At last year’s Pride Parade, the ACLU of Maine crew marched through the streets of Portland with bright blue signs declaring “I’m On Team Edie!” This was our show of support for Edie Windsor, the ACLU’s client in the groundbreaking lawsuit challenging the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), as well as all the loving couples who were being denied federal marriage benefits because of an unconstitutional law.
At that time, Edie’s case had been argued but the justices had yet to render a decision. Less than two weeks after the parade, the landmark ruling came down and Edie stood with supporters for a celebration on the steps of the Supreme Court, in the shadows of a phrase fittingly etched on our nation’s highest courthouse: “Equal Justice Under Law.”
A year has passed, and now the time has come to celebrate that victory and to reaffirm our support for all loving couples and their right to equal justice under law. This year Portland will be hosting the Pride Portland Parade and Festival on Saturday, June 21st and we hope you'll join us for the festivities. The parade kicks off at noon in Monument Square and weaves through downtown before concluding in Deering Oaks Park.
Want to march with us? We’ll be lining up just off of Monument Square between 11am and 12pm. Everyone is welcome to join us, so bring your friends and family - and to sweeten the deal a little more we’ll have free ACLU t-shirts for all our marchers.
Once the parade ends, the festival begins! Local musicians will be performing in the park from 1pm – 5pm, alongside fun activities for kids, lots of food, and a vendor marketplace with LGBT-friendly businesses and organizations. The ACLU of Maine will have a booth of our own at the festival, so if you can’t make it to the parade then stop by and chat with us afterwards.
We had a great time at last year’s Pride, and we hope you’ll join us to make this year even better. If you plan on marching in the parade, please send us a quick RSVP at info@aclumaine.org and we’ll follow up with any final details as the date approaches. If you have any other questions always feel free to call us at 774-5444 for more information.
