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

Jamestown Pride Committee members raise Progressive Pride flag on Tracy Plaza for Pride month (June 2, 2023)

Community members gathered Friday on Tracy Plaza for the raising of the Pride Progressive Flag for the start of Pride month in the city of Jamestown.

Jamestown Pride representative Tim Starr spoke, saying when he grew up in the area there was zero visibility for members of the LGBTQ+ community, “What we do here today is not just make a statement, although that’s very important. Today is about making sure that other people can see who we are. Can see that we’re proud survivors of everything that has gone on in the past, and that they too can have hope for their future.”

Mayor Eddie Sundquist, who is Gay, said the theme of the flag raising, “Vote With Pride,” is one way to stop government from stripping rights from the LGBTQ+ community, “We have grown apathetic and that apathy has allowed our politicians to creep in with legislation that is homophobic, anti-trans, and just downright mean. And don’t think it’s in just certain states. Did you know, in April, our own Assemblyman and Senator introduced a bill to ban transgender females in middle and high school from school sports? The same type of bills being introduced in legislatures across this country.”

Sundquist said he sent a letter in opposition to the state legislature saying the bill would deprive “a subset of students and young people of opportunities available to their peers and, if passed, would send a message to vulnerable transgender youth that they are not welcome or accepted in their own communities.”

Jamestown Pride Fest events will begin this Thursday, June 8 and continue through the weekend. For more information, visit https://www.mhachautauqua.org/jamestownpride/

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 Mayor Eddie Sundquist speaks at Pride Flag Raising Ceremony on Tracy Plaza (June 11, 2022)

Over 50 people turned out for the Pride Flag Raising on Tracy Plaza as part of Jamestown Pride Fest on Saturday.

Jamestown Mayor Eddie Sundquist said the ceremony represented how far the community had come despite adversity. He said, however, his heart was heavy over the mass shootings that have taken place recently, how abortion rights are being threatened, and how how the nation is divided.

Sundquist read passages from his Pride month speech in June 2020 that took place during the height of COVID Pandemic, citing their relevance today, “Every time I turn on the news, I feel defeated. I feel as though our community tried to take one step forward and is thrown two steps back. But that’s the thing about our community. It does not waver. It does not stop fighting. You may knock us down, but we get right back up.”

Sundquist said one of the most incredible things about the Queer community is how it fights for others, “Our ability to fight for the rights of marginalized people, to share the fight for basic human rights. Now let me be clear, you mess with any of us, you get all of us.”

Sundquist also shared a proclamation designating June as Pride Month in Jamestown.

Jamestown High School Gay-Straight Alliance President Arron Loomis said having a Pride Fest in the area is crucial, “It provided a safe space for us to come together and be ourselves, which many of us are not able to do so at home or school. Jamestown Pride has also allowed us to meet smaller Queer communities in our county and celebrate the diversity closer to home. Having a local Pride festival demonstrates how far we’ve come as an area.”

Loomis said there are over 238 bills limiting LGBTQ rights this year alone, with most of them targeting trans people in regards to youth sports to denial of gender affirming care. In 2021, the Human Rights Campaign said over 50 fatalities of transgender and gender-non conforming people were due to violent attacks.

Loomis said there has been backlash at local schools due to the observance of Pride month, “I know a number of youth who have experienced homophobia and transphobia throughout the school year. This hate does not only exist because of youth. Hate is learned. Even in public, there’s many of us who have dealt with hate, ranging from slurs to death threats. This is why education and Pride are essential. It allows for those around us to see that we are human beings with lives and families. We have aspirations and dreams.”

The Progress Flag that was raised on Tracy Plaza is a redesign of the rainbow flag from 1978 that celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ community and calls for a more inclusive society.

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.