City to Open Pride in the City Month With Flag Raising

The City Council has declared June as “Pride in the City” month in New Britain as part of the nationwide celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride Month.

GLAAD has said that,

The majority of Pride events are held in June to commemorate the anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion in New York City on June 28, 1969, which most historians consider to be the birth of the modern LGBT movement. At the time, police raids on bars catering to LGBT patrons were common, but that night, the patrons of the Stonewall Inn fought back. While historical accounts of the night vary, the violent response ignited a national firestorm of activism that brought new visibility to the struggle for LGBT equality.

The New Britain celebration of Pride Month is to begin with the annual Pride Flag Raising Ceremony, to be on June 7, 2021 at 9:30am in Central Park.

The City Council approved a resolution saying that the city, “Recognizes that LGBTQ rights are human rights and are protected by the Constitution,” and that it, “Recognizes that all residents should be treated fairly and equally regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.” The Council added that it will, “Encourage all residents to join the celebration of LGBTQ Pride Month to provide a continuing opportunity for all persons to learn about the discrimination and inequality that has faced.”

New Britain Pride thanked the City Council for approving the resolution and is encouraging residents to attend the flag raising ceremony.

The Council resolution also said that the city, “Aims to continue to increase our Human Rights Campaign Municipality Equality Index Score in the coming years.”

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) says that its 2020 Municipality Equality Index for New Britain was 71. Of the nine Connecticut municipalities rated by the HRC, four were higher than New Britain, while four were lower.

Those municipalities with a higher HRC Municipality Equality Index than New Britain were Hartford, with a score of 99, New Haven, with a score of 83, Norwalk, with a score of 100 and Stamford, with a score of 100. Those with lower scores were Bridgeport, with 42, Fairfield, with 46, Storrs, with 61 and Waterbury, with 67.