JUNE 14, 2025
Dear Cambridge and Somerville Constituents —
This morning, I am making my way over to Copley Square to walk alongside members of the LGBT legislative caucus in the Pride parade. 🏳️🌈 🏳️⚧️ ✊🏻
The parade is always a joyous and meaningful occasion — but this year — with Donald Trump seeking to erase trans folks and rollback DEI initiatives — and with his utterly preposterous military-dictator parade happening simultaneously in Washington, DC — today's event in Boston is sure to be even more meaningful.
As Mass 50501 says, "More than ever, Pride must be a protest again." If you would like information on how to attend today's Boston Pride Parade & Festival from 11 am to 3 pm, follow these links:
The festivities got underway last night with the Boston Dyke March, which is rooted in anti-capitalist, intersectional gender liberation and welcomes all who feel the same. This year's march also featured a message of "No Pride in Genocide."
As for me, I had a whirlwind week that started with a rally at Boston City Hall Plaza — where I stood with labor leaders in speaking out against Trump's illegal and outrageous federalization of the National Guard and deployment of the Marines to Los Angeles.
The week ended with a heartbreaking effort to help connect a local family of Columbian asylum-seekers with the best legal advice possible as they tried to discern how best to avoid deportation.
I will admit, when you are directly confronted with the human impact of Trump's vile, inhumane, and racist mass deportation regime, it really hits you. I am grateful to Congresswoman Pressley's staff and to the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition for working with me to help ensure this family obtained the best legal advice possible. And I am so relieved to report they made it through their court hearing this week and remain on track to obtain asylum.
This week I also attended Cambridge's Pride event at City Hall and the annual Pride flag raising at the State House. Then on Thursday, I testified before the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy in support of my bill, H.3466, An Act Facilitating Public Ownership of Public Utilities. Later that day, I joined with city colleagues to cut the ribbon at 116 Norfolk Street, a newly renovated and expanded Cambridge Housing Authority property that will provide supportive housing to individuals attempting to make the difficult transition from homelessness to being permanently housed. The project was made possible thanks to funding and support from the state.
Starting a few years ago, when people bumped into me and asked how things were going on Beacon Hill — I would typically offer a somewhat sarcastic reply, by saying: "Well, I was first elected the same year as Donald Trump was first elected — and then it was the pandemic — and now here we are...so overall, it's all been very routine and very quiet."
Of course, that was a bit of dark humor. But I'm thinking of this quip today because truly the demands of the moment have never been greater. We are facing emergencies in every direction — with an unhinged, wannabe tyrant in the White House, a corrupt MAGA-led Congress that is all too willing to go along with abandoning our constitutional values — and at the same time, we are burdened by the dead weight of a national Democratic Party that has sold out the working class for so long that it's largely lost its credibility with the American people.
It is a very difficult situation — and yet, I remain grateful and humbled that you have given me the opportunity to go to Beacon Hill and stand up for our Cambridge and Somerville values. I am determined to continue the fight. Here's wishing you a Happy Pride, and may we all do all we can to defend our vulnerable neighbors and hold on to our democracy.
Yours in service,
Rep. Mike Connolly
