EqualityMaine

🪩🦄This Pride Month, we’re throwing it back to simpler times with our Y2GAY Pride Party!🌈👏 Calling all queer youth and allies ages 13-18! 🌈 Join us for our youth pride celebration 2026!🎉 Come party with us under a mirrored disco ball and meet new people, enjoy activities and arts&crafts, show off your pride, dance the night away, and enjoy a night full of fun! 🗓️ When: Friday, June 12th - 6:30-9:30pm 📍 Where: Equality Community Center 15 Casco St Cost: FREE! An RSVP is REQUIRED for this event - RSVP Here: tinyurl.com/y2gayprideparty

Please join us on Tuesday May 19th from 5:30pm-7:30pm at the USM Glickman Library on the Portland campus for a keynote and community forum hosted in partnership with EqualityMaine, Queerly ME, Equality Community Center and the Southern Maine chapter of the American Red Cross. Our gathering will include a short keynote from a national ARC staff member 5:45pm to 6:00pm, followed by a panel discussion and audience Q&A 6:30pm-7:30pm to: - acknowledge the harmful impact of the longtime US FDA’s blood ban for men who have sex with men, - educate about recent (and still not fully inclusive) changes to this policy, discuss continued advocacy needed to move toward reconciliation and reparations with queer communities when it comes to donating blood, and - demystify the blood donation process with the hopes of engaging the LGBTQ+ community with the Red Cross From 6:00pm to 6:30pm, participants will be invited to visit the Maine Family Planning’s and Frannie Peabody’s resource tables as well as the Sampson Center’s LGBTQIA+ archive downstairs and its literature table. Refreshments will be provided. To register, check out our bio, the QR code, or the link in the flyer.

Save the date - the EqualityMaine Annual Awards will be in the Bangor area on Saturday, June 27th! The EqualityMaine Annual Awards is a yearly celebration to uplift and honor members of our community for their dedication to the LGBTQ+ movement. This year’s event has a few fresh twists to represent the full spectrum of Maine’s vibrant LGBTQ+ community. First, we are hosting a two-part event! The night will begin with an all-ages Awards Event to celebrate our community and share in joy together. The second part of our event will be an After Party - an 18+ Pride Party with live entertainment, music, and dancing. Come celebrate distinguished members of our community and then stay to dance the night away! Stay tuned for tickets going live…

Looking for the ultimate guide to Pride in Maine? 🏳️‍🌈 Good news, party planners — we’ve done the hard work for you! We’ve rounded up all the fabulous Pride events happening across Maine and dropped them into one super-convenient Google calendar. Now you can plan your outfits, road trips, and dance moves way ahead of time. Check it out on our website and get ready to celebrate all month long!🏳️‍⚧️ equalitymaine.org/prideguide/

Our Annual Awards and Pride After Party are NEXT month.🏳️‍🌈 We’re so excited to announce that we have talent joining us from across the state! The Haus of Crown and Chaos and Big Kings Productions will be gracing the stage and dancing the night away with us during our 18+ Pride After Party! 👨‍🎤👩‍🎤 Our hosts for the evening are beloved Bangor locals, Matt and Amir Stone! You don’t want to miss these incredible artists & entertainers. Will you join us on the dance floor? 💃 🎟Buy your tickets now at equalitymaine.org/2026awards

We can’t believe it’s May! Here’s our final New Leaders Project meetups for this school year. As always, there is no registration required or cost to attend our monthly meetups. ☀️The Bangor Region YMCA Teen Center is closing early for the summer, so our Bangor meetups for May and June are cancelled! We will see you in September! 👕We will be making t shirts for our Queer Youth Art Club in Lewiston on Wednesday, May 20th! This is our last Lewiston Art Club for this school year. 🍿On May 22, we will have a movie night for our final Portland Meetup! Our final New Leaders Project Meetup will be our annual Youth Pride Party on Friday, June 12th, 2026 in Portland at the ECC. Stay tuned for more info such as theme and registration coming out soon! Got questions? Email [email protected]!

This Saturday, we were thrilled to walk in the @franniepeabody ’s Maine AIDS Walk in Ogunquit! Despite the rainy weather, spirits were high, and we even saw some adorable piping plovers during the beach portion. Congratulations to Frannie on raising $163,734.05 for HIV case management, housing assistance, peer support and free HIV testing!

Our community mourns the loss of Gerald Talbot, Maine’s first Black legislator and prominent civil rights leader. In 1977, he co-sponsored a bill with Larry Connolly to protect gay and lesbian Mainers from discrimination under the Maine Human Rights Act — the first of its kind. When asked why he sponsored that legislation, he said, “There has to be a voice here in the legislature for those who have no voice.” He fought hard for civil rights in Maine and nationally, and was present during Martin Luther King Jr’s speech at the March on Washington. Here are some kind words about Gerald from EqualityMaine’s founding members. “A wonderful man, and fabulous ally. Gerry was a part of us. He was the foundation on which we built our civil rights in Maine.” - Dale McCormick “How very lucky we all are to have had his leadership for equality.” - Ellie Goldberg Click here to read more about his incredible legacy: /2026/05/10/gerald-talbot-civil-rights-leader-and-maines-first-black-legislator-dies-at-94/

Happy Mother’s Day! Listen to Brian talk about his moms and how they have always been there for him. Thanks to the Maine Parentage Act, anyone can legally be the parent of their children, regardless of how their family was made. Parentage recognizes parents in the legal system and is important for making medical or school decisions for your child, for access to health insurance, social security survivor benefits, and inheritance, and for custody and parenting time determinations if the parents separate. We’re so proud of that milestone and all the work it took to honor all parents.

So many people, places and friends to thank. We have a lot of rainy supplies to sort through but in the meantime: we are so grateful to a loving crowd of 200 near and far, and over 500 donors who helped us cruise past our goal to more than $160,000 for HIV services in Maine. You are helping us sustain critical healthcare services and basic needs for people affected by HIV/AIDS in Maine. Today you honored 40 years of Frannie Peabody Center and 45 years of fighting for an end to the epidemic. There are a lot of battles still to fight, and we thank you for being by our side every step of the way. ❤️

This Trans+ History Week, we want to remind you: a world without trans people has never existed and never will. Meet some trailblazing trans+ icons who changed history for the better. 🏳️‍⚧️ Did you know that Pauli Murray was the only non-cisgender man in their Howard University graduating class? And that Murray worked closely with Bayard Rustin and Martin Luther King, Jr.? Did you know that a trans doctor saved thousands of lives during the tuberculosis epidemic? Did you know that a drag performer and entertainer became an activist after the police wouldn’t let her perform on stages in L/A? Follow @transhistoryweek to learn more about trans history.

Portland’s music scene has always thrived because of weird, independent, creative, beautiful communities - and queer artists are a huge part of that story. This year’s @AllRoadsMusicFest lineup is stacked with LGBTQ+ artists & allies across 9 independent venues. 🏳️‍🌈✨🏳️‍⚧️ This year’s lineup features a strong group of LGBTQ+ artists: @thebeachesband @momma.band @angelicagarcia @hirs666 @thelmaandthesleaze @sisterray780 @pinklids @jamieosullivan_dj @novaone Ada Bonnevie Glassfishis @freakphone207 All Roads Music Festival • May 15 &16 Get tickets before your ex does at allroadsmusicfest.com We’re giving away TEN two-day GA passes! Here’s how to enter: 🎟Follow @equalitymaine @allroadsmusicfest and @statetheatreportland 🎟Like this post 🎟Tag one friend, loved one, or found family member you’d bring with you Winners will be notified on May 11.