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Residents ask Stratford to install pride crosswalk and expand year‑round visibility for LGBTQIA+ community
Summary
Speakers at a Stratford public forum — including Love Is Love Stratford founder Colleen Hargrove and resident Maxwell Dulin — urged the council to establish a permanent pride crosswalk or other Stratford‑managed displays to celebrate and support LGBTQIA+ residents year‑round, and suggested several potential locations.
Colleen Hargrove, founder of Love Is Love Stratford and an appointed member of the Stratford Fair Housing Commission, asked the council at the Town of Stratford public forum to support a permanent pride crosswalk and other year‑round public visibility measures recognizing the LGBTQIA+ community.
Hargrove said the initiative builds on prior town symbolism: she noted that under Mayor Hoytik the town first raised a pride flag at Town Hall on June 26, 2019. The group requested a Stratford‑managed road or location to avoid delays associated with state‑managed roads, and offered suggested sites including near Town Hall, Paradise Green, Longbrook Park, the seawall, Short Beach, the Stratford Library, Baldwin Center, Perry House, Booth Memorial Park and the Army Engineer plant at Lordship.
"With one voice, members of the Facebook group Stratford, Connecticut Bridal, Love Is Love, are asking you to support one pride crosswalk in Stratford," Hargrove told the council. She emphasized a desire for a visible, prominent location and for the process to be moved quickly so the project can be completed.
Maxwell Dulin, another Stratford resident, offered a personal testimony in support of visible, year‑round recognition, recounting that when he first saw a pride flag flown at town hall he felt seen and that the town showed it could be a safe haven.
No formal council action or vote was recorded during the public forum; the speakers’ requests were presented for council consideration during public comment.
