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04/12/2023 08:02 AMThe first event to celebrate LGBTQ+ pride in North Haven is occurring on the Town Green on June 17, and the event’s co-chair Brandi Mandato is thrilled to be a part of the leadership team to shine its message of love, community, and equality brightly.
Fighting for equity and equality has been a part of Brandi’s life from the very beginning. She grew up in New Haven, garnering a keen sense of the socio-economic disparity between people of one group and another.
“I think it’s hard not to get invested in equity,” says Brandi. “When you grow up between homeless shelters and Yale University, it’s hard to not get a sense of what access and connections can do for someone’s life. And so growing up there really set me on a path where I wanted to make sure that as many people had access to meaningful choice-filled careers.”
For the past two decades, Brandi worked in economic and workforce development, focusing on labor-market access, “making sure people that have traditionally faced lots of barriers to employment, that those barriers are eliminated.”
The Obama administration recognized her work in economic and workforce justice in 2014 while she was with the San Francisco chapter of the International Jewish Vocational Service.
“The work that I did in San Francisco was during the 2008 recession, where we created programming to help people who’ve been laid off get back to work.”
Brandi’s work to help laid-off workers get back on their feet and continue on with the work they had already been doing in the areas of finance and law was part of a program that “helped people stay connected, stay accountable, and then develop new skills that they needed to get back into the workforce.”
Now a resident of North Haven, Brandi recognizes that the struggles for equity and equality are still present, from urban communities in San Francisco and New Haven to suburbs of the latter.
It was during her time in San Francisco, a city known historically for its LGBTQ+ culture, that she had the experience of “what it means when your full self is recognized is valued, and you feel like you belong.”
That is the important message that Brandi and her team at North Haven Pride want to send to all of North Haven, including its young people, where there is a home for them in town and always will be.
“I’m excited about bringing that because of the LGBTQ families that I know and love and have recently met, and for young people to see themselves reflected back to them,” Brandi says. “There’s a little part of me that may be even more excited for someone who has lived their whole long life in North Haven. And on June 17 will feel like maybe for the first time that they are fully home.”
Brandi’s time in San Francisco informed her how ignorance and bigotry towards people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities can have a negative impact on the personhood of an individual and an entire group. Even with the social progress that has been made up to now, she says the struggle for recognition and rights still persists.
“I think at a moment in time when there are…more than 430 actives pieces of anti-LGBTQ legislation in the country, now more than ever, in places in North Haven more than ever, it’s important for those of us that can be visible, to be visible, to be proud, to celebrate,” Brandi says. “LGBTQ culture is so beautiful, diverse, and resilient.”
Now two months away from the day of the event, the work that continues to go into its establishment looks different each day for Brandi. Part of it involves curating an event that is enjoyable but also educational and providing resources for support to LGBTQ+ equality. Another element is engaging with local businesses, sponsors, and receiving help from people who have organized pride events for decades in Connecticut.
Brandi has seen a large amount of support from the Town of North Haven to the local businesses, the latter of whom she has found are not only supportive but are also “deeply invested” in work that uplifts the LGBTQ+ community.
“There’s part of the work that is really nice and gratifying where people are just reaching out and saying, like, I can’t believe this is happening here. I’m so happy this is happening here. How can I support you? How can I volunteer? How can I be involved?”
Brandi says that pride events like the upcoming one on the Town Green can save the life of a young person who may be struggling with who they are because of their sexuality or gender identity. Out of the many things she could tell that person, she says to them this:
“I think it is just that you are so loved, and your voice and your talents and your existence matters, and we are so grateful that you are here,” she says. “This event, in many ways, is one of the interventions that can help ensure that LGBTQ kids grow up to be LGBTQ adults.”