Rallying for dignity, remembering victims
Boston’s gay and transgender community honored the memory of the 49 people murdered and the dozens more injured one year ago tonight in the terror attack on Pulse nightclub, marking the anniversary with a rally on Boston Common yesterday.
Mayor Martin J. Walsh was among the dignitaries on hand to greet visiting survivors of the Orlando, Fla., massacre for Boston Pride Week.
“They just can’t get over the fact that there’s so much openness here in the city of Boston and support — the flags hanging from the Hancock building and the sports teams coming out. ... They’re blown away by it,” Walsh said.
Bookended by “Born This Way” rainbow flags, Walsh kicked off the speaking program at yesterday’s LBGTQ “Stronger Together” rally, which drew about 200 supporters to Boston Common.
One of the more moving speeches was delivered by Renee Manning, a transgender woman and selfdescribed former “male of privilege,” who recalled overhearing a manager in a supermarket warn fellow employees, “Man your stations: It’s in the building.”
“I am not an ‘it.’ I am not a ‘that.’ I am a woman,” Manning declared to cheers. “We’re one human race. We bleed the same. We have the same heart. As much as you can push someone down, you can lift them up to the heavens.”
Maura Healey, the state’s openly gay attorney general, told the crowd, “The best way to deal with bullies and the best way to deal with power is to take it on. You are in the right place because we’re standing for equality, standing up for dignity and standing up for what’s right in this country.”