It’s Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll –

Pride is a celebration of love, acceptance, and the courage to be who you are. It’s also a reminder of the work we have left to do to ensure that our LGBTQ+ friends, family, and neighbors can live and love freely in Massachusetts and across the country.

Since my time as Mayor of Salem, I’ve made it a mission of mine to protect the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. I signed one of our Commonwealth’s first fully inclusive non-discrimination ordinances, and designated an LGBTQ+ liaison in the Mayor’s Office and Police Department to ensure we continue to listen and communicate while we take action.

I’m proud to say that the work we did in Salem made us stand out as one of the most inclusive places for LGBTQ+ people in the Commonwealth. Now, I am working to extend that progress to the rest of Massachusetts and across the country.

As the far-right ramps up their hateful rhetoric and pushes policies that degrade and dehumanize the LGBTQ+ community, we must choose leadership that will stand up to them. Just last year, state legislatures nationwide proposed more than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills. Will you join me and the DLGA to help us fight back?

We must protect the rights that our LGBTQ+ community worked so hard to achieve. In Massachusetts, I was proud to stand at the forefront of that fight as Mayor, and I’m proud to continue that work as Lieutenant Governor – especially in the face of extremism.

I'm honored and lucky to serve with my teammate, Governor Maura Healey, who made history as the first openly LGBTQ+ state Attorney General and now is one of the first openly gay Governors in the nation.

Together, we’ve worked to improve LGBTQ+ representation in our state, while also taking decisive measures to protect our LGBTQ+ community from discrimination. We codified gender-affirming care into our state's law, defended the teaching of LGBTQ+ issues in our schools, and made sure healthcare is guaranteed for everyone, regardless of their identity.

But our work is far from finished. Will you chip in $7 to the DLGA to help us stand up for our LGBTQ+ community and to ensure we continue making progress towards equality?

Thank you. Happy Pride!

– Kim Driscoll