Latest news with #JPHonkBand

Boston Globe

‘A celebration of freedom and love': Mayor Wu joins hundreds as LGBTQ+ Pride flag is raised over City Hall

Advertisement In his second term in office, President Donald Trump has issued a slew of 'With all the misinformation and all the hate that is out there in the world right now, we in Boston are recognizing that pride, at its core, is a celebration of freedom and love,' Wu said. At Monday's Pride Month kickoff, a range of generations came together to stand up for LGBTQ+ rights and publicly express their identities. Advertisement Paul Glass and Charles D. Evans traveled from Cape Cod to take part in the festivities. Both were at the Stonewall riots in 1969, and Evans said the couple has been 'fighting for equal rights and equality' since then. 'We're here to celebrate our heritage, our ancestry, and our delight to be connected with the LGBTQ+ community,' Glass said. Pride Month has been celebrated since June 1970, the one year anniversary of the Jack Madden, a student at Tufts University who identifies as gay, said it was important for him to be at the flag raising because of the attacks on LGBTQ+ people across the nation, specifically a Madden said he appreciated the intersectionality of the event; the JP Honk Band at one point played 'Bella Ciao,' an anti-fascist song. 'It's like a counterculture, in a sense, to what is being propagated by the majority,' he said. After the flag was raised to JP Honk Band playing 'This Little Light of Mine,' participants mingled and watched performances by LGBTQ+ identifying artists. Anne and Trisha Marquez traveled to Boston from Indiana for a friend's wedding. Once they heard about the flag raising, they decided to come out in support. Anne Marquez said the couple 'love the city of Boston and everything it does for the LGBTQ community.' 'There's a lot of hate and division in our country right now,' Anne Marquez said. 'If we just saw each other as human beings and just understood that we all have different paths, but in the end just want the same thing ... that's the important thing.' Advertisement Emily Spatz can be reached at