After Months of Pressure, Boston Pride Disbands Organization Instead of Adding QTBIPOC and Allies’ Voices to the Board; [Story Still Unfolding]
BOSTON In a press release received late this evening, Boston Pride informed media outlets about their decision to dissolve the organization, according to the statement sent by its current Board of Directors.
“It is clear to us that our community needs and wants change without the involvement of Boston Pride,” read the release whose letterhead showed the names of its Board one last time, President Linda DeMarco, Treasurer Malcolm Carey, Clerk Martha Plaza, and members Deborah Drew and Tina Rosado. “We have heard the concerns of the QTBIPOC community and others. We care too much to stand in the way. Therefore, Boston Pride is dissolving. There will be no further events or programming planned, and the board is taking steps to close down the organization.”
BOSTON GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD) joined in solidarity with Black trans leaders and former Boston Pride volunteers in calling for transformation at the Boston Pride organization.
“Pride is about protest, celebration, and community and should be a welcoming, safe space for all,” read GLAD’s statement. “Boston deserves a Pride in which Black and POC LGBTQ+ community members have a strong voice in leadership and which works to address the issues causing harm to our community, including systemic racism and police violence.
“Guided by our organizational values of justice and lived equality; inclusion, equity, and mutual respect; collaboration; and anti-racism, GLAD will not be participating in official Boston Pride, BP, events in 2021. In solidarity with Trans Resistance MA and Pride 4 the People, GLAD supports the Trans Resistance March and Vigil for Black Trans Lives taking place on June 12.”
Boston Pride’s Apology Results in Backlash Again; Pride 4 the People, Community Leaders and Others talk about People of Color and Why The Statement Released Isn’t Representative Of All
By: Audrey Cole & Chris Gilmore/TRT Reporters
BOSTON Last week Boston Pride (BP) issued a press release letting the LGBTQ+ community know that the organization is undergoing a transformation to take responsibility for “their actions.”
Their actions involve a series of events including what has been explained as a “unilateral decision to remove any reference of Black Lives Matter” from an official “statement on police brutality after the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Tony McDade,” that lead to the resignation of 80 percent of Boston Pride’s volunteer workforce in June 2020, according to a former statement from Jo Triglio (they/them), former Boston Pride Communications team and co-founder of Pride 4 The People (P4TP).