NEWBURYPORT — Concerned with a national trend they believe is hostile to members of the LGBTQ+ community, the co-chairs of Newburyport Pride recently announced June’s Pride Month theme will be called “Existence is Resistance.”
“We’re recognizing that this year’s Pride is going to feel a lot different for a lot of people,” Pride co-chair Holly Cashman said. “The kind of purely celebratory vibe that we’ve had in the past two years is probably going to be a bit more complicated.”
A local nonprofit, Newburyport Pride works with the city to plan the annual Pride Progress flag raising ceremony, parade and festival typically held during the first weekend in June.
In 2023, the annual Pride parade begin with roughly 300 people in attendance on a cold, damp Saturday.
With much better weather last year that number jumped up to between 1,500 and 2,000. A Pride festival in Brown Square was also added to the celebration, Pride co-chair and president Tarah Luciano said.
But, just because Pride activities are popular in a progressive city like Newburyport, Luciano said there’s still plenty of homophobia and transphobia out in the world.
Lawmakers in states like Michigan, Idaho and North Dakota have recently been pushing the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 ruling (Obergefell v. Hodges) that granted same-sex couples nationwide the right to marry.
In January, President Donald Trump also signed an executive order banning transgender people from enlisting and serving in the military. Last week, the Pentagon filed a memo in court asking that transgender service members be removed from the military unless granted a waiver.
“It’s really hard to look at Pride this year and think of it as a celebration, when we are facing so many fights again that shouldn’t be conversations anymore,” Luciano said.
Early last month, Newburyport Pride put out the call on Facebook and Instagram, asking people what they thought should be this year’s Pride month theme.
“Existence is Resistance” was chosen as one out of four possibilities. The others were – “A New Generation of Pride” – “Queer Joy is Revolution” and – “Pride is Power.”
Luciano said about 150 people voted in the poll, with over half of those going with “Existence is Resistance.”
Cashman said the motto comes from the transgender community.
“I used to live out in Arizona and first came across it in Spanish. That way, it was ‘my existence is resistance,'” she said. “So, as there are efforts underway to erase the existence of trans people, their history, their opportunities, their recognition to just exist, I’m not going to give up. I’m going to keep fighting and working against those efforts.”
But Cashman and Luciano will also be celebrating their Pride this year.
Although the annual Pride Progress flag raising ceremony, parade and festival typically take place during the first weekend in June, Cashman said this year’s calendar has pushed the dates up to late May.
The flag raising ceremony will take place on Friday, May, 30 followed by the parade and festival Saturday morning, May 31.
“There will be music, color and rainbows and all of that,” Cashman said. “This will not be a somber occasion in any way.”
Mayor Sean Reardon, in a statement, described last year’s Pride Progress flag raising ceremony and parade as “epic,” adding he’s excited for this year’s celebration.
“We should be the first in the region to kick off what should be a fun month,” he said. “This event seems to grow a little bit each year. I think it is so important to support our LGBTQ+ neighbors, especially in this current political climate. I can’t wait.”
Luciano said it’s important not to lose track of the celebration that Pride means to the city each year.
“Obviously, these are really trying times in the queer community. I don’t know if I can explain the feeling of waking up every day and seeing headlines of people arguing against your right to exist,” she said.
Having gotten married over the summer, Luciano said there were plenty of people at the wedding who recently voted for candidates who don’t support gay or trans rights.
“I can’t explain the emotional toll that takes on a person to have this relentless barrage of conversation and arguments over your basic rights,” she said. “So I think it’s important that we don’t lose track of the celebration. Because, and all of this protest and work there is also joy. I think joy, in and of itself, is the resistance.”