Miranda Rector speaks at Care Out Loud. Solé Scott Photo.
The thick smell of espresso and hum of chatter lingered. Laughter, applause and cheers of encouragement rose through the crowd as speakers and artists took over the mic, filling the State Street storefront with warm and cozy sound. The cafe temporarily transitioned from a place to get coffee to a stage where every scent, sound and light pulled everyone’s attention.
Last Sunday, that scene filled Spruce Coffee as an intimate audience gathered for the inaugural “Care Out Loud,” an evening to benefit Planned Parenthood of Southern New England (PPSNE), and spread public awareness around the work the organization does. Presented in partnership with Husky 4 Immigrants and Peer Pride, the event focused on the importance of providing care for all those who need it, including immigrants who may be uninsured or undocumented and people seeking gender-afffirming care, which can be lifesaving.
Over a few hours, it transformed the neighborhood café into a grassroots concert venue (which Spruce has very much become in its time on State Street), with heartfelt performances from Trouble Girl, Justin Esmer, Old Milk Mooney, Sarah Dunn, Folk The Patriarchy, Rosetint Ensemble and others.
“Take some time to get to know each other and also fill out our community survey or think about sharing your story or donating, all of these things are so so important, “ organizer Miranda Rector said to encourage guests to feel comfortable. Rector, whose background is in social justice and public health, is currently an organizing specialist in patient advocacy for PPSNE.
“The vision was to bring artists, musicians and storytellers together for a night of celebrating our resilience and learning about how to fight back against the federal defund [of Planned Parenthood],” Rector said.
The event comes as legislative challenges to LGBTQ+ rights and basic safety, particularly gender-affirming care, come from both the Trump Administration and state legislatures across the country. Since the election and inauguration of President Donald Trump in January 2025, hundreds of anti-LGBTQ+ measures have passed across the U.S., including several explicitly anti-trans executive orders aimed at the erasure of trans people and trans and gender nonconforming youth.
Connecticut has not been immune: in late July of last year, Yale New Haven Health and Connecticut Children’s Hospital both suspended their access to gender-affirming care for youth. In the same year, state legislatures across the country passed over 120 pieces of anti-trans legislation, from bathroom bans to freezes on gender-affirming healthcare and access to reproductive medicine.
That extends to life-saving reproductive care: When Trump signed his "One Big Beautiful Bill Act” act (H.R. 1) last summer, it blocked over a million patients from accessing medicaid insurance for preventive services at Planned Parenthood. That includes routine care like annual reproductive check-ups, as well as services like breast, cervical and colon cancer screenings that can provide early detection.
Sunday, advocates, musicians, and attendees alike all found a mellifluous and heart-forward way to talk about those changes, mining the uncertainty of the moment for communal solidarity and joy. Around them, the smell of coffee and treats filled the room as baristas quietly called out names in the background once an order was completed.
Noelie Jeudi, a sophomore at Southern Connecticut State University (SCSU) student, said she was happy to be there as a volunteer with Planned Parenthood. Jeudi is currently studying political science at SCSU, where she is also a student advocate for many of her peers.
“We are also advocating for Planned Parenthood to get more funding from Connecticut legislators, she said, stressing the importance of state funds as federal money for the organization disappears. In some areas of the state and the Northeast more broadly, Planned Parenthood is the most accessible or only healthcare provider that people can get to.
When it came time for artists to take the mic, meanwhile, Esmer showed off his craftsmanship with precision and ease. The strum of his baby blue electric guitar vibrated the room as Esmer's feet controlled a musical box used to distort his voice and add a harmonizer. In the audience you can hear people whispering gleefully about Esmer’s vocals and song cover selection.
Many of the storytellers and performers spoke from lived experience within LGBTQ+ community. There was, for instance, Azeem K., who struggled with sexual education and a stigma-ridden home environment when they went through puberty. Azeem remembered being “told to dispose of menstrual products separately,” so other members in the house would not be exposed. That meant vital discussions around healthcare access, affirming providers, and barriers to treatment never happened. Instead, they had to shoulder the emotional toll of navigating those systems without support.
What made the evening particularly striking was not just the vulnerability of the speakers and artists, but the attentiveness of the audience. As the evening unfolded, the boundaries between speaker and listener began to blur. The event became less about individual stories and more about a collective exploration of what it means to show up for others and for oneself.
Thanking performers, PPSNE Chief Policy and Advocacy Officer Gretchen Raffa noted how important support for the organization is right now—and how regular Connecticut residents like Sunday’s attendees could get involved as advocates.
“Since then [the passage of H.R. 1] we have been working hard in Connecticut and across this country, mobilizing supporters to speak out and tell why they are for Planned Parenthood and pushing back against the threat and harm that the Trump Administration and his backers in congress are doing to our communities,” Raffa said.
“Get folks across Connecticut to talk to their state representative and state senator before the end of the legislative session on May 6,” she continued. “We need everyone to talk to and call the governor and ask for funding to support Planned Parenthood of Southern New England.”