Clara Porter stands, knees bent, demonstrating how to assess a situation for threats. She’s leading a Zoom training of about 30 people, who all mirror her motions.
“So the first thing is that assessment stance,” Porter said. “Look all around the space that you’re in, including behind you. Are there things in this space that could be barriers to safety? Whether they’re objects or people, or anything else in the situation.”
Porter is the executive director of Prevention, Action, Change, a nonprofit that teaches de-escalation skills, bystander intervention and self-defense. Participants join the training from every corner of the state, including Kennebunk, Bangor and Gouldsboro, all with the goal of learning safety skills ahead of June Pride events. Some are Pride organizers, others concerned citizens and volunteers.
Porter is leading an exercise to practice engaging with detractors.
“Sometimes people will challenge your right to be there. So phrases such as, we have a right to be here without, you know, in a loud voice, I’m not trying to escalate, I’m just saying it flat. We have a right to be here. Let’s try that one together,” she said to the group.
The group repeated, “We have a right to be here.”
The training is part of a series of safety events put on by Equality Maine, Disability Rights Maine, the ACLU of Maine, and Prevention, Action, Change throughout May.
It’s LGBTQ Pride Month, and 28 events are taking place in communities across Maine from Kennebunk to Presque Isle, with several kicking off this past weekend. But the political climate has some community members wary, as Maine is in the national spotlight over transgender rights. And Pride organizers say that’s put an extra focus on safety this year.
“Equality, Maine has certainly seen an increase in requests from Pride organizers around the state for all sorts of resources and information about accessibility, safety, contingency planning and know your rights type of trainings,” said Heide Lester, deputy director of Equality Maine, the largest LGBTQ advocacy organization in the state.
Lester attributes the increased safety coordination largely to the shift in political climate since President Donald Trump took office and the rise in hostility toward LGBTQ individuals across the country.
Pride organizers in Maine, like Kate Turpen, the president of Windham Raymond Pride, said they feel the weight of the responsibility in planning a safe Pride this year.
“As Pride organizers, we’re not just, like, having fun and throwing a party,” Turpen said. “We’re actively resisting this tension and pressure, and that comes with safety risks that need to really be considered.”
Sam White, co-lead organizer of Bangor Pride, said they are doubling the number of volunteers who will act as “peacekeepers” during the event, and partnered with Prevention, Action, Change for the first time.
“[Peacekeepers] will be trained on how to protect our festivalgoers from protesters, be a little bit more aware of de-escalation and things like that,” White said.
The Biden administration prioritized combating hate crimes towards marginalized groups, like LGBTQ+ people, which trickled down to federal offices in Maine. Equality Maine worked closely with Department of Justice officials in Maine. They could point folks to resources after experiencing discrimination or hate crimes. But due to federal changes since Trump took office, Lester said those relationships don’t exist anymore.
“We’re missing our federal partners now, and it’s a loss,” Lester said.
But the political climate has also increased support and participation from the LGBTQ+ community and allies.
Maine is center stage in the national political fight over transgender rights. The Trump administration has sued the state for allegedly violating Title IX over its rules allowing transgender athletes to participate in girls’ sports. For many, that is a rallying cry.
“More than ever in this environment with an administration that is targeting LGBTQ people, it is our moment not to cower, but to claim our courage in resisting that kind of hatred and restriction and the erosion of human rights,” said Kharma Amos, a committee member for Brunswick Pride.
Tanner Skilton, interim chair of Pride Portland, said they are expecting around 40,000 people this year.
“Our community could possibly come out in numbers that we’ve never seen before to support the LGBTQ+ community in Maine,” Skilton said.
Pride month is celebrated in June to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Riots, a landmark series of protests led by transgender activists, against police raids at a New York City gay bar.
Executive Director of Maine TransNet Bre Danvers-Kidman hopes people remember that Pride is rooted in the transgender community.
“Pride is political. Pride has always been political,” Danvers-Kidman said. “The first Pride was about, you know, stop mandating who we can be in public spaces. And to some extent that’s still the fight that we’re all fighting this year.”
Pride’s history was front and center at the Equality Community Center in Portland in late May, where they held their first-ever Community Safety Night in preparation for Pride Month.
After a community discussion about the history of Stonewall, executive director of the center Chris O’Connor points to photo murals across the walls, with images from Maine’s earliest Pride parades.
“So it’s 50 years of history,” O’Connor said. “We all stand on the shoulders of these people who have done this work for 50 years before us, and we have to remember that there are people 50 years from now, they’ll be standing on our shoulders.”
David Mase attended the event to connect with community members.
“As much as it’s been hard right now, that has pushed people together, and I have been surprised how many people have shown up to things that weren’t showing up before because they’re scared or they’re uncomfortable, and they’re realizing that we need that community and we need to be together, and that’s part of what Pride is about,” Mase said. “We’re not going to go away, we’re not going to hide. We’re going to continue to exist and be proud and demand the right to do that.”
Maine Pride organizers in Portland, Bangor and smaller towns have not seen a pullback in sponsorship like other cities across the country. Some organizers even report an uptick in sponsors.
As of the publication of this story, Equality Maine said there are no known threats toward Pride events in Maine this year.
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
