Glitter, sticky notes and a call to keep fighting: Winchester marks sixth annual PRIDEfest

On a display board near the middle of the Winchester Town Common, a question waited in marker: “What do you wish people understood?”

By Thursday evening the sticky-note answers had multiplied. “Everyone deserves love and respect.” “Identities aren’t fixed.” “Be you! And be rainbow.” One read simply, “There is still time.”

The board was one stop among many at Winchester’s sixth annual PRIDEfest, a free, all-ages festival held June 11, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on the Town Common.

Organized by the Network for Social Justice and built largely by students from Winchester High School and McCall Middle School, the event drew families, children, students and older residents to rainbow-covered tables offering crafts, button making, vendors, speakers and education about LGBTQIA+ rights.

Signs posted around the Common explained the histories of Pride flags, from the rainbow flag to the bisexual and transgender flags.

Maggie Keefer, who has taken part in the event for years, said it has grown a little each year, and that its focus on families and young people is what she loves most.

“I think that the kids from the middle school and high school really take ownership of this event,” she said. “I feel very lucky to live in a community where our families, our children are all embraced for who they are, and they feel free to express themselves. I know that that is not true in a lot of places in the country and in the world.”

Faith groups were among the festival’s most visible backers. Crawford Memorial Church served as event sponsor, Winchester Community Music School and Temple Shir Tikvah sponsored the mainstage, and Bryant Park Designs, First Congregational Church and the Winchester Unitarian Society signed on as community sponsors.

Keefer, a member of an open and affirming congregation, said it was important “to show that houses of worship are welcoming to all,” pushing back on the idea that many churches reject LGBTQ+ people.

“Love your neighbor. Period. There’s no exception,” she said.

At the Winchester Unitarian Society Youth Group table, Milo Ippolito, 18, dabbed glitter blessings onto arms and foreheads and sprayed temporary hair color in every shade of the rainbow but one. Purple was missing because “it wasn’t in the bin,” he said. “Everybody loves adding a little more pizzazz.”

Ippolito, a recent graduate headed to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, said his youth group spends much of its time discussing social justice issues, including LGBTQ rights.

“I think it shows that there is a strong community to be found in Winchester,” he said of the turnout, adding the number of young people felt hopeful. “I feel like if people are more open about exploring their identities, it’ll lead to more well-rounded people.”

Asked how he supports friends working through questions of identity, he kept it plain.

“I think I helped by just being a supportive friend, regardless of who somebody is,” he said. “A lot of my friends have transitioned in some sort of way, and regardless of who they are, what they transition from, what they transition to, I just do my best to respect them as much as possible.”

A few tables away, Brittany DeLorme and Christine Amatrudo of the Winchester library offered a selection of inclusive books along with book lists, a specially designed sticker, calendars, rainbow tattoos and children’s activities.

The titles ranged widely, DeLorme said: “It’s everything from ways to explain Pride to kids to stories that just involve Pride and families.”

She said a library collection should make people feel represented, and that a book on the shelf “is there for someone who wants it,” even if not every patron agrees with it.

“Everyone should be able to choose whatever books they want to read,” she said.

Amatrudo said the library has a process for anyone who wants to challenge a book, starting with a form and ending with review by library leadership and trustees. DeLorme has watched the festival itself expand alongside the collection.

“Every year there are more tables, there are more people, there’s more options,” she said.

From the small stage, Alix Ke, a recent Winchester High School graduate and organizer with the Network for Social Justice, pushed the crowd past celebration.

“Pride is joy, a celebration of unique identity in the face of people who seek to erase anything foreign or out of the ordinary,” Ke said. “But at its core, Pride is a protest.”

Ke traced that protest to its origin: “Pride started with Stonewall, a week-long riot against the abuse of police and systemic homophobia that made national news.”

With trans people facing vilification and policy attacks, Ke warned that “remaining passive only helps preserve the oppression of queer people,” and urged the crowd to attend rallies, follow the news and stay educated. “Be loud, and make your voice heard.”

State Rep. Mike Day told the crowd that Pride “is about making each other up, celebrating our diversity, and celebrating inclusion.” Those words have become nearly taboo nationally, he said, “but not here in Winchester, and certainly not here in Massachusetts, where we are defending our right to be diverse and celebrate each other every single day.”

For School Committee Chair Timothy Matthews, the scene carried personal weight. He said seeing a multigenerational Pride celebration as a young person, with families, children and examples of two-dad and two-mom households, would have helped him envision a fuller life sooner.

He and his husband have two children, ages 10 and 5, and he said he talks openly with them when they encounter hurtful language. From the stage, he acknowledged the moment’s difficulty.

“People are feeling emboldened to say things they might not have said before,” he said. “We need to make sure that we keep fighting as hard as we possibly can, that everybody is able to be included, loved, and has the ability to live their lives fully and with authenticity.”

Maura Albert remembers a different Winchester. She began teaching elementary school in town in 1972 and taught for 37 years, but did not come out until her early 50s.

The town “didn’t used to be” so welcoming, she said, recalling bias against Black and Jewish residents. Through the Network for Social Justice, formerly the Multicultural Network, she watched Winchester change. She is married to Linda Blair, who was active in MassEquality.

As the festival wound down, the sticky notes stayed up, including one near the bottom of the board: “Approach everyone with kindness, even if you don’t understand them.”

Will Dowd is a Massachusetts journalist who covers municipal government and community life for Winchester News. He is also the founder and editor of The Marblehead Independent, a reader-funded digital newsroom.