Letter to the Editor | Why Seekonk Pride Still Matters

Pride means patriotism. It's the story of ordinary Americans fighting for recognition from a country that didn't always love them back. That's why Seekonk Pride, organized by the nonprofit Love Lives in Seekonk (LLiS), returned on Sunday, June 14 to the Newman YMCA.

Board members declared "Defiantly Proud" as this year's theme for LLiS's third-annual Pride — and there's reason to be. Just weeks ago, a prejudiced parent denounced the Dartmouth Public Schools by taking their performative outrage to Facebook. It quickly caught fire and spread throughout social media as outrage peddlers fanned the flames.

Why? Because the high school's Gay-Straight Alliance had a bulletin board with an inflammatory message, "Have a Gay Summer!"

If this feels familiar, it's because a similar chain of events unfolded here three years ago with another prejudiced parent putting the Seekonk Public Schools on blast. Why? Because a school dance flyer affirmed our district doesn't discriminate based on gender identity/expression.

Cue the outrage-industrial complex and, suddenly, you have Internet strangers sharing images of bullets targeting us. That's how a single parent's feckless post canceled the dances, left the PTO out thousands of dollars, and put Seekonk's kids squarely in the crosshairs of domestic terrorists.

Out of that chaos and discord, though, emerged Love Lives in Seekonk with the message that gay and trans kids (and families) deserve to be at home in their hometown.

Even three years later, Seekonk Pride is still an act of defiance. Neighboring towns and cities have Pride flag raisings and rainbow crosswalks. But the Select Board, including a sitting member against the first Seekonk Pride, unanimously approved the event permit.

Phobes rally around the organizing principle that they're nobody unless they're somebody's victim. Pride flips that script. Because if you're fighting for acceptance, you love yourself and, if you love yourself, you defy self-pity.

Joe Novinson