The Port Townsend Pride March, taking place this Saturday, brings together lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA) people and their allies to affirm that LGBTQIA rights …
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Port Townsend Mayor Deborah Stinson (left) proclaims the month of June as the official month of Pride for the City of Port Townsend at a city council meeting Monday, June 5. At right is Emelia De Souza receiving the proclamation. Photo by Chris Tucker
The Port Townsend Pride March, taking place this Saturday, brings together lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA) people and their allies to affirm that LGBTQIA rights are inalienable human rights.
“‘We, the people’ means everyone,” said Share DeWees, organizer and spokesperson for the event, and an LGBTQIA advocate.
Marchers are to assemble at 9:30 a.m., June 10 at Pope Marine Park on Water Street across from city hall, and proceed four blocks to Haller Fountain at the corner of Washington and Taylor streets for a community rally.
At a time when the rights and freedom of LGBTQIA people and other minorities are under attack, it is essential to protect and expand those rights, said DeWees.
“Port Townsend is a very accepting town,” she said, noting that on June 5, Mayor Deborah Stinson declared June to be official Pride Month for the city.
Port Townsend has a score of 87 out of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index 2016 and, according to this index, was one of only three cities in the entire country that self-submitted to be included on this index.
The march and rally are a combined protest and celebration. Marchers are welcome to bring signs, flags and musical instruments, and to display their pride in myriad rainbow ways. At Haller Fountain, a number of short speeches and other community-building activities are planned.
All who support the rights, freedom and dignity of LGBTQIA people are invited to participate.
“It’s essential for those of us who are allies to get involved and come out and support them,” said DeWees. “We’re all one family.”
The month and day of the march precedes two key events in LGBTQIA history that also occured in June: The June 12, 2016 Orlando massacre in which 49 people were gunned down inside Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida; and the June 28, 1969 Stonewall Rebellion, which began in and around the Stonewall bar in New York’s West Village.
The march is being organized by various members of the Port Townsend rainbow community and their allies, with the support of Windermere Real Estate, Jefferson Healthcare, Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, and The Boiler Room. “We are very thankful to them for their support,” said DeWees.
