Pride Parade

A day of celebration, demonstration, and love. Middletown Pride hit the heart of the city on June 3, as locals and not-so-locals joined together in support of love, equity, and inclusion. Wesleyan was one of four partner organizations of the Middletown Pride event, alongside the City of Middletown, Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, and Russell Library. Andrew White, Caleb T. Winchester University Librarian at Olin Library, said that he has been attending Pride events since the 1980s and has been involved in Middletown Pride since the first event. He said it marks Middletown and Connecticut as communities striving to “be…

As part of the City of Middletown’s PrideFest Celebration, Middletown Pride partnered with Wesleyan’s College of Film and the Office for Equity & Inclusion for a showing of The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. On June 24, members of the Wesleyan and Middletown communities gathered on the south side of Foss Hill for the screening. The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), directed by Stephan Elliott, is an Australian road comedy film that follows two drag queens, played by Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce, and a transgender woman, played by Terence Stamp, as they journey across…

Growing up in a religious and conservative town in Colorado, it wasn't easy being a gay kid. Now 29 and a PhD candidate in biology, Zachary Drum—who identifies as a gay cisgender male—is hoping to garner public support for LGTBQIA2S+ equality so youth nowadays can find pride in who they really are. (LGTBQIA2S+ is an acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and/or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, Two-Spirit, and other ways in which people choose to self-identify.) On June 4, Drum joined a cohort of fellow Wesleyans for the City of Middletown's fourth annual PrideFEST, which included a Pride parade and…

In celebration of Pride Month, more than 50 members of the Wesleyan community showed their support for LGBTQ communities by participating in Middletown's inaugural Pride Parade on June 15. The parade was jointly coordinated and sponsored by the City of Middletown, the Middlesex County Chamber of Commerce, and Wesleyan University. In 2018, the City of Middletown formed an LGBTQ advisory committee to work on the inclusion of Middletown’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer/questioning residents. The parade stepped off at 2 p.m. at St. John’s Square and proceeded down Main Street to Union Street. A festival on the South Green followed…

Wesleyan Partners, Walks with Middletown Pride

Wesleyan Screens Adventures of Priscilla as Part of Middletown’s PrideFest Celebration

Wesleyan Supports LGBTQIA2S+ Community at Pride Parade

Wesleyan Community Walks in Middletown’s Inaugural Pride Parade