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The City of Bridgeport announced it is ‘proud to make history’ by staging Connecticut’s first official Non-Binary Flag Raising on July 25 in another taxpayer-backed celebration of contested gender ideology.

The city’s Facebook post said: “As the first municipality in Connecticut to officially raise the Non-Binary Flag, Bridgeport is proud to celebrate diversity and foster a community where everyone is welcomed, respected and valued.” Bridgeport officials are framing the flag raising as historic progress.

The event is organized by Our Trans Life (OTL), a Greater Bridgeport social justice group, along with event partners Bridgeport Pride Center, Triangle Community Center, Milford Pride, and Skateport.

According to its website, OurTransLife.org was created to serve the Transgender, Non-Binary and Gender-Nonconforming communities of the Greater Bridgeport Region and beyond. It was co-founded by a man who transitioned later in life and now goes by Julia DiCola, along with Bliss Kern, a clinician who uses ‘per/per/pers’ pronouns.

OTL says it provides peer-led groups, community education, advocacy, and ‘coaching support for those in transition,’ with a focus on urban, often BIPOC, gender-diverse communities and youth in particular.

According to OTL's social media director, Blaze, the organization is meant to help "trans youth thrive and have their say." She further boasted that OTL works and strategizes alongside the ex-con Mayor of Bridgeport.

OTL's listed programs include:

• TRANScend: An art-based workshop series explicitly designed for middle and high school students. Sessions mix ‘fun project[s]’ and artistic expression with talks on identity exploration, self-awareness, stigma, discrimination, family acceptance, social media, racialized gender norms, etc.
• Affirming Conversations: Interactive workshops aimed at educators, healthcare providers, and youth-serving professionals to build “capacity for gender-affirming practices,” and provide tools for supporting trans and gender-diverse individuals.
• TRANS-firming Social Network: Peer-led monthly social groups—one for young adults (ages 19-25) and one for adults (30+).
• Community Awareness and Advocacy Days: Public events marking National Coming Out Day, International Nonbinary People’s Day, Transgender Day of Remembrance, and Transgender Day of Visibility.

Warren Harding High School in Bridgeport used OTL in 2025 to deliver an in-school TRANScend program for a group of students in conjunction with Mental Health Connecticut (MHC), a longtime nonprofit mental health agency that receives considerable government (taxpayer) funding.

OTL’s donation appeals highlight support for “art supplies, food, or transportation so one youth can attend peer-led workshops,” conversations with “families, schools, and community allies,” and programs for the “rising number of youth seeking support.” OTL operates under the fiscal sponsorship of Mental Health Connecticut, which channels its donations.

Bridgeport’s decision to host the state’s first official non-binary flag raising places municipal endorsement — and taxpayer resources — behind an organization that promotes transgender ideology to children as young as 13.

Based on the comments under the City of Bridgeport’s Facebook post, many residents aren’t viewing the flag raising as ‘historic progress’ but rather as yet another expansion of contested gender ideology into taxpayer-supported institutions.

Many commenters called for a straight pride flag — the same request a Newington resident just made, only to be ignored by his town council in a move that is already drawing threats of a viewpoint-discrimination lawsuit. Those Bridgeport residents might want to test their city’s discretionary flag policy themselves; a denial could put Bridgeport in the exact public-forum vulnerability the Supreme Court flagged in Shurtleff v. Boston.

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