[Birdi Diehl]

54 years ago, on June 26 1971, a group of determined Bostonians set out from Jackie's cabaret winding their way through the city in what would become Boston's first official Gay Pride March. Today we retrace that historical route through the voices of those who attend pride and those who remember what it means to be seen, to belong and to demand change. I'm Birdi Diehl, and this is the route of pride, an audio journey through Boston's legacy of LGBTQ visibility, struggle and celebration and what it means to be queer today, our story begins at Jackie's cabaret, a cornerstone of queer nightlife since the 1940s the 1971 marchers gathered here calling for safer, more inclusive spaces and reading out a list of demands. One question that comes up is, what does it mean to be at Boston pride if you've attended or pride in general?

[Eli Calderone]

I have not been at Boston pride specifically, but I have attended New York Pride at least twice, and I've gone to local pride events back home in Connecticut. And it was really great going to pride, New York Pride when I was, I think 12, 13 or 14. It just felt very cool because I was so young. I was a young queer kid, and it was really nice to see a lot of other queer people and share that space with them. I still do enjoy going to smaller pride events, but I find large pride events, like parades as well, to be quite overstimulating. It's always very hot, but it is always nice to see different I really like going to kind of block party scenarios where people are selling items and talking about certain things and advertising certain things, like safe sex andPlanned Parenthood, things like that. It is cool. It's not really my vibe, just because I like a sort of chiller thing. I like being inside.

[Madison Lucchesi]

I go to Boston pride every year, religiously. It was a really dark time when we didn't have Boston pride after COVID, because the Boston pride organization disbanded, and then there was just kind of celebrations out around the country, but not actually in Boston itself. And that was really sad, because there is no real big celebration of pride in Boston, even though the queer community is such a big part of Boston and what I know it to be. And just when you're there, it's such a welcoming space. There are people giving out free mom and dad hugs, and everyone's just cheering for the parade going by and telling people how much they love their outfits, or that they're loved, or that they're loved, and it's just so so beautiful.

[Birdi Diehl]

Another stop on the list, the marchers also were at the Old Boston police headquarters, confronting a history of police brutality and surveillance today prides relationship with authority is still debated. A question that comes up among many is, how has your story within the realm of queerness gotten you to pride or to any queer event?

[Eli Calderone]

I was so young that like I really just needed that community, because since I was so young and already knew that I was queer, there weren't a lot of people around me, like at school or friends that I had, who were also queer and knew that they were queer already. So it was really huge for me to be able to be in a space with other queer people, because I just hadn't have that before.

[Madison Lucchesi]

I would say that I got to Boston pride, because growing up, my gay uncles would always go to pride, and they would talk about it, and they would walk in the parade and go out to dinner afterwards. I always wanted to go with them, because it seemed like such a big celebration of who they were, and I wanted to be a part of celebrating them, because they mean so much to me and influenced so much of my life.

{Mars Early]

Growing up, finding my queer identity is really rooted in also finding community. Like as soon as I came out as queer in like 2020 2021, I can't remember exactly when I like finding other people that you know were queer was really important to me and like that was that has always been such a big part of who I am and why I love being queer. Because, you know, I think that, I think that being queer is awesome. It's something that I am proud of and part of the reason I'm proud of is because I get to be around all these amazing people that I love and are doing such amazing things.

[Birdi Diehl]

Another stop on the list is St Paul's Cathedral. The marchers denounced religious persecution and demanded acceptance. The church later became a beacon for LGBTQ support, hosting aids healing services and celebrating trans lives, a question that comes up is, how would your younger self feel to see you here at this time?

[Eli Calderone]

I think that they would be very confused if we're thinking like, you know, the first me that ever went to pride, I think that Eli would be a little bit more like, yeah, yeah, this is this, is it. But if you got me when I was like 15 or 16, that Eli would be like, you're doing what? Like, what's happening. But I think that overall, like, my younger self would be happy to see that I'm very comfortable in my identity and just kind of chilling, like I'm just existing in the world. And I'm very happy with just existing in the world.

[Madison Lucchesi]

I think every year when I'm standing at the barricades of the Boston Pride Parade, searching for my uncles, walking in the crowd in the parade. I'm screaming in the crowd, I think back to myself as maybe an eight year old kid sitting on my grandmother's living room floor watching Ru Paul's drag race with my uncles, thinking it was just a really fun show, and how I've grown up, and I realized that it wasn't just a fun show. Still, then I'm a part of this queer community, and that it means so much more than just me or my uncles or drag queens, but it's this bigger space and this bigger, beautiful.

[Mars Early]

I think my younger self would feel a mix of things, because when I was younger, I definitely had a sense of being queer. Still, I didn't understand what that was at the time. So I identified as straight for, like, a, you know, a good part of my childhood, and like I had, you know, had crushes on boys and whatever. And I also didn't know that I was non binary, like I was very much I was a very feminine child. So I think my younger self would have a sort of aha moment, where it's like everything is kind of fitting into place, and I would have a moment of clarity. But I also think there would be some confusion, some frustration, maybe I think, you know, I've dealt with a lot of comp het in my life, and, yeah, just a lot of, a lot of heteronormativity and all that good stuff. So I think, I think it would be, you know, there would be a process of coming to terms with that. But I also think, like, my younger self would be, would think I'm kind of awesome, you know, I, I have to say, like, I think I even though I, you know, struggled with compet and I did identify as straight, like, as a child and in middle school, I was always like, such an ally, you know. So I think that a part of me would be like, That's awesome today.

[Birdi Diehl]

Pride is both protest and party. It's a space for joy, for advocacy and for reflection on who is seen and who is still fighting to be included. A question that comes up is, do you feel seen in this environment or in the environment you live in?

[Eli Calderone]

Absolutely yes. I am really happy and lucky to be living in the city and able to go to this school, which has a good majority of its students queer, like having a majority Queer Student Body, because it's just what I've been looking for my entire life, is just where queer is the norm, and We're able to talk openly about that and be comfortable in our queerness as a community. We don't all need to know each other, we don't all need to be friends with each other. We all don't need even need to like each other. But like living in a world where like, like, where I feel like I fit in, is really great. I mean, there are times where I'm like, I'm one of few, like, I don't know, like, there aren't a whole ton of people at the school who have, like, capital W weird genders, but the fact that there are more, it's more than me, is really great, and I and I really appreciate having people like that on my space.

[Madison Lucchesi]

I absolutely feel seen at Boston pride and usually in my day to day life. I think the only times I don't feel seen is when people try to stick a label to what my sexuality is, that I don't like, I don't like labels. My mantra is that I'm attracted to people, people who aren't assholes. So if you're a person, you're a contender. So when you try to stick a label on that, like telling me that I'm bi or even queer, I really just don't like it. I'm just a person. I'm just Madison, and I like people, that's all.

[Mars Early]

I feel somewhat seen in the environment I live in. Like I said, Boston is a very white city, and Emerson is a predominantly white institution. It's like very white. So in terms of that, I don't feel seen. I also think, like, there's a certain type of queer person here that is very performative and that I don't identify with, or, you know, want to find kinship in, because that's not the kind of person I am. But I think that, like, I found my community here, I found the people that I do want to form kinships with and relationships with, and in that specific environment, I do feel seen and like my friend group, you know, we're like queer, but we're also, you know, racially diverse, and we just come from different backgrounds, different cultures, and that's something that's important to me. So in the general like Emerson community, maybe even Boston community. Sometimes I don't feel entirely seen just because of that reason, but I think within my inner circle, I do.

[Birdi Diehl]

As debates continue about corporate sponsorship and the politics of representation, the heart of pride still remains. A question that comes up is, how do you feel about corporate pride merch and other things relating to it?

[Eli Calderone]

Hate it. I feel like that might be part of why I don't like pride parades, because all we're doing is seeing people like dance on a TD Bank float, and it's like, what the fuck has TD Bank done for queer people like, shut up. That's why I prefer, like, the more vending queer like pride events, because it's real queer people selling things that they've made, you know, and you're able, as another queer person to, like, support these people and get some cool stuff. However, like, that's a very capitalistic view of what pride is, as opposed to like marches or parades that are not affiliated with any corporation. I don't like it also corporate pride merch is really ugly a lot of the time I don't love pride merch in general for myself, and I feel like I prefer works like or like merch that is from queer people, because you kind of can tell, like, you could have a T shirt that says, like, I'm gay without being ugly, where, like, there's an artist that I really love. Silas Denver, Melvin. He's a poet and an artist, and he makes really cool shirts that are very like counter cultural and very provocative. And I just really appreciate his work as like a queer artist who makes things that are kind of like Pride March, but are a lot more out there in what they're saying and yeah, like it's I just prefer that kind of thing, because I don't like the idea of needing to become digestible to straight or cis people in order to gain acceptance. And I think that's what corporate pride merch does, is make us a little bit more digestible to like the hetero, CIS, heteronormative society.

[Madison Lucchesi]

I hate it. I hate corporate pride merchandise, because it's all just a facade of rainbows and pride flags that you're supposed to wear and celebrate things. But really, companies are just profiting off of an identity that they might not even support because there are so many big corporations and stores that make pride merch, and they make all this money, and then they go and donate it to conservative and homophobic charities or and organizations, instead of giving it to the queer community.

[Mars Early]

I do not like corporate pride merchandise. I think it's incredibly exploitative and performative and like you know now with Trump being. In, in the office,

Unknown Speaker 15:03

you know, places like Target, who have always kind of, you know, capitalized off of corporate pride, are not doing that anymore. And I think it's very telling about what it is about for them, like they do just want the money and now that it's potentially going to damage their reputation as a brand, because we have this incredibly right wing conservative administration. They no longer feel the need to do that because they're not actually allies, and they don't actually care about, you know, queer pride. They're just doing it as a way to exploit us and exploit our identities, exploit our labor sometimes too, you know, because they they partner with some, like, queer artists, you know, but I don't know. I mean, I don't know, you know exactly what's going on there, but I do think like there is a kind of, yeah, exploitation going on there, because I don't think those artists are being paid as much as they should for. How much target is making off of stuff like that. But yeah, in general, I know I focused completely on target, but it's also not just target. It's, you know, so many companies, but in general, I think it's bad. I think there are some brands that can do it, like, well, like, if it's smaller businesses, but also that's not really corporate.

[Birdi Diehl]

That heart of pride is centered around community visibility and the ongoing struggle for equality. A question that comes up is, how does the community feel, both at Boston pride and in the general Boston community, or in your own community or pride?

[Eli Calderone]

It's it just feels very normal to be queer, and it's something that we can talk about a lot more in Boston at large, I feel fairly safe as a queer person because I see a lot of queer people in my direct community, like when I'm going out. I mean, there's always the fear of harassment or anything like that. Ever since I started like dressing more femininely, I've been cat called a lot more, which is frightening, but that's more about femininity, rather than queerness. It's just nice, like, it's, it's nice to be in a community of queer people where you don't have to know every queer person, because in high school, it's like, they're like five queer kids, and they're all friends with each other, but not, you know, it's, it's just a thing like here, and I appreciate that a lot.

[Madison Lucchesi]

Boston is a city like any other. So it has its faults and its shortcomings. Not everything is as awesome as it may seem, as it may seem, but at Boston pride, whether there's a counter protester or not, that day, that celebration is about love and community and nothing else, and nothing can ruin that. It doesn't matter what's going on in the greater picture. When you are standing on Charles Street watching the parade go by, it is about you, your identity, your people, and the celebration of everybody standing there. It quite literally, is all about sunshine, rainbows and glitter.

[Mars Early]

It feels it can feel empowering. It can absolutely feel empowering, and can also feel very diminishing. I think there's just, you know, the intersection of queerness and race and privilege and all those things, you know, manifests in a certain type of person that goes to this school that I don't always feel comfortable around or like I can relate to, because I do think, like, while a lot of people here are gay and are queer and non binary and trans and stuff like that, there's also just a lot of privilege here, a lot of.

[Birdi Diehl]

And even though pride and the queer community can be uplifting for those who are within it, a question still remains of how do all of these feelings relate to the current political climate and presidential administration?

[Eli Calderone]

Like there is very much importance In being safe, but I highly doubt that anyone's going to be like, Nope, I guess we can't do pride anymore, and that's like, I appreciate what corporate pride has done for the rights of queer people, but it hasn't done that much, but it's done enough that queer people believe that pride is a right, and that we are going to celebrate Pride, whether there are corporations involved or not. And I appreciate that. You know, my it's partly my opinion that, like, since things are getting scarier, on that side, we need to get scary too. Um, we need to get more abrasive and mean, and that's my take on that. I think that we need to be holding completely free of corporation pride events. I think that would be really helpful for us, and I think that it would help us kind of build up our community a little bit more with everything going on in the current political climate in this country,

[Madison Lucchesi]

The state of Massachusetts, the city of Boston, its politicians and its people have proved that we are not in agreement with what's going on. We are the direct opposite of what the current administration is trying to enforce this city is a sanctuary city for queer people, for immigrants, for everybody, and that is never going to change, because that's not that is never going to change because that's What Boston is.

[Mars Early]

I think it's there's definitely, like a disconnect for me living in Boston and living in Massachusetts, which is a very blue state and a very blue city, and also, like at Emerson, like, I think most of the people here, like, did not vote for Trump. Yeah, most of them to not vote for Trump, not all, but most of them. But I think, like, I'm not, I don't identify as a Democrat either. I identify I'm, you know, just I'm a leftist, and I don't believe in supporting either parties, because I think both of them are evil in their own rights. Obviously, Trump is like, really awful what he's doing, but I think for me, there's still, like, even though I go to a school that is very blue, and I live in the city that's very blue, and in the state I feel like there is that disconnect for me, because the people I'm surrounded with, although are more aligned with my own beliefs, are still pretty far from them. And I feel that in like, you know, my classes, when I hear people talk about certain issues that I just feel are coming from such a privileged place and just a lack of empathy specifically about being queer, I think, I think I want to show my queerness more and be more rooted in it because of the stuff that this, this administration, is doing, you know, it's scary. It definitely is scary. Like I've had a lot of moments of just immense fear and grief almost about my future, because I don't know what that looks like right now, but I think that I'm trying to, yeah, I'm trying to find that pride within myself, and I'm trying to not be afraid, even though I am. I'm trying to be brave. I'm trying to be courageous, and I it only makes me want to be more queer, you know, because I think that, you know, like the like the saying goes, existence is resistance. And so I just by being queer, I'm I feel that's a form of resistance, but I also don't think that's the only form of resistance that you can do in this day and age. So I'm also trying to do more. But I do say just like, you know, feeling feeling more. I'm trying to feel more at place within the queer community and within my own queer identity, so that I know who I am. When they try to tell me that I don't know who I am.

[Birdi Diehl]

From the first march to today's million strong celebrations, Boston's pride route is more than a path through city streets. It's a journey toward justice, belonging and hope, and what shows that is the people behind pride.