Worcester Pride 2023 Begins With LGBTQ+ Flag Raising At City Hall

WORCESTER, MA — The Worcester area's September celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride month officially begins Thursday with a ceremony raising the Pride flag at City Hall.

Pride month in Worcester will continue through September, with more than two dozen events across the city throughout the month, including a block party, faith worship services, youth events — and plain old parties at spots like the new Femme Bar and the Worcester Beer Garden.

This year's celebration will revolve around main events like the Sept. 9 Pride festival and the Queer AF Art + Fashion show. Worcester recognizes Pride month in September to allow local college students to participate. The celebration typically takes place in June in other cities to coincide with the 1969 Stonewall Riots that gave rise to the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.

The flag raising at City Hall comes about one week after members of the local LGBTQ+ community and supporters protested outside the Diocese of Worcester building along Elm Street over a new policy restricting gender expression in local Catholic schools.

Pride Worcester’s Director of Community Outreach Al Green said the city being the promoting sponsor of the 2023 Pride celebration provides a needed contrast to the controversy over the diocese policy. This is the first year the city has sponsored Pride.

"Pride Worcester and the city of Worcester share the goals of spreading love, not hate; protecting and amplifying the voices of our community’s most vulnerable, not instilling fear; and giving youth the freedom to live their most authentic selves, not restricting them based on archaic and misguided beliefs," Green said in a news release. "Pride Worcester and our allies will always be safe havens for LGBTQ+ youth."

Pride Worcester held another major event earlier this month to crown the First and Second Majesty drag queens of the 2023 celebration. Local drag queens Diva D and Cortana Wednesday were crowned at the Pride Worcester Pageant.

The flag-raising kickoff ceremony begins at 3 p.m. on Thursday at Worcester City Hall.