Boston Dyke March has since expanded its focus beyond the lesbian community. We think that it is important to have companies that show their support both for the community in general, and for their employees.” Besides, he says, “We need corporate sponsors, because Pride isn't cheap.”īoston Dyke March was founded in 1995, part of a lesbian-led movement begun in Washington, D.C., in 1993 to protest the male-centricity of so many gay rights parades. It is good to have corporate America backing gay rights and being supportive of the LGBT community. “But we believe that this is a good thing. “It is true that there are a lot of corporate sponsors, and a lot of corporate involvement in Pride,” says Sylvain Bruni, the president of Boston Pride’s Board of Directors. Companies can purchase advertising space on the website, sponsored social media posts, the parade spot of their choice, VIP passes to Pride Week, and many other perks. Over the next several decades, as gay rights activists turned their attention to fighting the HIV/AIDS crisis, achieving legal protections for gays and lesbians and campaigning for same-sex marriage, Pride parades around the country saw a similar shift away from Pride’s protest origins and towards mainstream acceptance.įor many businesses, Boston Pride presents an opportunity to reach potential LGBTQ customers. The origins of Pride can be traced to Christopher Street Liberation Day, a gay rights demonstration that took place in New York City in 1970 to commemorate the clash between police and LGBTQ patrons of the Stonewall Inn a year prior. Hurley, another Dyke March organizer, says that Dyke March always turns down offers for advertising. “I think that sometimes when you bring in a lot of the commercialization, the focus is a little bit more split." In the past, Dyke March has accepted raffle donations from local businesses and allowed like-minded organizations to hold fundraisers on their behalf. “It's really important for us to stay noncommercial, because we try to be very focused on the issues and people,” says Amber Clifton, who helps organize Boston Dyke March. A few, like the upcoming Boston Dyke March on June 10, BASK: An LGBTQ People of Color Pride Picnic on June 18, and the recent Radical Pride Kick-Off Party by Break the Chains on June 3, have made it a point to steer clear of the corporate involvement that has become standard in Pride parades around the country. As a result, numerous alternative pride events have sprung up throughout the month of June. Many also feel that the event marginalizes the LGBTQ community’s most vulnerable populations by not prioritizing the needs and visibility of LGBTQ people of color and trans individuals. There will be evidence, too, of the event’s numerous corporate sponsors, among them TD Bank, Bud Light and Walmart.įor some LGBTQ Bostonians, the corporate presence at Pride is unwelcome, even unethical. Also in attendance will be lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-queer (LGBTQ) representatives of businesses large and small, from local banks to Microsoft.
Drag queens will march alongside high school students, librarians shoulder-to-shoulder with leather slaves. This Saturday, June 11, downtown Boston will erupt in rainbow splendor as the gay Pride Parade cavorts through its streets. (Greg Cook) This article is more than 5 years old.