Beverly will host a flag raising event during pride month

BEVERLY, MA — Beverly residents are invited to a Pride Month flag raising on Thursday.

The event will take place on Thursday at 17:30 at Beverly City Hall.

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The city, Beverly Public Schools and the Human Rights Committee are hosting the event to honor the history and contributions of Beverly’s LGBTQIA+ community.

Pride Month takes place in June in honor of the Stonewall Uprising, a high point in the fight for equality among people who identify as LGBTQ. New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969. Such raids were common, but patrons fought back, leading to days of violent clashes in Greenwich Village.

The observance began as Gay Pride Day on the last Sunday in June, but soon grew to the point where June calendars around the world are filled with Pride parades, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts.

Pride Month 2024 comes amid a historic surge in bills targeting LGBTQ rights, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. In the past few years, states have advanced a record number of bills attacking LGBTQ rights, particularly transgender youth, the civil rights group said.

The ACLU said that while more states each year pass laws to protect LGBTQ people, others advance bills that target transgender people, limit local protections and allow the use of religion to discriminate.

Hundreds of bills nationwide have been filed in state legislatures this year, according to ACLU tracking.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at [email protected]. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)