Jamestown Pride Festival holds three days of events in celebration of Pride Month.

Pride Flag Raising Ceremony on Tracy Plaza (June 2021)

A flag raising event will take place this afternoon to kick off Pride Month in the City of Jamestown.

Jamestown Pride will hold a rally and raise the Progressive Pride Flag at 4:00 p.m. on Tracy Plaza next to Jamestown City Hall.

The event will include voter registration, information on local candidates, as well as food. The rally is free and open to the public.

At the state level, Governor Kathy Hochul has ordered pride progress flags to be raised across the state and state landmarks to be illuminated in the colors of the LGBTQ+ pride flag for Pride month. She also announced that the progress pride flag will be flown at State Parks as well.

Jamestown Pride

A Slow Roll Bike Ride by Pearl City Cycle will start downtown at 5:30 p.m. Friday. That will be followed by a free ages 21-and up event at 9:00 p.m. at Sneaker’s Bar on Harrison and Institute Streets that features burlesque troupe, Laced Up Ladies.

Jamestown Pride Coordinator Sheridan Smith said Saturday is the main Festival day starting at 8:30 a.m. with yoga at Comedy Center Park, followed by a Pride Flag Raising ceremony on Tracy Plaza at 9:30 a.m., “So that’s a really integral part of what we do, because there is a lot of celebration but this is showing the importance of the Queer community in Jamestown and Chautauqua County in general.”

Smith said the Pride market in conjunction with the opening of the Jamestown Public Market then takes place from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on West Third Street and part of North Main Street, “So the Pride market has all sorts of different things. The Rise Journey are actually some of our sponsors who are handling a question and answer tent. So you’ll be able to ask questions about the Queer community. If you’re in the Queer community and want to know more. If you’re outside of the Queer community, because it’s with the Public Market so we’ve set this up so many people will be there who don’t necessarily think they have a reason to celebrate Pride, so now they have a place to go to ask questions.”

Smith said other activities during the market include games, performances, story telling, other resource tables, as well as Pride merchandise vendors and food trucks.

Evening activities taking place at the Wintergarden Plaza include DJ Little Italy and performers Thee Suburbia, Islaya, and Daphne Always.

Pride festivities take place nationally in the month of June to commemorate the Stonewall Uprising of 1969 and in support of the LGBTQ+ community.

All Jamestown Pride events on Saturday are free and family friendly.

For more information about Jamestown Pride Fest, visit facebook.com/JamestownPride.

Hochul said the change is being implemented in accordance with the State’s Gender Recognition Act, which goes into effect on June 24. This legislation provides expanded protections for transgender and non-binary New Yorkers through this change at the Department of Motor Vehicles and by making it easier for people to change their names, change their sex designation and change their birth certificates to reflect their identity.

Hochul said in a release, “As we prepare to celebrate Pride Month, I am excited to announce this historic change that represents another victory in our fight to help ensure equality and respect for the LGBTQ+ community. Every person, regardless of their gender identity or expression, deserves to have an identity document that reflects who they are. My administration remains committed to ensuring that New York is a place of value, love and belonging for members of the LGBTQ+ community.”

New Yorkers who have an existing driver license, learner permit, or non-driver ID will have the option to change the gender marker on their photo ID from “M” or “F” to “X”, and those who are applying for a state photo ID for the first time will have the option to choose “X”.

Customers who do not want to visit a DMV office to change their existing ID document will have the option to change their gender designation through an online transaction beginning in July 2022.

Governor Kathy Hochul speaking at LGBT Community Center 2022 Dinner

Governor Kathy Hochul has announced major advancements in equity initiatives for the LGBTQ+ community as part of the enacted 2023 State Budget.

The Budget includes $13.5 million for the Department of Health to support the LGBTQ+ community and more than doubles annual LGBTQ+ Health and Human Services funding. It also requires all state agencies that collect information about a person’s gender to provide an option for people to mark their gender as ‘X’ on state forms and include that information in data collection. The budget also enables transgender New Yorkers to change their names or gender designations on marriage certificates without leaving their dead names on them.

Hochul said, “The past two years have been hard for us all, but especially hard for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers who have always been forced to deal with levels of isolation due to homophobia and transphobia. That’s why it’s so important that our newly enacted budget presses forward in the fight for equality with historic levels of state funding and initiatives for LGBTQ+ equity.”

The 2023 Budget includes $13.5 million for the Department of Health – an increase of $8 million over the prior fiscal year – to support the LGBTQ+ community and network of providers, with direct health services, cultural competency education and training, organizational capacity building and transgender wellness initiatives.

The Budget also invests $12.5 million — an increase of $3.7 million over the prior fiscal year — to support the Division of Human Rights‘ efforts in protecting New Yorkers, including the LGBTQ+ community, from unlawful discrimination based on who they are. The Division of Human Rights uses investigation, prosecution, and education to enforce and promote the Human Rights Law, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, age, race, national origin, disability, and other specified classes.

The State Budget also directs $25 million for Securing Communities Against Hate Crimes (SCAHC) grants. Additionally, benefits will be expanded for victims of hate crimes, who will now be able to obtain up to $2,500 in reimbursement – an increase of $2,000 from past years.

The Division of Human Rights will create a Hate and Bias Prevention Unit, first announced in Governor Hochul’s State of the State Address, to provide a coordinated, rapid, and community-focused response to hate and bias incidents. The unit’s general charge will include leading efforts around public education and outreach, serving as an early warning detection system in local communities, and rapidly mobilizing to areas and communities in which a bias incident or incidents have occurred.

Governor Hochul Signs LGBTQ+, Sex Trafficking Victim Protection Bills

Governor Kathy Hochul has signed legislation that expands protections for the LGBTQ+ community and those who have been victims of sex trafficking.

One bill gives utility customers the right to be addressed and acknowledged by their preferred name and pronouns by requiring utility corporations, municipalities, water-works corporations, and telephone service providers to allow customers to use their preferred name and pronouns.

Hochul said the process for transgender individuals to change their names is “excruciating,” “Being misgendered, it’s traumatic. It’s truly dramatic. It’s stressful. To be deadnamed. I mean, these are people with feelings and individuals who just deserve more than that. And to know that this is going on and causing them anguish, therefore, it causes me anguish. This is how I feel so deeply and passionately about the people of this state. So this legislation is necessary to streamline the process for utility corporations to respect a customer’s gender identities.”

Hochul said the bill also will prevent the risk of individuals being found by an abusive family member or partner and reduce the risk of harassment in housing.

The second bill, known as the START Act, strengthens protections for victims of sex trafficking, labor trafficking, compelling prostitution, and trafficking in persons, who are convicted of a range of offenses as a result of that trafficking or compelling. This legislation builds on a law passed in 2010 in New York allowing victims of human trafficking to vacate prostitution-related criminal convictions that were directly tied to their victimization.