well as their peers if they are feeling like they need help.
“Find your people. They are out there. You may not know them yet, but they are there. They will have your back. And you’ll have theirs,” she said.
Shaw closed by asking everyone to turn to two people near them and say, “I see you.”
The exercise was met with curious delight by the crowd.
Mary DeLai is one of the city’s two representatives on the Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School School Committee.
She has also been certified to run in November for the Ward 6 City Council seat held by Byron Lane. She gave a call to action to the LGBTQ+ community.
“Fly a progress flag because it says, ‘I see you. I stand up for you,’” she said. “Be the reason (LGBTQ+ youth) feel hope. Except them, embrace them, wrap them in a blanket of love and shield them from harm.”
Daily News editor Dave Rogers contributed to this story.
Staff writer Jim Sullivan covers Newburyport for The Daily News. He can be reached via email at jsullivan@newburyportnews.com or by phone at 978-961-3145. Follow him on Twitter @ndnsully.