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06/05/2024 08:30 AMThe second annual North Haven Pride (NHP) event is taking place on Saturday, June 8, at the North Haven Town Green, following a successful inaugural event. One of NHP’s executive board members, Lauren Tagliatela, recalls the event surpassing her and the group’s expectations.
“I remember feeling such joy and shock because this was the first time that we ever did this in North Haven, and we pulled it all together,” she says. “We only came together in January and started the planning, and I was so worried that we didn’t have enough time to advertise, to get sponsors and to attract a lot of attendees. So when I was there in the moment, and there were hundreds and hundreds of people and even over 1,000 people there, I was just in awe and so happy that our community showed up.”
Through the inaugural event, Lauren says that she and her NHP learned about how “necessary” a day of Pride was in town and have extended their support to other towns looking to hold the same type of event.
As the organization’s development chair, Lauren reaches out to businesses for support of this year’s Pride event. She has already secured grants from the LGBTQ+ Justice Network and the Community Foundation of Greater New Haven, which are “definitely helping us make a better celebration this year,” such as having more entertainment options.
NHP does more than host an annual event on the Town Green. They have programming under the name Pride 365, which hosts teen-oriented events at the Recreation Center.
“We’ve been getting kids as far as Mystic coming to North Haven because now North Haven is being seen as a very welcoming, inclusive town with the initiatives that we’re making,” says Lauren. “What I’m hearing from parents is that they’re seeing their kids grow more confident and more comfortable in their own skin because they have found their community, and they’ve made best friends in this group.”
She continues, “The work that we do is to try to make people feel like they belong here. Any teen that doesn’t feel like they belong, we hope they do come to the teen nights and get a sense of friendship and a sense of belonging.”
Pride 365 programming also includes a speaker series at the North Haven Memorial Library with those who were present at the Stonewall riots and who speak about their experience as transgender individuals in Connecticut.
“We had Tony Ferraiolo come, and he talked about his experience as being a trans man growing up and now how he is giving back to the community and helping families who may have a trans kid come out,” says Lauren.
Lauren recognizes that Pride 365 programming and the yearly celebration on the Town Green can be incredibly helpful for the LGBTQ+ community in the area, especially its youth, “to feel less isolated and less alone.” On top of being surrounded by members of their own community, LGBTQ+ youth at the June 8 celebration will be able to access various community resources specific to them.
The fact that the celebration is being held on the central town grounds of the green makes the support for the LGBTQ+ community even more pronounced, says Lauren.
“It is so visible to anyone driving by in a major area in town,” she says. “The message I want it to send is that you are welcome here. You’re welcome to be your true, authentic selves.’
Lauren understands from experience how impactful Pride celebrations can be. She grew up in the neighboring town of Wallingford, and although she was surrounded by a supportive family and school system, she knows in retrospect having a celebration in her hometown as a teenager “would have been life changing. I think I would have felt a lot more comfortable in my skin at an earlier age.”
Creating visibility for the LGBTQ+ community is especially important, says Lauren, given the rise of anti-LGBTQ legislation in state legislatures nationwide.
“With all these anti-LGBTQ laws that have been proposed this past year, when there are over 500 bills targeting trans youth and trans people, it’s really concerning. That’s what fires me up to be involved in something like this.”
For more information on NHP and the celebration on June 8, visit www.northhavenpride.org.