MARBLEHEAD – Marblehead Pride partnered with Shubie’s Marketplace to kick off Pride Month with a family friendly community gathering Sunday from 12-3 p.m., which featured plenty of vendors and food options as well as a DJ, photo booth and face painting station.
Shubie’s General Manager Doug Shube said the reason behind hosting Sunday’s event was “simply put, we really felt the world needs more Pride right now.” He added, “We’ve always been big allies for the LGBTQ community. We have a Pride flag out here 365, and we just wanted to have a really fun day where we could celebrate this amazing community.”
Shube said it’s important to him that “anybody who walks here, no matter who you love or how you love, that you feel seen, respected and appreciated, and we always feel that equality never should be up for debate.”
Marblehead Pride Committee Member Reece Dahlberg said the incredible turnout for this event, which Shube said was in the hundreds, was a “testament to the community.”
Marblehead Police Department (MPD) 911 Dispatchers Allie Roy-Michaud and Amanda Broughton were in attendance, manning a booth and passing out coloring supplies, coloring books and stickers. Roy-Michaud said, “We’re here to represent the community and show the community that we’re here with them, and they have allies in the police department.”
MPD wrote that “We’re here to celebrate love, inclusion and the beautiful diversity in our community. As the first voices you hear in an emergency, we’re honored to stand with you – not just during calls for help, but also in moments of unity and joy.”
Saltwater Bookstore Owner Laura Cooper said the books she brought with her for sale “all have a theme of celebrating love of all kinds.” She added that she “feels very fortunate to be in a community where people really support one another.”
Abbot Public Library was also in attendance. Its table had a button making station, a list of book recommendations that celebrated queer joy, stickers and buttons as well as a button identification game where people could match the queer identities to their flags.
The library’s Head of Adult Services Wesley Sueker said he’s happy that society has reached a “baseline level of understanding and acceptance for identities that have been persecuted so strongly not too long ago, like within our lifetime, and now we’re sitting here at the point where I have the great pleasure of describing and educating people on the various different identities and subcultures that exist within the queer community.” He added that, to him, “Pride really means bravery.”
“It still requires a lot of courage for any human being to live in accordance with their true identity and their true self, and to do that not only in your internal life but to pave the way for other people is what Pride is about. And now that all of these kids are now going to have the opportunity to be their true selves without having to go through a lot of persecution or a level of fear of what the outcome would be,” Sueker said as Marblehead’s youngest twirled ribbons, giggling and dancing to the music.
Marblehead Pride will be hosting two other Pride Month events later this month. There will be an event at The Landing Restaurant June 17 at 6 p.m., and the annual Pride flag raising ceremony at Abbot Hall will be June 21 at 3 p.m.
