Current:Home > FinanceMaura Healey, America’s first lesbian governor, oversees raising of Pride flag at Statehouse-InfoLens
Maura Healey, America’s first lesbian governor, oversees raising of Pride flag at Statehouse
View Date:2024-12-23 11:11:30
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey joined lawmakers and members of the LGBTQ community Wednesday to mark Pride Month.
Healey, America’s first lesbian governor, oversaw the raising of the Pride flag on the Statehouse lawn. The ceremony also marked the 20th anniversary of the legalization of same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, the first state to allow the unions.
“No matter your age, your identity, your gender expression, here in Massachusetts you are welcome,” Healey said as she raised the flag. “We see you, we hear you, we love you, we stand with you, we will always fight for you.”
The ceremony comes ahead of the Boston Pride Parade on Saturday, the largest in New England.
Standing on the Statehouse steps, Healey said she was reminded of all who paved the way for the court decision in Massachusetts that legalized same-sex marriage. She also said that the right to marry and other victories for the LGBTQ community must be defended against ongoing threats.
“We are facing a situation where too many are looking to take away important, hard-won rights and freedoms,” said Healey, the state’s former attorney general. “These are freedoms. Equal treatment under the law is something that is in our United States Constitution.”
Wednesday’s flag raising and Saturday’s parade comes amid growing hostility toward the LGBTQ+ community elsewhere in the country. Some states have sought to limit drag shows, restricted gender-affirming medical care and banned school library books for their LGBTQ+ content.
Saturday’s parade will be Boston’s second Pride parade since 2019. A hiatus began with COVID-19 but extended through 2022 because the organization that used to run the event, Boston Pride, dissolved in 2021 under criticism that it excluded racial minorities and transgender people.
Boston Pride for the People, the new group formed to plan Boston’s parade, came together in 2022 to create a more inclusive, less corporate festival, according to planners.
The parade is one of the oldest Pride events in the country. A second event for the over-21 crowd is planned at City Hall Plaza on Saturday with beer, wine, DJs, drag queens, drag kings, other royalty, pole dancers and more, organizers said.
veryGood! (81224)
Related
- As the transition unfolds, Trump eyes one of his favorite targets: US intelligence
- Israelis protest as Netanyahu pushes back over Gaza hostage deal pressure | The Excerpt
- The CEOs of Kroger and Albertsons are in court to defend plans for a huge supermarket merger
- Glow Into Fall With a $54.98 Deal on a $120 Peter Thomas Roth Pumpkin Exfoliant for Bright, Smooth Skin
- The Best Gifts for Men – That He Won’t Want to Return
- Man plows into outside patio of Minnesota restaurant, killing 2 and injuring 4 others
- Kentucky high school student, 15, dead after she was hit by school bus, coroner says
- Top 10 places to retire include cities in Florida, Minnesota, Ohio. See the 2024 rankings
- McDonald's Version: New Bestie Bundle meals celebrate Swiftie friendship bracelets
- Hunter Biden’s tax trial carries less political weight but heavy emotional toll for the president
Ranking
- Voyager 2 is the only craft to visit Uranus. Its findings may have misled us for 40 years.
- Channing Tatum Shares Rare Personal Message About Fiancée Zoë Kravitz
- Will Tiffani Thiessen’s Kids follow in Her Actor Footsteps? The Saved by the Bell Star Says…
- Man plows into outside patio of Minnesota restaurant, killing 2 and injuring 4 others
- Here's Your First Look at The White Lotus Season 3 With Blackpink’s Lisa and More Stars
- Donald Trump's campaign prohibited from using Isaac Hayes song after lawsuit threat
- America is trying to fix its maternal mortality crisis with federal, state and local programs
- 2 Phoenix officers shot with 1 listed in critical condition, police say
Recommendation
-
Guns smuggled from the US are blamed for a surge in killings on more Caribbean islands
-
America is trying to fix its maternal mortality crisis with federal, state and local programs
-
Trial begins in Florida for activists accused of helping Russia sow political division, chaos
-
Ellen Degeneres announces 'last comedy special of her career' on Netflix
-
Lost luggage? This new Apple feature will let you tell the airline exactly where it is.
-
11-year-old boy charged with killing former Louisiana city mayor, his daughter: Police
-
Looking to advance your career or get a raise? Ask HR
-
Man sentenced to over 1 year in prison for thousands of harassing calls to congressional offices