Planning In Progress For Orleans Pride Weekend

ORLEANS – June is recognized around the world as Pride Month. This year, planning is underway to bring celebrations of queer and LGBTQ+ culture closer to the Lower Cape.

 The select board last week gave its support to plans for a Pride weekend to be held in Orleans June 13 and 14. Rick Francolini, one of the event’s organizers, said he envisions educational programming and entertainment as well as a Pride parade on June 14.

 “I was thrilled with the town’s response,” Francolini said after making his pitch to the board at its Jan. 8 meeting. “I felt that [the board] was extremely supportive.”

 The weekend is being planned so as not to interfere with other events being held on the Lower and Outer Cape in June, including Provincetown’s own Pride Month celebrations.

 Francolini said he and his wife, Joan, began working with others in July to bring a Pride Month celebration to town. The couple were motivated in large part by their daughter, who is bisexual and engaged to a transgender male.

 “She’s had boyfriends and girlfriends throughout the years,” Francolini said. “We’ve been super supportive and we have a great, loving relationship that we’re proud of.”

 A kickoff Zoom meeting in December garnered 36 participants, Francolini said, convincing organizers that there is enough support locally to proceed with planning the event.

 Organizers are in discussions with the Cape Rep Theatre in Brewster about using the venue to stage an afternoon of programming as part of the weekend, Francolini said. That could include an informational panel led by Rick Koonce, host of PFLAG Cape Cod’s Profiles in LGBTQ+ Courage podcast series as well as entertainment including music, poetry and stories.

 “Some family friendly drag perhaps,” Francolini said after the select board meeting. “But there will be an afternoon of programming.” The Orleans Council on Aging’s annual Pride barbecue could also be folded into the festivities as a June 13 kickoff, he said.

 But the main attraction of the proposed Pride weekend will be the June 14 parade. Francolini said he envisioned a small gathering similar to the town’s annual Holiday Stroll, where participants will gather downtown, perhaps at the Village Green, and proceed up Main Street toward Old Colony Way. 

 While organizers envisioned a late morning parade that would wrap by noon, Town Manager Kim Newman suggested a nighttime parade. Holding the event later would help avoid potential conflicts with other events held during the day, including the Orleans Farmers Market. She said there also would be an opportunity to more broadly support local restaurants and businesses with an evening parade.

 “That time period, people could come in and then go to dinner and stay out,” she said. “You could find an anchor potentially in one of the businesses downtown that could host an event.”

 Part of the objective of the inaugural Pride weekend is to help to further “normalize” LGBTQ+ and queer culture by bringing events into smaller communities. Provincetown has long been celebrated for its promotion of gay culture, but Francolini said that such celebrations shouldn’t be relegated to any one city or town.

 “What I’ve learned from my daughter and her fiance is that small town Prides are emerging more and more,” he said. “They’re extremely important because they create welcoming environments and they create opportunities, which is critical.” 

 And while the primary goal of the weekend is promoting acceptance for members of the LGBTQ+ community locally, Francolini said there’s much to be gained more broadly by the entire Lower Cape community.

 “For the most part we have an older population,” he said. “And yes, we have queer members of that population. But we also have straight members of that population who are wrestling with grandchildren that are non-binary or transgender who are figuring it out.”

 Organizers plan to privately finance the weekend’s events, which Francolini estimates will cost a few thousand dollars. In-kind donations are already coming in, he said, while the town has also applied for a $1,000 grant from Cape Cod 5. But in order to qualify for the grant, Francolini said a “financial agent” is needed to support it. He said there have been conversations with Nauset Interfaith Association and the nonprofit Prouder Together about having them serve in that capacity.

 Andrea Reed of the select board said that the Orleans Cultural Council and the Orleans Cultural District also might have grant money available for supporting local events.

 “You’re doing economic development in all of our partnering towns,” said Andrea Reed of the select board. “You’re extending the shoulder season. You’re giving people a reason to come and stay, and you’re using the arts to make this happen. So this is a win-win to me.”

 Francolini said the pending change in the White House has ramped up the urgency around organizers and LGBTQ+ advocates. Specifically, he said members of the transgender community need allyship and support.

 “That is a community right now that is finding itself vilified through a tremendous amount of misinformation,” he said. “The gay and lesbian community of 20 to 30 years ago was in a very similar space. Conversion therapy was [seen as] the solution and they were ostracized and marginalized. They’ve come a tremendously long way, which is satisfying and gratifying. But you can’t afford to become complacent.”

Newman and members of the select board said they saw great potential for growing the event from year to year, which makes ironing out the specifics in year one all the more important.

“We want this and we all want this to be successful,” said Kevin Galligan of the select board. “But let’s start easy, early and begin. As Kim said, I think this can be a really great event that we can grow in future years. But let's make sure each year we’re building, listening and that there are lessons learned.”