Boycott Boston Pride Until Real Transformation Happens!

Boycott Boston Pride

A growing coalition of LGBTQ+ groups, including Trans Resistance, Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition, Urban Pride, the Center for Black Equity, Boston Black Pride, Boston Dyke March, and Pride for the People are calling for a boycott of Boston Pride 2021. We are asking that LGBTQ+ organizations who are committed to taking concrete action to end structural racism and white-centeredness stand in solidarity with us during this historic moment. We are asking all individuals, organizations, and businesses: To not...

• Register for Boston Pride 2021

• Participate in any Boston Pride 2021 programming (march, festival, online activities, etc)

• Provide Boston Pride any funding, donations, support, or revenue

• Apply to the powerless positions described in the so-called “transformation” plan

Until ...

• a transition plan developed in collaboration with Trans Resistance, community leaders of color, community organizations, and the resigned Volunteer Workforce is put into place

• the bylaws are revised to enact a democratic governance structure that includes power sharing with the Volunteer Workforce and community voices, checks and balances, term limits, and transparent decision-making processes

• a sufficient number of board members resign so that new board members representing the diversity of our community have a majority vote

Instead …

• Support the Trans Resistance March 2021/Invest in BITQPOC (Black, Indigenous, Trans, Queer, People of Color) organizations

• Demand a refund if you registered to participate in 2020

• Add your name to the coalition of LGBTQ+ organizations that demand that the current Boston Pride board work in collaboration with community groups to transition to diverse new leadership and a democratic governance structure with formalized power sharing and checks and balances

REASONS FOR BOYCOTT

1. PERSISTENT FAILURE TO ADDRESS STRUCTURAL RACISM - Year after year, the current board has failed to prioritize issues of race, racism, and white privilege.

   • The Boston Pride board has had a long history of poor relationships with Greater Boston’s communities of Queer & Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color (QTBIPOC). This structural exclusion has forced QTBIPOC communities to organize their own Pride events through the decades.

   • For decades the board has failed to recruit and retain a racially diverse volunteer workforce. The lack of diversity throughout the Pride organization indicates that the inability of Boston Pride to address issues of racism and white privilege continues to be systemic.

1. CONTINUED FAILURE TO ADDRESS 6 DEMANDS MADE BY BLM IN 2015 Black Lives Matter made 6 demands at the beginning of the Pride Parade in 2015 and they were met with silence by the Pride board. Five years later, the BLM demands remain ignored and the Boston Pride board continues to refuse to engage in interactive dialogues with QTBIPOC communities.

2. VOTED TO NOT SUPPORT #BLACKLIVESMATTER IN MAY 2020 At the peak of the BLM protests in May 2020, the Pride board voted to remove #blacklivesmatter and watered down a statement denouncing racist people violence.

3. 80% OF THE PRIDE VOLUNTEER WORKFORCE RESIGNED Refusing to support BLM was the last straw. 80% of the volunteer workforce, including the Chair of Black and Latinx Pride and the communications team, resigned as a show of “no confidence” in the current board’s leadership

4. BOSTON PRIDE’S FAUX “TRANSFORMATION” PLAN IS BUSINESS AS USUAL Boston Pride Board’s proposed “transformation” process is a fancy performance designed to protect the absolute and exclusive power of the current board. It includes no structural change:

   • No change to bylaws which give the Board exclusive power

   • No formalized power sharing with the Volunteer Workforce which does most of the work

   • No formalized power sharing with community voices

   • Current board still maintains the majority vote

   • No plans for the resignation of Board members who have been on the Board for more than ten years.

OUR GOALS (read our complete mission)

• Transition to a new board comprised of new, diverse voices within six months

• Draft a transition plan in collaboration with Trans Resistance, the resigned volunteer workforce, and other community leaders of colors

• Initiate process for bylaw revisions that enact a democratic governance structure that ensures that multiple voices within the organization and from the community are heard

• A Pride organization that focuses on community, social justice, and uplifting those from BITQPOC communities instead of corporations interested in capturing the monied LGBTQ market

Pride belongs to the community and it is time for it to be led by the community. Ending structural racism requires radical transformation Pride For The People #blacktranslivesmatter #wickedpissed #boycottbostonpride