Key Points:
- First Selectman Toni Boucher said Wilton will issue a Pride Month proclamation for June 2026.
- Residents spoke at a Board of Selectmen meeting urging town leaders to publicly support LGBTQ+ inclusion.
- The announcement follows recent community debate over Wilton Pride event approvals and town support.
Why it Matters: The proclamation marks a notable shift in Wilton’s approach to Pride recognition and reflects broader conversations about inclusion, civic identity and community values.
Concerned supporters of Wilton Pride had an unexpected surprise Monday, May 18, when First Selectman Toni Boucher let them know that their wish for an official proclamation making June of 2026 Pride Month in Wilton was already being granted.
Several members of the public were on hand at Monday’s Board of Selectmen meeting to voice their support and urge Boucher to adopt an official proclamation, which they asked to have read and signed in a public ceremony.
“Inclusion is now a baseline criterion alongside schools and taxes,” resident Caroline Hughes declared. “Every neighboring town we benchmark against, including Westport, Norwalk, Ridgefield, Easton and Shelton issue an annual Pride Proclamation. Wilton has been absent on that list and prospective residents know this.”
After Hughes concluded her remarks, Boucher told her and about a half-dozen other residents waiting to speak that she had already drafted a proclamation and had responded to their earlier emails.
“I hope you received notice today that I had drafted a proclamation last week … We’re happy to oblige and we will be putting together a proclamation,” Boucher said.
On May 20, Boucher shared a copy of the draft proclamation with GOOD Morning Wilton, but emphasized that it was still in draft form and that she would be conferring with members of Wilton Pride before it becomes official.
Currently an eight-point proclamation, it notes that Wilton is a diverse community and is “deeply committed to being a welcoming and inclusive place where everyone belongs.” In it, Boucher calls on all residents “to celebrate the diversity of our community and to affirm that in Wilton, everyone belongs.”
Last month, the Wilton Pride group raised concerns with Town Hall after its initial request for a street closure by the Town Green in order to facilitate its annual Pride celebration event was turned down. Members sought support from the community and asked them to contact Boucher and the Wilton Police Department about the decision, which was later reversed.
Four years ago, residents pushed for a town Pride proclamation, but former First Selectwoman Lynne Vanderslice turned down the request, arguing there should be a limited number of proclamations issued or it would open the floodgates to too many. The BOS concurred at the time.
Vanderslice said at the time that she used a set of criteria to determine which causes qualified, pointing to a connection with the work of municipal departments. The only five she had approved that she said fit her criteria were Domestic Violence Awareness Day, Overdose Awareness Day, Gun Violence Awareness Day, Sexual Assault Awareness Day, and Arbor Day.
At Monday’s meeting, subsequent speakers praised Boucher for her decision and support.
Resident Kim Palmer said she was really excited to hear the news.
“Wilton has already committed to civility and inclusion through the pledge and a Pride proclamation is a natural extension of that,” she said.
Palmer said the message was especially important for young people, who need to feel they are part of the community and belong.
“It’s just a way to show, through our actions not just our words, what belonging means here,” she said.
Boucher’s proclamation draft notes that Pride Month commemorates the historic Stonewall bar uprising in New York City in June of 1969 — a pivotal event in history. It also makes note of Wilton Public Schools as holding “a vital responsibility for the safety, inclusion, and academic success of all students, including LGBTQIA+ youth, driven by the active, ongoing commitment of our educators and administrators to create affirming learning environments.”
Resident Jeffrey Busch told the selectmen that he grew up in Wilton “when probably the worst thing in the world you could be is gay. It was not a welcoming community by any stretch of the imagination.”
He shared that, years later, when he returned to live here with his husband, Steven Davis, and shortly after their son was born, then-State Sen. Toni Boucher paid a visit to their home.
“I remember when our child was just a few weeks old in pouring rain, Toni Boucher knocked on the door and brought us a stuffed bear with a little emblem of the state of Connecticut. And I thought, this is not the same town that I left,” he recalled. “It’s a very different experience for our son than it was for me.”
“It heartens me greatly, greatly to hear that you drafted something,” an emotional Busch told Boucher. “Wilton is where we belong.”
“Yes, you do,” she said.
Busch and others said that, given the turbulent times facing many people in the LGBTQ+ community around the country, Wilton was sending out a message to all of them that would be heartening as well.
Hughes referred to the town’s new promotional video, which uses the tagline “Wilton: Where You Belong.”
“In a national climate where many municipalities are stepping back,” Hughes said, “Wilton is stepping forward with a local measured civic proclamation that reflects exactly the kind of leadership the ‘Wilton: Where You Belong’ identity is built on.
“Thank you for your leadership, your partnership and your advocacy of Pride to date,” Hughes told Boucher. “We are grateful for it and we believe Wilton is ready for the next step — putting our own action where our words are.”
So the decision was made because of the connection to Municipal workers? There are municipal workers of a variety of religions in our town. Maybe time to start making statements for the various religions represented in Wilton?
I am somewhat mystified at how a town’s First Selectman drafting a “proclamation” creating a Pride Day or Pride Month can make a town a more welcoming place. The office of First Selectman is not a social or cultural position; it is strictly an executive office charged with administering the functions of the town, i.e., running things. In any case, making such proclamations is rather lame, like those stupid signs people plant on the road that say, “There’s no place for hate in Wilton.” Perhaps we should have a Lame Love Month as well.