Rainbow Flags Welcome Pride Week’s Start

Drag performances, banned books, rainbow flags and more will be on display across New Haven this week — as the city kicks off its annual pride festival.

After rain postponed an anticipated ceremony to raise Daniel Quasar’s Progress Forward Pride flag on the Green, representatives of the Pride Center joined city officials and staff to bring the rainbow inside, draping that flag over a podium inside City Hall and taking turns drawing attention to the various events happening this week in celebration of New Haven’s LGBTQ+ community. 

“We couldn’t do this week-long celebration without being in a community that’s so welcoming,” said Juancarlos Soto, who also introduced himself as the newly appointed executive director of the New Haven Pride Center during that press conference Monday afternoon. ​“In New Haven we celebrate pride several times per year, at the Pride Center we celebrate everyday,” he said. 

“This year, it’s more important than ever,” Soto declared, as ​“we see anti-LGBTQ rhetoric springing up all over the country.”

Read through the schedule of events taking place between Monday, Sept. 18 and Sunday, Sept. 24 here. That calendar includes, among several events, a Pride volunteer day in partnership with The Diaper Bank of Connecticut at 370 State St. on Sept. 19 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Drag Artist Story Hour at the Mitchell Library on Sept. 20th at 4 p.m.; and the New Haven Pride Block Party in Ninth Square on Saturday, Sept. 23 from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. Annual pride celebrations have taken place in New Haven for more than two decades.

“People are actively fighting against diversity and actively trying to divide us,” Mayor Justin Elicker said. ​“Get out and show your values by supporting and participating!” he called on New Haveners.

The festival arrives not only amid national attacks against trans and queer people across the country, but also following a tumultuous time for the Pride Center, one of Connecticut’s only LGBTQ+ community centers. After pausing their services amid financial and leadership woes last year, and then having their nonprofit status reinstated in February, Monday’s press conference doubled as an update on the nonprofit’s current status: Soto has gone from interim director to permanent executive leader while Hope Chavez and Nick Bussett have stepped up as the center’s new board chairs. 

“Today we are strongly reaffirming the partnership between the center and the city and different nonprofits and community members,” Soto told the Independent. For example, he pointed to partnerships between the center and the New Haven Free Public Library as particularly key. ​“One of the things we’re very proud of this Pride season is making sure people have library cards — part of dispelling this fear is making sure people are getting education and opportunities to learn,” he said. 

Librarian Sarah Quigley reminded her audience Monday that: ​“We are here for you, the library is a safe space… Get your library card, all the cool kids are doing it!”

Beyond this week’s special events, Soto reminded the public that the Pride Center at 84 Orange St. is open Monday through Friday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Food, clothing, hygiene products and other necessities are available for pick-up at the center in addition to support services like case management.

As the newly affirmed director of the organization, Soto said his top priority is ensuring that the center operates as an active community space for queer people living in Connecticut.

“The sense of isolation and separation from Covid is still a really big reality, and the rise in anti-LGBT rhetoric echoing across the internet has seen the number of folks coming into the Pride Center to talk about depression and anxiety increasing,” he said. 

He offered a concluding invitation for New Haveners this week and beyond: ​“Come party with us, come dance.”