The Northern Marianas proclaimed June as Pride Month.

“It is monumental that we are all out here as a community, outdoors in the Marianas, making this gesture to make it known that we celebrate love and we value life here,” said Roberto Santos, Chair of Pride Marianas. 

He said this proclamation comes at a critical time.

“And in the U.S. we are seeing a lot of legislation being passed that is anti-trans, anti-queer, and anti-gay. That influences what happens here, too much, and it is so valuable that we make these decisions for ourselves and we take the initiative and we choose to lead our people in what we believe in and what we value,” he said. 

 

 Marianas High School students part of the Dolphin Pride Club read the proclamation. Member Lucy Chen.

“With this declaration, our Commonwealth commits to ensuring that prejudice, discrimination, and ignorance have no place. Instead, we choose love that sees no bounds,” said Dolphin Pride Club member, Lucy Chen.

The NMI governor and Lt. Governor also expressed their commitment to progress.

“We’ve really evolved into a more inclusive society,” said Gov. Palacios. 

Saipan resident Zenn Tomokane expressed their pride amid the proclamation.

“That is one of the aims of Pride, it is to make sure that we all get to a point where maybe in the near future we do not need to celebrate Pride, this is just part of us. I think love and identity is just as natural as anything else and I think it is a great power that we should all be proud of,” said Tomokane.