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It’s a call for the core founding principle of our country recognizing equality for all. “The intent is a call for respect and tolerance.
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“The civic proclamation of Gay Pride Week is a recognition of people who haven’t been recognized in the past,” said Correnti at the rally. Rosa and Lombardo told Reef their decision not to sign the proclamation was not because of homophobia, but because they felt it was not within the purview of the board to endorse a lifestyle.īut the proclamation passed with the signatures of Selectmen Andrew Deslaurier, Bob Accomando and Correnti, who said there is no shame in asking for equality. Just 12 days prior to the rally the committee faced a wave of criticism from residents and two of the Billerica Selectmen – Marc Lombardo and Mike Rosa – when Reef requested the board sign a proclamation recognizing Billerica’s Pride Week and the contributions of the town’s gay community. One day, we will all be able to be one human family and not see each other as pagan or Jew or gay or straight.” I am their brother, their son, and someday, maybe their father. “But I don’t hate or wish ill will towards them. “Not two weeks go by where I don’t hear the word ‘faggot’ or ‘queer’ shouted from a car as I am riding my bike or walking around Billerica,” said Reef. Though Boston has held this for the past 40 years, this was Billerica’s first such event the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. Last year the town held its first Pride Week in tandem with Boston’s annual Pride Parade. Organized by 24-year-old Jim Perry Reef, the rally featured an array of speeches and music from local homosexual residents like entertainer Denise Doucette and straight residents like Selectman Bob Correnti and local faith leaders. Not deterred by the lack of electricity for the loudspeakers or an amplifier for music, the Billerica Gay and Lesbian Pride Committee held their second annual Gay Pride Freedom Rally on Sunday, June 7, celebrating the contributions of the town’s gay and lesbian community. “Our focus will include issues of racial and gender social injustice.Amidst a sea of rainbow flags blowing in the wind, about 50 Billerica residents and officials gathered on the Town Common to advocate for equal rights for gays and lesbians. “We know that this work is challenging but necessary to promote equity, access and inclusion and enhance cultural competence, cultural responsiveness and cultural humility,” Judah-Abijah Dorrington, a partner at Dorrington & Saunders, said in a statement at the time.
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That same month, Boston Pride brought on Dorrington & Saunders, a consulting firm specializing in diversity and inclusion. As a result, dozens of organizations, including Planned Parenthood and the LGBTQ legal advocacy group GLAD, withdrew support for the city’s annual Pride march, and all major candidates abandoned Boston Pride’s June 14, 2020, mayoral candidate forum.
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The board then proceeded to take out Black Lives Matter and police brutality.”Īfter the incident, groups like Trans Resistance MA, Mass NOW and Pride for the People called for a boycott of Boston Pride. "The communications team then gave that letter to the board. We stand against police brutality,’” Casey Dooley, former Boston Black Pride chair, told WBUR. "We wrote in that statement, 'We stand with Black Lives Matter. In 2020, a Boston Pride statement addressing police brutality after the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor reportedly removed any reference to Black Lives Matter, according to New England LGBTQ outlet The Rainbow Times, resulting in 80 percent of the group’s volunteers to quit in protest.