Equality Press

Boston Pride - Historical Timeline

Boston Pride was born in April 1970. As we celebrate our 38th Anniversary, it is important to understand where we come from. Following is an historical timeline of Boston Pride.

April 1970 - In the spirit of Stonewall and as part of a Vietnam War protest, 20 gay demonstrators marched from Cambridge Common to Boston Common.

June 26, 1971 - Boston holds its first official Pride March with 4 major stops where various basic demands were presented.

1978 - The March is renamed the New England Lesbian and Gay Pride Parade with 5,000 in attendance.

1984 - The first Boston Lesbian and Gay Pride Festival is held, charging $1 for admission.

1987 - The Pride flag-raising at City Hall marks the first time such a flag is flown over a municipal building.

1993 - The Parade route is altered to wind through the South End as attendance breaks 100,000 for the first time.

1995 - The first Youth Pride March is held in May and the first Dyke March, organized by the Lesbian Avengers, takes place the morning of Pride.

1999 - The New Boston Pride Committee is formed.

2000 - “It’s the one day everybody can come out and express themselves and be gay. Everybody has a great time. If you want to be crazy, you can do that, and everybody accepts everybody else.” - Beantown Softball League Member

May 17, 2004 - Same-sex marriage becomes legal in Massachusetts.

Note: most of this above information is excerpted from “Routes of Pride: The Evolution of Boston Pride”, a publication of the Boston GLBT History Project at www.HistoryProject.org. You can also obtain the above book by contact the History Project via email or by phone through their web site

While researching some history on the city of Dover in the Historical Room at the Dover Public Library, I came across (in the old index card catalog) a listing for the ”Dover Lesbian Club”.  Having lived in Dover for 25 years now, I know no such gay club existed by that name in the past 25 years.  Since my curiousity was in high drive, I looked up the historical artifact and to my amazement ….. there actually used to be a “Dover Lesbian Club” that existed in Dover NH in the late 1800’s and early 1900. 

 The artifact that was being stored in the Dover Public Library Historical Rooom was an old 5 inch by 8 inch (the size of a napkin or postcard) program booklet from the gay club with the name and date on the front cover.  “Dover Lesbian Club 1901-02″.   I was amazed by 2 thingsa.  1) that a gay club actually existed at the time period - publicly open about their name and what function the club served and 2) that it existed in Dover NH.  Dover has always been a very reliious (mostly catholic) town.    After further checking the Historical Room, it appears that that little known artifact is the only evidence left that the “Dover Lesbian Club” ever existed.  Without it, that important piece of NH GLBT History would be lost to our community forever and all the knowledge of the gay club’s existance would never be known since anyone belonging to that club has long since passed away.   Anyone interested in seeing the artifact should check out the Dover Public Library Historical Room and look for the folder with the catalog number “Rh Cnfda 9″.  The artifact is located just inside the room’s door in the glass cases on the left wall.  –>

The Gay Info Line of New Hampshire began as an outreach program of the Concord Men’s Group in 1984. At that time there were few resources available to our community and even less information about them. But with dedicated determination, a database of gay service providers was started.

Four years later, the database and the Info Line continued to grow, but the Concord Men’s Group had ceased to exist. (more…)