Pride Grows

After a two-year hiatus, queer pride celebrations return to New Haven in full force this week, ballooning to fill four days instead of just one — and reflecting the movement’s continued advance into the cultural mainstream.

Every evening from Thursday through Sunday, PRIDE New Haven will offer entertainment for all backgrounds and ages, including drag performances, live music, a photo exhibit, dunking booths, and a dance party, culminating in a boozy brunch.

Though the city has always supported the event, this year, a liaison from the Department of Arts, Culture, and Tourism has worked closely with local organizers throughout the planning process.

Also new: the kickoff reception Thursday at 5:30 will be held at City Hall.

“It’s a first,” said Josh O’Connell, who heads the board of the New Haven Pride Center, a key group in this weekend’s festivities.

The city administration has always supported the local queer movement, O’Connell said. Former Mayor John DeStefano even helped the center find its first home in 1996. But hosting an event at City Hall is a whole new level of collaboration, he said.

Owner of Empire Nightclub Robb Bartolomeo and two other local activists created New Haven’s first-ever pride event in 1998. At the time, Hartford’s pride parade was the only major event of its kind in Connecticut.

“We thought pride should be statewide and not just in Hartford,” Bartolomeo said. ​“I don’t consider myself someone who is politically involved in all of this activist stuff. I see myself as a gay businessperson who has a responsibility to do something.”

This June marked the 45th anniversary of the New York City Stonewall riots, which catalyzed the modern gay rights movement. Bartolomeo said that despite the fact that the ​“gay lifestyle” is more accepted than it was 30 years ago, Pride events are still necessary. Exposure leads to tolerance, which eventually morphs into acceptance of queer people, he said.

“Any gay bar you went to before the mid-‘90s, including the mid-‘90s, the doors were on the side and not seen from the street. It was a very discreet way to get in and out of the place,” Bartolomeo said. His nightclub was the first gay establishment in New Haven with a prominent street entrance.

“Over the next 10 to 15 years or so, I started to see people leave the club and come to the club walking down Church Street hand in hand. I think that gay pride has something to do with that,” he said.

New Haven’s first pride was a one-day march and celebration held on the Green, with performers, personalities and community organizations. It was such a success that it was repeated every year afterward for six years – same place, same time.

In 2005, the city began to use the space for other events in June. Bartolomeo converted the celebration into a block party adjacent his club, then called Gotham Citi, at Crown and Church streets. That year’s event slogan, ​“2005, pride is alive,” was designed to drum up enthusiasm despite the change in venue.

In 2011, Bartolomeo said he became less active with the gay community. For the next two years, no one worked to make Pride happen. And so it just didn’t, until Bartolomeo and other organizers got in touch with the mayor’s office this May about bringing it back.

This year’s ​“PRIDE weekend” includes a reception and photo exhibit Thursday, open house at the New Haven Pride Center Friday, block party and after party Saturday, and final brunch on Sunday. Organizers predict Pride will be bigger and better-attended than ever, in part because of its two-year absence. O’Connell said he expects about 1,000 participants, while Bartolomeo said that up to 2,500 people could flock to the city from ​“as far north as Springfield and as far south as New York City.”

Gov. Dannel Malloy and Lieutenant Governor Nancy Wyman plan to make appearances. And Mayor Toni Harp is scheduled to make a speech on the opening day.

“We’re trying to get her to cut a rainbow ribbon with giant scissors,” event organizer Seth Wallace said with a laugh.

Wallace said he uses the umbrella-term ​“queer” to describe the event as all-inclusive, as opposed to the term ​“gay pride,” which is more limiting. Wallace has been a queer activist for about 10 years, beginning in high school. In college, he worked to institute gender-neutral housing, which allows students to select rooms and roommates without taking gender or sex into account.

Currently a graduate student in social work at Southern Connecticut State University, Wallace is equally active as a communicator and as a listener – either moving his hands excitedly or leaning forward with piercing eye contact.

He is transgender, currently ​“going through a transition.” As a younger queer person, he went to pride events to see role models of various gender identities ​“who are happy, successful and in relationships.”

One focal point of the weekend’s celebration is a photo exhibit called Now You See Me, which Wallace began a few months ago along with other local photographers. ​“We began meeting and having conversations with and photographing anyone who didn’t identify as 100 percent straight,” he said.

The project propelled itself forward primarily through word of mouth. People sought Wallace out, saying it was important to them to participate in the exhibit.

“I would ask, ​‘What about this makes you want to display yourself?’” he said. The exhibit will include a paragraph with each photo describing the way each person ​“showcases” identity.

At Friday’s open house, the New Haven Pride Center will announce the winners of the 2015 Dorothy Awards, which honor local individuals or organizations that have made major contributions to the LGBT community. The full schedule for PRIDE New Haven is available at this link.