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Tinian unveils Pride Heart monument to cap Pride Month
The Tinian Mayor’s Office and the municipality celebrated its final event for Pride Month with the unveiling of the newly constructed Pride Heart monument last Wednesday, June 30, 2021, at the island’s Natibu Park.
The Tinian leadership, members of the local LGBT community, together with their supporters and partners, gathered at the Antonio M. Borja Amphitheater last Thursday for the unveiling, which capped the island’s celebration of June as Pride Month.
At the ceremony prior to the unveiling, LGBT Pride organizer Bobby Diamond said he experienced a lot of firsts when it came to celebrating the month of June as “Pride Month” on Tinian, beginning in 2018 when Tinian held the first-ever Pride celebration with a march, the following year painted the Tinian sign with the colors of the rainbow, followed by a Pride motorcade at Taga Beach, and commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York that started the modern LGBT movement. “And finally, we are here: the unveiling of the first-ever Tinian Pride Heart monument,” he said.
In his remarks, the Tinian Mayor Edwin P. Aldan said that Pride Month is not just about celebrating and supporting LGBT community. “It is about recognizing the common experiences and the challenges of navigating in this world,” he added.
Dr. Bobby Cruz, who was the program’s guest speaker, said, “Embracing our authenticity, and owning our truth: That’s the space we want to live in the Marianas….And so, it is up to us— you, me, together—we have to make a decision that we will be visible, that we will be heard, and we will demand to be included.”
Other guests at the event were Senate President Jude U. Hofschneider and Tinia Legislative Delegation chair Sen. Francisco Q. Cruz.
Tinian’s LGBT community also extended appreciation to the Tinian Mayor’s Office and its Special Projects Division led by project manager Romeo Diaz, which financed this project and ensured its completion for the final Pride event, and to the PSS Mental Health program for their unwavering support and participation.
Other events for Pride Month were a roadside waving on June 2 to kick off this year’s Pride Month, followed by a Pride paint night/dye for Pride shirt making on June 17. (PR)
