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About Worcester
Pride in Worcester goes back a long way. In the mid-seventies the Worcester Telegram announced the city's first "Gay Pride Week", with a film on Saturday night and a parade on Sunday. It was organised by the Metropolitan Community Church and the Worcester Homophile Organization, formerly the Worcester Gay Union, which invited gay groups from across New England as well as supporters from Boston, Providence and Connecticut. Around a hundred people marched from City Hall down Main Street to University Park, across from Clark University, carrying signs for Gay Pride, Gay Love and Gay Power.
The celebration moved several times after that. It started in Crystal Park, went on to Institute Park and later to Water Street, once a hub for gay-owned businesses. Eventually it settled on the Worcester Common in the city centre, which left more room for family programming.
Today the event is run by Pride Worcester, a collaborative network of LGBTQ+ organisations and activists from the Greater Worcester area, fiscally sponsored by the nonprofit AIDS Project Worcester. Pride season here falls in September, and the organisers describe their festival as the last stop of the New England Pride season. It takes place on a Saturday afternoon downtown near the Common, with makers and community groups, live performances, food vendors, a youth and family zone and health services provided by AIDS Project Worcester.
There is no large parade with floats. Instead, a march on foot opens the day. Participants line up at the Worcester Public Library and walk roughly half a mile from Green Street to the festival grounds on Franklin Street. The route is wheelchair accessible, and signs and banners are welcome. In August the Pride Worcester Pageant at the Jean McDonough Arts Center gets the season going.
From the magazine
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In 1978 a California ballot measure would have forced queer teachers out of public schools. Harvey Milk fought it, and voters rejected it. What happened and what it has to do with Pride.
Brenda Howard and the Pride Week: Who Turned a Memorial March into a Tradition
After Stonewall, a march marked the anniversary in 1970, and later a whole week. Brenda Howard is named as one of the people behind it. What is documented and where the title Mother of Pride stays disputed.
Compton's Cafeteria 1966: The Uprising That Began Three Years Before Stonewall
In August 1966, trans women and drag queens in a San Francisco cafeteria fought back against police harassment. What is documented, what is not, and why the story came back so late.