Moorestown will hold its third annual Pride flag raising at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, June 5, at 111 West Second St.
Last year’s event was hosted by the Moorestown Better Together Advisory Committee and included speeches from community leaders and the symbolic raising of the flag.
“People are motivated by pleasure or pain or fear, and we just want more awareness that we’re humans just like everyone else,” said Kimmie Smith, co-founder of Moorestown Pride, a family- and peer-run LGBTQIA-plus support organization.
“Your sexual orientation does not define you, and I think the more that people interact with other people that are different from them, they will get to know these things and some of that fear will fade away.”
Smith talked about the need for people to exist in the same space.
“I think having that presence in our community matters because the more you fear something that you don’t know, you stay away from it, you avoid it,” she noted. “If you are presented with it, if it’s here … you’re going to eventually have to socialize or interact with people that are different from you, and I think that’s a great opportunity.”
According to the website for the Library of Congress, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month is celebrated each year in June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, a protest by gay men against police that was a tipping point for the gay liberation movement in the U.S.
The purpose of the commemorative Pride month is to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally and internationally, the website notes.
“Our community, putting up the flag, so we know that we are united … Just knowing that we have that presence in our community that Moorestown is built up of safe spaces, I think is so important for people of our community,” Smith observed.
“I think it’s very important that the allies are there, too, that people need to know that you don’t have to be a part of the community to go to the Pride flag raising,” explained Moorestown Pride co-founder Kimberly Knowland. “You, just being an ally … just showing that support is crucial.”
According to www.hrc.org, ally is a term used to describe someone who is actively supportive of LGBTQ+ people. It encompasses straight and cisgender allies, as well as those within the LGBTQ+ community who support each other.
“This is a diverse community built of so many people, and part of the LGBTQIA community is part of that,” Smith emphasized. “And we need to be recognized in our community.”
“That’s another reason why the flag raising is important, because it just shows how our local government does care enough to say, ‘You know what? We think it’s important that we have the flag so that people in the community don’t feel like the government is also against …’” said Moorestown Pride co-founder Danielle Zukowski.
“Our town is very open to that so that’s great.”
Moorestown Pride will also host the first annual Moorestown Pride Festival at Wesley Bishop Park from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18. It will include vendors, food trucks, a dog costume contest and drag queens.
“I think that the more we do,’ Smith offered, “and the more that we put ourselves out there, the more that they (people) will see that we’re just a group of moms trying to make a positive change in the community.”
