Longtime city resident Ken Quimby Jr., approached Mayor James J. Fiorentini to request a ceremony to mark Pride Month. It happens Wednesday at City Hall. (File photograph)
The City of Haverhill is set to celebrate June as LGBT Pride Month during a Wednesday, June 13 ceremony at City Hall.
At the urging of longtime Haverhill resident and former city councilor Ken Quimby Jr., the ceremony came together with the aid of Council Vice President Thomas J. Sullivan and staff in Mayor James J. Fiorentini’s office. The event kicks off at 8 a.m. with a reception in Room 100 of City Hall at 4 Summer St. and is followed by the raising of the pride flag.
From left to right, council President John A. Michitson, former City Councilor Kenneth E. Quimby Jr. and Councilor Joseph J. Bevilacqua.
Quimby plans to donate his personal pride flag for the event, telling WHAV he hopes the gesture lets all residents know that Haverhill is a city of inclusion.
“I’ve got a couple extra flags and I’m donating this one. I’d like to see it done every year moving forward no matter who is mayor of Haverhill,” Quimby told WHAV. “We’re a great city and we accommodate everybody in the City of Haverhill.”
As Pride Month celebrations take place across the Commonwealth, Quimby tells WHAV he is choosing to publicly reveal that he is a gay person. He hopes his decision will encourage others in the local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to band together and start Haverhill-based social groups.
“Now people are going to know who I am. I’ve been keeping it hidden that I’m a gay person, but no more,” he said. “I’m here for the people of Haverhill and throughout the state of Massachusetts.”
A tireless advocate for Haverhill, Quimby was dubbed the “10th Councilor” by President John A. Michitson and has rarely missed a City Council meeting since 1982. “No one cares for people and loves Haverhill more than Ken Quimby,” Michitson said at the time.
Once the month of June draws to a close, Quimby hopes Haverhill will continue to raise the City Hall flag for various causes and cultural traditions, he said.