Standing before about 75 people at Abbot Hall on Saturday afternoon, Ashley Skeffington wiped away tears as she described a student who asked to use their “dead name” in a school play program because they couldn’t come out to their parents. The Marblehead High School drama and English teacher recounted another student who survived only because they attended school here instead of their own hometown.
“They are the reason why pride matters,” she said. “They are the reason why visibility matters, and they are the reason why symbols matter.”
Her testimony reflected the Progress Pride flag raising ceremony’s blend of celebration and defiance amid mounting federal threats to LGBTQ+ protections and local debates over classroom pride flags.
“Being here today to help raise this flag as our School Committee threatens to take down the one that’s hanging in my room is overwhelming,” Skeffington said. “(The flag) is powerful. It is joyful.”
Rising senior Liv Niles, 17, stepped to the microphone moments later, embodying the courage Skeffington had just described. Niles helped lead student opposition to the School Committee’s new flag policy and delivered a powerful speech affirming that “authentic existence — joyful, unapologetic existence — is revolutionary.”
“Your existence is not a question that needs answering. It is a truth that needs celebrating,” Niles told the crowd. “You are not here to be tolerated. You are here to be celebrated, protected and uplifted.”
State and local leaders, clergy and community members emphasized Massachusetts’ role as a refuge as national policies grow more hostile.
For high school students, a 2023 Massachusetts Youth Health Survey found approximately 66,000 students — 23.2% of the roughly 285,000 enrolled in public high schools — identify as LGBTQ+ or questioning as of 2023. These shifts reflect increased comfort with authenticity, not changes in population size.
Pew Research Center data shows that 67% of LGBTQ+ adults under 30 came out before age 18, compared to just 24% of those over 60.
Gallup found that 9.3% of U.S. adults — or more than 24 million Americans — now identify as LGBTQ+ in 2024, nearly tripling from 3.5% in 2012. Among Generation Z adults, the number exceeds 8 million, or 22.7% of the cohort.
But with increased visibility has come renewed backlash. Speakers repeatedly referenced looming federal policy changes — especially the Trump administration’s decision to eliminate specialized LGBTQ+ services from the 988 suicide prevention lifeline, set to take effect in less than 30 days.
“That’s 1.3 million moments of struggle. That’s 1.3 million chances to save a life, and in just a few weeks, that lifeline is going to be turned off,” said Lisa Sugarman, a Marblehead native and crisis counselor for The Trevor Project. “Lives are going to be lost because of it.”
The Trevor Project’s 2024 survey of 18,669 LGBTQ+ youth found that roughly 7,280 respondents — 39% — had seriously considered suicide in the past year, including about 4,760 transgender and nonbinary youth — 46% of that subgroup.
The Trevor Project survey notes “LGBTQ youth are not inherently prone to suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, but rather placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society.”
State Rep. Jenny Armini, of Marblehead, emphasized the state’s commitment to LGBTQ+ protections.
“No matter what happens in Washington, Massachusetts remains rock solid in its values,” said Armini. “We are proud to be a state of firsts — the first state to legalize gay marriage.”
New resident Benjamin Hammer said the inclusive atmosphere Saturday afternoon has been a welcome discovery. He moved to Marblehead from Provincetown three weeks ago for a job in Boston.
“It’s incredible to find a place where I can just be myself,” said Hammer, 41, who came out at 16 in Atlanta. “When you see straight parents bringing their small kids to something like this — that tells you everything about what kind of community this is — one that wants to be an ally.”
The Rev. Lindsay Popperson of Old North Church, the congregation’s first openly gay pastor in 390 years, offered prayers for “gender fluid preschoolers” and “queer elders who were there at Stonewall.”
Bruce Hamilton, Abbot Hall’s caretaker, carried out his perennial duty of hoisting the flag as Popperson invited people to call out what it meant to them. Voices rang out: “Love!” “Freedom!” “Hope!” “Authenticity!”
Niles closed the event with a message of collective power and resilience.
“As we raise this flag, let us do so with the full weight of what it means,” she said. “Let us raise it for those we have lost. Let us raise it for those who are still coming out. Let us raise it for those who cannot.”
Her final words captured the spirit of the day: “Let it fly high, let it fly proud, and let it remind every person who sees it — there is space for you here. There is love for you here.”
The flag will remain displayed throughout the rest of June in recognition of Pride Month, according to a proclamation read by Select Board member Erin Noonan.
