Pride at 41: You've Come a Long Way, Baby

The LGBT community continues to expand both in size and scope. With it, Pride also evolves.

And this year’s parade is looking like another record-breaker, with 186 groups registered to march in Saturday's event. Last year, the parade's 40th anniversary, there were 172. 

To coincide with Pride’s big birthday last year, the Committee hired its very first full-time employee, Deputy Director Keri Aulita. Up until that point, the organization subsisted solely on volunteers.

“We’d been talking about sitting down and putting together a plan to hire a staff person for a few years,” said Aulita, a former president of the Pride Committee Board of Directors and a fundraising/event development professional by trade.

“But we were constantly chasing tail as far as logistics. Finally, the Board said ‘let’s do this’ and a job description was formulated. We did it very publically – it was a national search. We had about 25 applicants which became ten genuine candidates. Eventually they made me an offer.”

Aulita says that by hiring a formal, full-time staff member, the organization is able to reshuffle its duties and, in the long term, expand the scope of its services. Working on a transitional plan with the Board is an ongoing process, she said, since it was responsible for so many of the operational duties. As those tasks get shifted around, the Board will hopefully become freed up to focus on other things.

And major changes are already afoot.

First and foremost, the Pride Committee has merged with two other groups: the Latino Pride Committee and Friends of LGBT Youth. According to Aulita, the former has already been folded into Pride, while the Youth group will get transitioned over the next three years.

“We’ll work to provide a proper infrastructure and common branding strategy with an advisory committee so the community understands that the groups are now related,” she added.

The second noteworthy change is Pride’s intent to grow its Holiday Event, something that just launched this past winter but will be an annual celebration.

“Besides just being a fun holiday event, it’s also a way to recognize active people in the community and honor them for their service,” Aulita said, noting that the party will likely become more multifaceted over the next few years.

Finally, the organization has also begun developing a new arm: the Human Rights and Education Committee, something Aulita describes as having a "more grass roots flavor."

“This is the committee that will propel us into year-round programming, which is a goal we’re striving to achieve,” she said. “We’re planning on collaborating with other non-profits while continuing to build our own, and we’ll be looking at how Pride fits into the LGBT landscape. As the community changes, it’s important that we have a solid grasp on our niche and this will help us better see what we’re doing well and also what’s missing.”

Pride is looking for visionary people to join in on the planning and programming end as well as some worker-bees to assist more administratively. Once the smoke has cleared from this year’s Pride Week, the new committee will start taking shape. Keep a watch on the organization’s website for forthcoming details.

In light of ongoing shifts within the LGBT community, new ways of identifying and the ever-increasing blurred lines between genders, the Human Rights and Education Committee seems entirely appropriate.

“We’re Boston Pride – we serve the entire community,” Aulita said. “There has been an increase of youths that identify with new language, yes, and we support them. Every person, every crevice… we’re responsible for bringing the whole community together regardless of anything else."