After a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a pride party took to the streets of Boston.
Around a million people lined the streets from Copley Square to the Common on Saturday to watch 10,000-plus parade participants — many wearing colorful colors, some scantily clothed and wearing interesting costumes — celebrate LGBTQ pride.
“Given the state of national politics, the discourse around being queer, I felt like it was helpful for me to show up,” said Skylar Singer, a gay 24-year-old Cambridge resident.
“Here, I feel like I can be as queer as I want, and nobody is going to give me (expletive) for it,” he added.
Saturday’s parade marked the first organized by the group Boston Pride For The People.
The group formed last year after Boston Pride, an LGBTQ+ group that led the festivities for 50 years, dissolved in 2021 amid a boycott over issues relating to race, transgender inclusion and fundraising efforts. Many LBTQ residents across the city and region called this year’s festivities as the ‘most inclusive pride yet.’
Singer’s friend, Hannah Varden, 29, of Cambridge, also attended her first Boston pride parade, which she said proved to be a “much different experience” than a pride event she attended as a student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
“It seems like the city is more inclusive in regards to giving people the space to express themselves and offering not just more space,” Varden said, “but a variety of events that ultimately feel like there’s space for everyone, regardless of identity.”
Boston Pride For The People President Adrianna Boulin said her organization is based on four principles: commemoration of those who risked their lives for the freedoms of the community; education; empowerment; and celebration.
In working with the Boston Police Department, Boulin, speaking to reporters before the parade, said she didn’t expect any threats to the festivities. A vandal on Thursday spray painted a church in Jamaica Plain with “homophobic, violence and hateful graffiti,” while a transgender pride flag was recently burned in Brookline.
“Those events that have happened are extremely unfortunate,” Boulin said. “We feel really good about ensuring that everyone can celebrate and feel positive in this space together.”
Saturday also featured an all-ages festival with a main stage and vendors at the Boston Common, and a 21+ party at the City Hall Plaza with a second stage, beer garden and more vendors.
The sight of some parade participants made more than a handful of children look uncomfortable.
The attire of parade participants ranged greatly from some wearing just underwear and others mesh tops that made their breasts visible, with stickers covering their nipples. A few of the 250 organizations that had groups march dressed in leather outfits, wearing masks that resembled dogs.
A strong showing of politicians — U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Boston city councilors, Gov. Maura Healey, Mayor Michelle Wu — also walked the streets.
South End resident Brian Swett has been attending pride parades since 2009. On Saturday, he came with his wife and their 3- and 7-year-old sons.
“It’s not only to be supportive of the people walking in the parade,” Swett said, “but to establish for our kids who are both under 10 that this is normal, this is reality. They’ve grown up not knowing any different.”
