Boycott Boston Pride, say activists who bolted for social justice

LGBTQ activists who blasted the leaders of Boston Pride for resisting inclusion and failing to embrace the Black Lives Matter movement last summer are calling for a boycott of the city’s largest parade, and planning to stage an alternative event for the second year in a row.

Most of the event’s volunteer workforce resigned last summer after Boston Pride’s board watered down its proposed statement on the racial protests roiling cities nationwide.

Since then, the board has hired a diversity consultant and pledged to appoint a “transformation advisory council” but has rebuffed demands for a complete overhaul of the nine-member board. Instead, the leaders have spoken of adding seats to the board, while letting four seats sit vacant since the summer.

All of that has cemented volunteers’ long-term concerns that Boston Pride does not make space for queer and trans, Black, and indigenous people, and people of color. Currently, there are no Black board members.

Read more: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/12/29/metro/boycott-boston-pride-say-activists-who-bolted-social-justice/