GREENFIELD — Determined not to let rain or the current presidential administration dampen their pride, hundreds lined the streets Saturday afternoon for the 8th annual Franklin County Pride Parade and Festival.

Sporting rainbow umbrellas and ponchos, 70 registered organizations marched from Greenfield Middle School, down Federal Street and then to Main Street before making their way into Energy Park on Miles Street, where a rainbow balloon arch welcomed parade goers to the festival.

“This year is more important than ever, given the attacks against the LGBTQ community. So we need to come out and support the community,” Greenfield City Council President Lora Wondolowski said while marching down Federal Street. “The rain can’t dampen our spirit.”

U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, who marched alongside members of City Council, took to the stage at Energy Park and, in an impassioned address to attendees, spoke about Pride’s origins as a protest movement following the Stonewall riots in 1969 — a history that he said is repeating itself.

Referencing federal cuts to funding for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) positions as well as U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to remove San Francisco politician and gay rights activist Harvey Milk’s name from a Navy ship, McGovern shined a light on the injustices faced by the LGBTQ community.

“We cannot forget that the first Pride was not a parade. In fact, it was not a celebration at all; it was a protest against a government that refused to care, that refused to see LGBTQ people as human beings, that refused to extend the promise of this democracy to all Americans... Sounds familiar? It should,” McGovern said. “We have a corrupt bigot in the Oval Office — someone who opposes the Equality Act, who appoints anti-LGBTQ judges and spreads homophobic rhetoric everywhere he goes.”

McGovern’s speech preceded a series of performances by artists including drag dancer Mz. October MayLay, who also marched as the parade’s grand marshal, and musical acts such as the B-52.Os and The Queer Joy Chorus.

Marcel Jennings of Springfield, who performs as Mz. October MayLay, has been attending Franklin County Pride since 2023. In the days leading up to the parade, Jennings said he was excited for the festivities, but was keeping in mind the difficulties facing queer and transgender communities across the U.S.

“We’re in a situation where if we’re not affected, the people around us, they’re going to be affected, and we have to combat that,” he said previously. “We can have fun, we can enjoy ourselves, celebrate us being us, but remember and keep in the back of your mind … this year is more of a political thing than it is for us to celebrate. We’re putting this in their faces right now. We’re not going anywhere. We are now all activists.”

In April, City Council voted 9-0, with one abstention, to approve a resolution declaring Greenfield a “sanctuary city” for transgender and gender-diverse people in anticipation of a federal rollback on LGBTQ rights.

Greenfield School Committee Chair Glenn Johnson-Mussad, who distributed Pride flags to parade viewers on the sidewalk, said he joined fellow committee members at the festival to respond to the “urgent need” for “gay liberation” and to promote the message: “leave trans kids alone.”

The sentiment of Pride, in 2025, being just as much a protest movement as it is a celebration, was also echoed by speakers and attendees, such as state Sen. Jo Comerford, D-Northampton.

“This year, I am resolute, holding fast to the protection that we guarantee in Massachusetts for our trans siblings, for access to gender-affirming care and to the values of intellectual freedom, of welcoming immigrants and recognizing that our diversity is our strength. What we are seeing in Washington, as [McGovern] will tell you, and across the nation, is not normal. We are being tested in Massachusetts,” Comerford said. “I am proud to do this work, and I promise you, as someone who works on your behalf, that I will not stop.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or
413-930-4429.