The colors were bright and defiant against the dark blue sky as the pride flag was raised at Gloucester City Hall on May 30th. LGBTQ+ individuals and allies gathered around to celebrate the flag raising, which commemorated the start of a month that celebrates them for who they are.
130 days before this rainbow flag began to wave over downtown Gloucester, newly inaugurated President Trump signed an order that “sex is exclusively male or female.” 114 days before, the President signed an order barring transgender women and girls from participating in sports.
But amidst laws like these, members of the LGBTQ+ community and their allies on Cape Ann haven’t suppressed their pride– in fact, they’ve taken this week to celebrate it. g
The Cape Ann Pride Coalition and the Chamber of Commerce organized “Cape Ann Pride Week,” a collection of events planned around Cape Ann to honor the start of Pride Month. These events took place from May 29th to June 8th, and expanded on the success of “last year’s first ever Cape Ann Pride Weekend, which brought together adults and teens…in celebration and support of the LGBTQIA+ community..on Cape Ann,” according to Good Morning Gloucester.
This year’s pride week theme was “Survive and Thrive.” Cape Ann Pride Chair, George Grattan, explained that they chose this for a few reasons.
“There has been an increase in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and actual legislation and hate crimes,” Grattan said. “We decided to go with that to give people some hope without pretending that things are all easy right now, because they’re not. That’s where the ‘survive’ part comes from.”
But the theme also emphasizes the importance of holding hope.
“The ‘thrive’ is that despite the fact that these are tough times, we’ve faced tough times before and we’ve come through as a community, and we will now as well,” Grattan said.
Cape Ann Pride wants to spread the message of a supportive community through specific activities during Pride Month. An activity specifically for teens is the teen sail, which will take place on June 26th and is available for LGBTQ+ teens and their friends.
One of the organization’s goals is to spread their message to the younger generation, specifically teens.
“There’s a lot of outward hate towards the queer community right now, especially queer minors, on social media and from people who support our government right now,” said Gloucester High junior Mylee Towne.
Gen Z is exposed to current events and political opinions more than any other generation, particularly through social media.
For many LGBTQ+ teens, both media consumption and policies in recent years have heightened their anxiety. According to 2024 research by the Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on LGBTQ+ teen mental health, 90% of this population said their well-being was negatively impacted by recent policies.
The nonprofit also reported that calls to their suicide hotline for LGBTQ+ teens increased by 700% the night President Trump was elected.
Towne said their day-to-day anxiety has increased as well.
“I’m definitely scared,” Towne said. “And as much as I want to be open and stand up against the current government, think that I’m worried about what could happen if I do. It feels like we’re going back in time and it’s difficult to want to celebrate pride right now.”
Through Cape Ann Pride Week, Grattan hopes to promote to teens that the negativity in the media doesn’t tell the whole story.
“We really think it’s important that we show [teens] that, despite what they might be seeing on the news or even hearing from some of their peers, that’s not all there is,” Grattan said. “We think it’s really important that we show them hope, that we show them joy, that we show them community– whether they’re questioning or whether they’re sure about their identities or their orientations, they don’t have to be afraid.”
