Dozens of students, educators and parents clad in rainbow colors held signs and waved flags while marching from Brookline High School to the Brookline Teen Center on May 30, celebrating the start of Pride Month. Over the crowd’s chants and cheers, several drivers along the route honked in support of the group.
Amid the Trump administration’s attempts to deny access to gender-affirming healthcare and remove the “X” gender option from government documents, it is important for parents, educators and other adults to show their support for queer youth, said Cathy Fischer-Mueller, who teaches eighth grade at the Ridley School.
Fischer-Mueller said this year she has “heard more fear expressed from kids than I’ve heard in a long time.”
“I think there is a way of pushing back on that fear, by standing out and walking proudly, not to dismiss the fears that people have but to remind people that there’s a lot of power when we come together,” she said.
At the Brookline Teen Center, parade-goers celebrated with a cookout and a concert from Izzy Heltai, a BHS alum and musician who came out as transgender while in high school.
Finch Ferreira, a BHS student and co-leader of the school’s Gender and Sexuality Alliance, said they wanted the event on Friday to show younger queer students that they had a safe space in Brookline, particularly at BHS.
“It helps to show that we’re not moving, and that sometimes it’s okay to just be happy instead of worrying about all the scary things outside,” Ferreira said.
Lil Kuklewicz, who is also a BHS student and GSA co-leader, said it is important for young queer people to feel supported, especially by the adults in their community. Kuklewicz pointed out that parents and teachers joined the march, showing students there are people in their schools and community who care about them.
“I was so happy today when we were walking over,” they said. “I was like, ‘There’s so many middle schoolers, and they look so happy, that’s so wonderful.’ That was so different from my experience.”
According to the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, more than 23% of middle- or high-schoolers in Brookline identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual, or are questioning their sexuality — more than double the results of a Youth Risk Behavior Survey in 2013.
In the 2023 survey, more than 7% of middle- or high-schoolers in the district identify as transgender, non-binary, agender, gender fluid or gender queer. The 2013 survey did not ask students’ gender identity.
Abi Robichaud, an educator at the Lawrence School who advises the school’s GSA and its Rainbow Club — a safe space for students in grades 3-5 — said she has noticed many students coming out as queer in middle school and younger.
“I think we really have a need for the exposure in our community here, for all of these kids to know that they’re safe and respected in our community,” Robichaud said.
In addition to the increase in students who identify as queer, Brookline has seen an increase in reported mistreatment of queer students. Students who identify as queer are more likely to report having been bullied or treated unfairly because of the way others perceive their gender and sexual identities, according to the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
For BHS parent David Bedrin, who is gay and whose child is transgender, visibility is important when it comes to protecting LGBT youth.
“It really moves me,” Bedrin said, gesturing to the crowd attending the Pride picnic. “I was a kid in the late 80s, and there was nothing like this … I think the important part is to have the adults come and say, ‘We’re here to support.’”