"During Pride Month, we celebrate the extraordinary courage and contributions of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Intersex (LGBTQI+) community. We reflect on the progress we have made so far in pursuit of equality, justice, and inclusion. We recommit ourselves to do more to support LGBTQI+ rights at home and around the world.

For generations, LGBTQI+ Americans have summoned the courage to live authentically and proudly - even when it meant putting their lives and livelihoods at risk. In 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in New York, brave LGBTQI+ individuals protested the violence and marginalization they faced, boosting a civil rights movement for the liberation of LGBTQI+ people that has transformed our Nation. Since then, courageous LGBTQI+ Americans continue to inspire and bring hope to all people seeking a life true to who they are. LGBTQI+ people also continue to enrich every aspect of American life as educators, entertainers, entrepreneurs, athletes, actors, artists, scientists, scholars, diplomats, doctors, service members, veterans, and so much more.

America is the only Nation in the world founded on an idea: We are all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. We have never fully lived up to that idea, but we have never fully walked away from it either. This month, we recommit to realizing the promise of America for all Americans, to celebrating courageous LGBTQI+ people, and to taking pride in the example they set for our Nation and the world."

- An excerpt from President Biden's Proclamation on Pride Month, 2024.

Upcoming Pride Events Across New Hampshire

Windham Pride Festival
Sunday, June 9 at 12PM

This year marks the 4th annual pride festival organized by Windham’s Citizens for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The family-friendly event is free and offers activities for all ages, as well as live entertainment and food trucks.   
 

Lebanon Opera House Pride Celebration
Friday, June 14 from 6-8:30PM
Silent Disco 9-11PM 

The all-ages Pride Picnic returns to downtown Lebanon for its 3rd year. The evening celebration begins with a picnic and, once the sun goes down, the post-picnic silent disco begins starting at 9. Join guest DJs for dancing under the stars with Pride tunes for all ages. 
 

Manchester Pride Festival 2024
Saturday, June 15
Parade Kickoff 11:15AM
Festival from 12-6PM

The state’s largest city is celebrating its 6th annual Pride Festival this year! The festivities begin with a Pride Parade down Elm Street to Veterans Park for an afternoon of activities including interactive art, live entertainment, youth activities, and community vendors.  

Nashua Pride Festival & Parade
Saturday, June 22 at 2PM

This free event is a celebration of diversity, acceptance, music and fun aimed at promoting equality and inclusion of everyone. The Pride Parade kicks off the event at 2pm, followed by a family friendly afternoon of art, music, food trucks, and other local vendors.  
 

Portsmouth Pride Celebration
Saturday, June 22 at 12PM

This year marks the 10th annual Portsmouth Pride Event. The parade kicks off the celebration and all are welcome to participate. The parade wraps up at Strawbery Banke where there will be a celebration with vendors, performances, speakers and other family friendly activities.   
 

White Mountains Pride Festival
Saturday, June 29 at 10AM

This festival returns to the Valley again this year with a full day celebration that will includes live music and entertainment, family friendly games and activities for all ages, food trucks and vendors, and much more.  
 

Take Action Today! Protect Voting Rights
Speak up against voter suppression!

Here is a Call to Action on voter registration shared from the League of Women Voters-NH and Open Democracy. 

Let’s start a barrage of calls, emails, and postcards to Governor Sununu, urging him to veto HB1569. When asked about HB1569, Sununu suggested he doesn’t support the bill, telling reporters that he does not see any need for new election laws. But, he has not explicitly promised to veto them so let's provide some pressure.

• Email: governorsununu@nh.gov 
• Call: Leave your message at 603-271-2121 
• Mail: Write a postcard and mail it to Governor Chris Sununu, State House, 107 North Main Street, Concord NH 03301

Talking Points - Let the Governor know the following:

• HB1569 is a sweeping voter suppression bill that will make it harder to vote.
• The bill would remove some documentation options when registering to vote, meaning qualified voters could get turned away at the polls and be unable to cast their ballot. 
• HB1569 is worded to take effect immediately, meaning it would affect the State Primary on September 10th and the General Election on November 5th. Election officials would be responsible for implementing a massive election overhaul just months before the elections.
• New Hampshire’s election systems work. Period. This bill is being introduced because of voter fraud lies that are being pushed by bad faith actors and conspiracy theorists in Concord.
• Experts agree that the passage of this law in New Hampshire would result in the most restrictive voter registration system in the country. No other state has a law requiring documentary proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. The one state to pass one in recent history – Kansas – saw it struck down in federal court.
• Every other state allows voters to register and vote by attesting, under penalty of perjury, to their U.S. citizenship. This is the current system in New Hampshire with voter affidavits which have been working fine. “And there’s a good reason for that: Requiring everybody to retrieve a rarely used document that proves U.S. citizenship is guaranteed to disenfranchise thousands of U.S. citizens.” - Alex Tischenko, senior policy adviser for the Institute for Responsive Government, who previously served as an attorney in the civil rights division of the U.S. Department of Justice under Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
• Kansas’s brief, disastrous experiment with a documentary proof of citizenship law resulted in over 30,000 disenfranchised voters in 2 years, approximately 12% of voter registrations submitted during that time. Of those voters, investigation showed, more than 99% were indeed citizens who should have been allowed to vote.
• Proof of domicile can be hard to obtain especially for voters experiencing homelessness and young voters who do not yet have a license.

More information on HB1569 can be found in this NHPR article.

Action alert shared courtesy of the
Hillsborough County NH Democratic Committee, 2024