The Fall River, Massachusetts, municipal meeting on June 1, 2022, was the annual Pride Month Flag Raising ceremony, marking the beginning of LGBTQ+ celebration month. Sean Connell, President of the Fall River Pride Committee, hosted the event, which included speeches from Mayor Paul Coogan, Heather Souza (Executive Secretary of the Fall River Pride Committee), Ren Perry, and Angel Dacosta (Mx. LGBTQ Fall River). Mayor Coogan presented a proclamation officially declaring June 2022 as LGBTQ+ Pride Month in Fall River, emphasizing the city's commitment to equality, freedom, and denouncing prejudice. Speakers shared personal stories and highlighted the importance of allyship, respecting pronouns to reduce self-harm rates, and creating a supportive community for LGBTQ+ youth. Heather Souza spoke about being an ally and a 'Pride Mom,' while Angel Dacosta recounted his experience of hiding his identity as a youth and finding love and safety. The Fall River Pride Festival was announced for Sunday, June 5th, from 12 PM to 5 PM. The ceremony concluded with the raising of a new and improved Pride Flag, symbolizing hope and support for the LGBTQ+ community in Fall River.
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hello everyone i want to thank you guys so much for coming and being here with us and welcome you guys to the annual pride flag raising to kick off lgbtq celebration month is the word i will use today of course i just want to start really quickly by thanking the city of faux river and our partners over our greater fall over recreation for all their help in sponsoring our event today and so
0:24today we'll hear from a few members and allies in the lgbt community we'll tell our stories and we'll share some experiences and of course we'll raise our flag but i just want to kick it off with our first speaker actually mayor paul coogan welcome welcome i echo what sean said we're glad everybody's here today this is going to be a very very great event um and i want to thank everybody for joining us here today
0:54i'm honored to be joined here today by members of fall river lgbtq community as we mark the beginning of pride month by raising a new and improved pride flag i want to thank the fall of a pride committee for helping us to plan this ceremony along with all the hard work and preparing for their pride festival on sunday i don't know if those fire trucks are trying to drown me out we'll wait once
1:21i'll go with sean's version
1:35we are here tomorrow at the beginning of pride month in a few days the area around city hall will be taken over for a pride festival even bigger than in past years it will be a fun event and i invite all four river families to come down and stop by but pride is not just a celebration it is a time to learn listen and emphasize that there is no place for hate or discrimination in fall river
1:59we have come a long way as a country state and city to make life better and more equal for all but these successes did not always come easily and i am grateful to the members of our community that paved the way and made pride possible in fall river we are better because of the many diverse communities that call our city home we have a large community of lgbtq residents in fall river
2:26these are involved citizens leaders educators volunteers and business owners and we are lucky to be joined here by a few community leaders who make a difference in fall river every single day and i look forward to hearing them speak with that i would like to present the proclamation announcing june as lgbtq pride month in the city of fall river
2:58whereas the city of fall river cherishes the value and dignity of each person and appreciates the importance of equality and freedom and all are welcome in the city of fall river to live work play and every family in any shape deserves a place to call home where they are safe happy and supported by friends and neighborhoods and the city of fall river denounces prejudice and unfair discrimination
3:23based on age gender identity gender expression race color religion marital status national origin sexual orientation or physical attributes as an affront to fundamental principles and the city of fall river appreciates the culture civic and economic contributions of the lesbian gay bisexual transgender queer plus lgbtq community which strengthens our social welfare and whereas it is imperative that the
3:59young people in our community regardless of sexual orientation gender identity and expression feel valued safe and empowered and supported by their peers and community leaders now therefore be resolved that i paul coogan mayor of the city of fall river in massachusetts do hereby proclaim june 2022 as lgbtq and pride month in the city of fall river and we encourage all of our citizens to
4:29recognize the contributions made by members of the lgbtq community and to actively promote the principles of equality liberty and justice witness by my hand paul coogan mayor of fall river
4:50now on with the show thank you okay yes so just a couple remarks from me here um my name is sean connell i'm the president of the fall over pride committee and i'm really just truly honored here to be able to to speak about being lgbt being out loud and celebrating the diversity that we have within the community you know the uh one of the big things we're always trying to do within the
5:13community we always kind of talk about it on our committee is that we're trying really hard to be the adults that we needed when we were kids right because this is not just about trying to be lewd or trying to sway anybody it's about being able to celebrate who we are to be proud of our diversity and come together for all of our strengths to show a rainbow coalition of fun friendly atmospheres that fall over clearly
5:37supports and we're really really excited about just to note the festival is this sunday june 5th 12 to 5. but before we get to that i want to introduce three different speakers um from our fall over pride committee today our first speaker is actually our executive secretary she's known as our pride mom because she is one of the most incredible human beings you can ever meet so it's my honor to introduce heather souza
6:07people that know me know i forgot to do one of my duties the phone was ringing it was one of our state representatives alan silvia he could not make it carol fiola is represented by tyra uh paul schmidt wanted to be here and michael rodriguez also wanted to be here they're sorry they couldn't make it but they do support pride month and fall river they wanted me to let you know it's awesome
6:27and i apologize for cutting back in thank you paul come on up heather thank you hi everybody my name is heather my pronouns are she her and hers and i'm the secretary of the fall river pride committee i want to begin with the question what is an ally an ally is someone who supports the lgbtq community with a genuine desire to fight for equal rights a person who is willing to confront the
6:55challenges faced by the community having a willingness to stand up for what's right and to speak up when you witness an injustice even and especially when it's uncomfortable as you can imagine if it's uncomfortable for you consider what it feels like for the person who is dealing with the injustice standing up to bullies and protecting the community and standing up and respecting someone's
7:17pronouns this one is really important because just by simply using somebody's proper pronouns you can reduce their chance of self-harm within the community and this also lowers the suicide rate and with the suicide rate for trans people being upwards of 50 percent it's really important that we respect that i'm a mother of five children two of whom are part of the lgbtq community i have told i have been told by my
7:43daughter jasmine that i'm one of the easiest person people to come out to in fact when she was ready to come out we had a conversation and we were joking and she says well you don't know everything about me and i looked at her and i said like the fact that you're a lesbian i was right and she was out of the closet which i was very happy for
8:06my son came out when he was a teenager i said okay and we went on with our lives the one thing that my kids have always known about me is that i'll accept them no matter what it doesn't matter what they identify as it simply does not matter the mama bear and me will always fight for them and countless others because i believe that we should be allowed to live in peace regardless of
8:26who we lay down with at night regardless of whether you are a girl or a boy or both or neither i will always have your backs i have always been the neighborhood mom as well i've taken in many of my kids friends i've just treated them like the humans that they are i have many children that i protect and it doesn't matter if they're my blood i care for them and they need somebody to
8:49care for them and that's it as secretary of the pride committee as sean said i'm mama pride they call me mom it's not just the title because they know that no matter what i'm there for them because i do care that's also what everybody else needs someone to care to stand up for them to protect them to include them to have compassion and empathy and to love them unconditionally
9:13for me it's love that shows that i'm an ally the most important thing that i've realized throughout being an ally for the community is that i'm not here to speak for anyone else it's my job to raise their voice up and to kind of lower mind so that way theirs is heard with the help of me standing by them it's not difficult to be an ally you simply have to listen at times when you
9:37witness an injustice you speak up you do something we have to protect the community until they can protect themselves with the peace that they deserve one of the biggest factors in protecting the community is to vote vote for those who are allies those who support the community and want to keep them safe they want to keep them included and accepted educate yourself and in turn you can
10:00educate others don't put the burden on the community to teach you it's not their job and can cause further trauma many will will welcome questions and it's not a problem but keep in mind that if you haven't educated yourself even a little bit some of the questions can be offensive and also remember not to ever confuse gender with sexual orientation we also have to remember that cis
10:24heterosexual people have a privilege and by cis i mean that you are living as the gender that you were born as we have never lost a job for being cis however according to the national center for transgender equality transgender people have lost their jobs at a rate of about 25 percent and about 75 percent have experienced some kind of discrimination in the workplace acknowledge your privilege and use it
10:47for good work on the social structure that gave you that privilege and include everybody we all make mistakes we have to remember that when we do make a mistake it can impact others if you misgender somebody don't make a huge deal out of it simply correct yourself and move on calling attention to it only makes everybody uncomfortable especially the person that you're misgendering
11:13if you feel uncomfortable after making this mistake that's good learn from it one thing that you should know about me i use your proper pronouns whether you are around or whether you are not and i will correct anybody who doesn't there's a few easy ways to become a better ally one is again to correct people when they misgender speak up against insensitive remarks homophobia transphobia racism let
11:38everyone know that you won't stand for it and that you're not that person promote diversity whenever it's possible in the workplace at school or even in the community this can be done simply by asking and disclosing pronouns show your support for the community easy as wearing a pin a rainbow shirt it also shows them that you're a safe person one last thing that i want to mention is that i've been part of the pride
12:05committee for the past year and it has been one of the best experiences of my life i have been searching for acceptance since i was a kid and i found it here with these people i have grown and become the person that i needed when i was growing up and that wasn't there for me part of it was finding this group of people that i consider to be my family i will forever be grateful for the
12:28opportunity to serve the community thank you thank you so much heather i think there's a lot of times people try to figure out the best ways that they can be an ally and i really think heather kind of hit all those nails right on the head right it's not about just being lgbt it's about celebrating all families it's about celebrating all the ways that we love each other that we form love that we create love
12:59so someone else that i love our next speaker here i want to introduce renpe hi everyone my name is ren perry i use he him as pronouns and when i see the pride flag i see resilience in everyday people who have fought for their right to be seen as humans worthy of love identity and basic rights just as much as the next person i see people who stand under it proudly as we are today
13:29ready to be free we also stand for those who cannot be with us that's okay though because these flags encompass all no matter the circumstances lately negative news on lgbt topics has been more than disheartening it can be hard to stand up for what you believe in and who you are but know that every single one of you is worth that no matter who you are or love
13:51i was scared when out of my mind when i first came out and it didn't go well in many aspects my blood family had grown distant from me and i fell off from my friends as well i was both a new and same person coinciding at once at the same time i made new friends and family along with some of the existing really stepping up the people around me started to grow
14:14with me as i did for the better like a big flourishing rainbow garden varying in variety and growth times we accept the love we think we deserve that's a quote from a book called the perks of being a wallflower that's always deeply resonated with me this pride month i want everyone here to be a love that radiates so brightly that it helps guides those of us who can't find our own
14:38help them know that they deserve the love any person can do it trans straight cis gay or non-binary no matter how you identify show kindness show compassion humor and humility and do it beyond pride month be there for one another because that's what the lgbt community is about another shining attribute to the lgbt community has also been the concept of found family i encourage you all to
15:04please come and get to know the community not during this month or at our events but all year round thank you thank you so much ren um ren's bravery and courageousness is so admirable and i'm so happy to have him as part of our committee and last but not least i want to introduce to you our reigning mix that is mx lgbtq fall river just want to plug that real quick because we're going to be
15:32crowning another one at our prom next friday june 10th but without further ado i want to introduce angel dacosta good afternoon everyone my name is angel decosta and i'm extremely proud to be standing before you all here at city hall as we raise our pride flag here and kick off pride month i was born and raised in fall river and now live here with my amazing husband of five years and our fur babies
16:02i know that many may wonder why we may need to raise a pride flag in our city or why do we even need a whole month to celebrate the lgbt community and what makes us so special it may seem fair to some but for those who have had to hide who they are or live in fear simply because of who they are or who they love this small gesture is a beacon of hope you
16:26see i'm here to personally address the most vulnerable demographic in our community our youth because i know firsthand what it's like to have to hide in the closet until i was capable of living on my own and supporting myself i know what it's like to be made to feel so alone and so unloved and i very first came out to a handful of people i could trust when i was 13 years old
16:51the year before i spent praying over and over again to wake up and be the person everyone else wanted me to be but after a full year it was easier to accept the fact that some things you just can't change one of the first people i came out to was my oldest sister and i can still remember the fear in her eyes and in her voice when she responded to me by
17:12telling me that whatever i did mom and dad couldn't find out if i wanted a place to live and i knew that already uh which is why i never told them um so but no 13 year old should ever have to worry about having a place to live no child should fear for their safety in their own home and around their own family but for years that was my reality
17:36growing up as a queer kid as it is the reality for so many others and it comes as no surprise that with the that reality comes struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts but i stand here today because i can say that i made it i married my best friend someone who truly knows me and loves me for me we've been together for seven years now and i fall more and more in love with
18:01him every single day we have our own home full of love and happiness where no one yells and we are both comfortable and safe i had to wait for that but i promise you that it is worth waiting for this is more than just a flag this is a flag this flag will fly as a sign and a reminder to all those kids like me that they are not alone and they are not
18:27unlovable i want you all to know today that there is so much love out here waiting for you the real you so don't give up and happy pride all right so before we raise the flag here today i just want to rethink all of my speakers today and i want to thank everybody who's out there trying to figure themselves out we want you to know that fall of a pride committee is
18:56here for you recreation is here for you the city of fall river is here for you it's not always going to feel like that it's going to feel weird it's going to feel uncomfortable people aren't going to know how to address you they're going to be kind of jerks about your pronouns but the whole point of pride month and the whole point of coming together to raise this flag
19:14is that if we do it together and we celebrate every person's individuality within the spectrum of diversity that is the lgbt community every single one of us can get our ways back to that light away from the darkness and realize that there's nothing wrong with us that love is love is love so i want to invite a handful of my pride committee members to raise the flag um so we can finally kick off lgbt
19:42pride month here in fall river thank you guys so much for being here
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