WORCESTER – When the Worcester Pride Parade makes its way from Institute Park to the City Common for the Pride Festival on Saturday, it’s leader will be many.
This year, rather than a solo grand marshal, lesbian and gay couples will lead the march.
It is, according to Worcester Pride President John Trobaugh, a recognition of the U.S. Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for legalized gay marriage in all 50 states. The couples will march under the theme “Love Will Keep us Together.”
Raising the flag at City Hall to kick off Worcester Pride 2015 are couples (from left) Tom Hansen and Ted Goulet and Miguel and Mark Brunelle. They were joined by last year’s Parade Grand Marshal Erica Kay-Webster. The Worcester Pride 2015 celebration officially opened with a dinner held Wednesday night. It arrived in earnest Thursday, however, with the raising of the flag at City Hall and, later, the lighting of Union Station. That included the first time a Pride flag has been flown at Union Station.
Friday features the Pride Pageant at Fidler’s Green, 19 Temple St., and a after-parties at the MB Lounge, 40 Grafton St., and Electric Haze, 26 Millbury St.
(For tickets or information, check out the Pride website, or its Facebook page.)
Saturday is the main event.
The pride parade begins its march at 11 a.m. (staging at 9 a.m.), Trobaugh said. Once on the common, the Pride Festival will have speakers, entertainment, poetry slams and more.
Following the festival, a Youth Pride Dance will be held at Sweet, 72 Shrewsbury St., followed by another after-party, also at Sweet.
Pride is celebrating its 40th year in 2015, but the parade has returned for its fourth year after a long absence, Trobaugh said.
The difference is, in previous years the parade marched away from City Hall, to the park for the festival. Now, as a testament to inclusion, it marches toward City Hall.
“I think having the festival on The Common sends a strong message, as well as a practical on,” Trobaugh said.
The message is acceptance. Also being recognized in this year’s parade is City Manager Edward Augustus Jr. for his work in improving the atmosphere within Worcester for the LBGTQ (Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender, Questioning) community.
That comes after Worcester earned a perfect score on the Human Rights Commission’s Equality Index .
A few years ago, Worcester ranked a mid-range 55 on that scale, Trobaugh said. So he approached Augustus with the idea of getting it to 75.
“He said, ‘I think we can do better,'” Trobaugh said. And, he added, the city did just that, increasing that score to today’s 100 percent.
He credited Augustus for his work with the City Council and the city’s insurers, as well as supporting a LBGTQ liaison on the police department.
“Making him honorary grand marshal makes a lot of sense for that reason,” Trobaugh said.
Augustus noted that Worcester Pride takes him back to his early days in politics. The former School Committee member, State Senator and congressional aide said he began his political career in 1988 on the city’s Human Rights Commission, which, during his tenure, added sexual orientation to the city’s anti-discrimination policies.
As a member of the Senate in 2005, Augustus said he played a role in making sure marriage equality, which had been handed to the legislature in the state Supreme Judicial Court case, was not rolled back.
Worcester’s recent efforts, which included the unanimous support from the City Council, resulted in the largest gain of any city in the country on that scale, according Augustus.
“We’re really proud of that because it reflects who we are as a city,” Augustus said, “a city that respects everyone and embraces everyone and that wants everyone to feel like this is a place you can call home.”
Source: MassLive Worcester http://masslive.com/news/worcester
