As the nation celebrates Pride Month, the first 10 days of June also marks an event-packed Pride Week in Boston. All the celebrations will culminate in this weekend’s 48th Boston Pride parade, which begins at noon on Saturday, June 9 from Copley Square.
“The goal is to provide visibility and empower the LGBTQ community, so that everybody in the Commonwealth of the Massachusetts sees us and hears what our struggles continue to be,” Boston Pride president Sylvain Bruni said, “that we still have to fight for equality, for every right to protect everybody in our community.”
With over 350 contingents registered to march, this year’s parade will be the largest ever, beating last year’s record-breaking weekend, Bruni said.
This year’s theme, “Rainbow Resistance,” addresses the “divisive politics that’s coming out of Washington [D.C.]” and even in Boston, Bruni said. In particular, Bruni pointed to a question in the upcoming November 2018 ballot which may repeal transgender rights.
From the City’s side, Mayor Martin J. Walsh offered an open-invite to all mayors who will be attending the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which will be held in Boston from June 8 to 11, said Sam Chambers, Mayor Walsh’s liaison for the LGBTQ community.
“It’s a great way to celebrate Bostonians who identify as LGBTQ, and it’s a great way to bring everyone together and celebrate how dynamic that community is,” Chambers said.
The preparation for the parade began last September, and a committee of 20 to 25 people has met regularly to make the event possible, Bruni said. As an all-volunteer organization, Boston Pride volunteers and committee members organized the event while working their regular jobs.
“It’s a lot of work until the day of, when you realize the impact that you’ve had,” Bruni said. “On the day of when you realize you made this possible, that you created a space for the whole [LGBTQ] community to be visible, to be marching, to be happy, to be celebrating and at the same time asking for rights … it’s what drives our volunteers.”
The parade will also feature a special contingent that will pay tribute to victims of violence against the transgender community. There will also be representation from professional sports teams including the Boston Red Sox, Bruins and possibly more, Bruni said.
Team Boston athletes competing in the 2018 Gay Games in Paris will also march.
The parade route will be as follows, according to the Boston Pride website:
- Start at Boylston Street and Clarendon Street
- Turn right onto Clarendon Street
- Turn left onto Tremont Street
- Turn left onto Berkeley Street
- Turn right onto Boylston Street
- Turn left onto Charles Street
- Turn right onto Beacon Street
- Turn left onto Tremont Street
- Arrival at City Hall Plaza on Cambridge Street
Visitors and spectators are recommended to arrive at the parade by taking the Green Line to Copley station.
Pride Week will conclude at the Pride Grand Finale at 9 p.m. on Sunday, June 10 at the Grand, 58 Seaport Blvd., Boston.
For more information, visit bostonpride.org.