On June 5, the Bates community gathered at the Garcelon Field flagpole for its annual Pride flag-raising ceremony, celebrating Pride Month with joy, reflection, and a renewed commitment to the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. During the event, Anthony Del Real, assistant director of LGBTQ+ programs at Bates’ Student Center for Belonging and Community, offered opening remarks. Community members shared personal stories highlighting the small yet meaningful steps the campus community can take to support LGBTQ+ people.
Del Real provided historical context for contemporary Pride Month celebrations, and their relationship to the Stonewall Riots. On the early morning of June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. Raids on gay gathering places were habitual practices for the police, but on this date, they met with resistance from a fed up queer community and the demonstrations grew. Eventually, Del Ray said, this led to “more organized and concrete efforts to create spaces for queer people to be present and not fear being arrested for being authentically themselves.” Pride Month commemorates the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
Del Real highlighted the advocacy and efforts of Marsha P. Johnson, who will be celebrated at NYC Pride later this month. The New York City Pride gathering and parade is officially themed “For All of Us,” drawing inspiration from Johnson’s work. Johnson was a transgender Black activist, sex worker, and performer who co-founded STAR House, which provided food and shelter for transgender youth beginning in 1970. After years of advocacy, frequently focused on supporting those impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Johnson was found dead — presumably murdered — in 1992. Despite the harm, violence, and prejudice that she experienced, Johnson’s actions demonstrated her commitment to “love, home, and justice for her community,” Del Real said.
The threats to the LBGTQ+ community are heightened currently, Del Real said, including executive orders that reverse rights. “It is unfair,” Del Real said, “but I ask each of us to continue to stay vigilant and look out for one another.”
Pride celebrations like the Bates flag-raising are an annual reminder of the actions of our LGBTQ+ ancestors to fight for and establish the rights we have today, Del Real said in closing.
“There is no one symbol, action, identity, that can serve as the beacon to bring pride for all. However, it is my hope that even in moments like this, that this flag can serve as a symbol for a queer person who cannot be ‘out’ but can still know that they matter. It is in these moments that we continue the work of Marsha P. Johnson, and so many other queer ancestors in the fight for pride for all.”
