InterPride

InterPride is the international organization that brings together Pride organizers from across the World to network, share knowledge, and maximize impact. To this end, Pride organizers design InterPride’s structure, programs, and initiatives, to better support them at the local, regional, and global levels. InterPride also owns the label WorldPride, which the membership licenses to a member organization through a direct vote.

InterPride
International Association of Pride Organizers
FoundedOctober 1982 (1982-10)
FoundersMarsha H. Levine and Rick Turner (deceased)
Type501(c)(3)
FocusOrganizations producing LGBT Pride parades
Area served
Global
MethodCapacity building, networking, sharing knowledge
Websitehttps://www.interpride.org/
Formerly called
National Association of Lesbian/Gay Pride Coordinators, International Association of Lesbian/Gay Pride Coordinators, International Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Coordinators

History
Image from the first WorldPride, held in Rome on July 8, 2000

InterPride was incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Texas in the 1980s. The organization was originally known as the National Association of Lesbian/Gay Pride Coordinators (NAL/GPC), before changing the name to International Association of Lesbian/Gay Pride Coordinators (IAL/GPC) in October 1985, the International Association of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Coordinators at the conference in West Hollywood, California, and eventually to InterPride in the late 1990s.[1]

Formation of InterPride

In April 1981, Pride Coordinators Rick Turner and Marsha H. Levine, from San Francisco and Boston respectively, met at a "call to unite" for a gay and lesbian leadership conference in Los Angeles, to start an organization then known as NOLAG (National Organization of Lesbians and Gays). While discussing common issues that their individual Pride organizations faced, and remarking that their connections with the New York Pride and Los Angeles Pride committees were helpful for problem-solving, Rick and Marsha felt this trading of information was important and could develop into a potential network.

More than a year later in August 1982, Levine sent out a call for the First Annual Conference of the National Association of Lesbian/Gay Pride Coordinators (NAL/GPC), to meet in Boston. Rick Turner (now deceased) declined joining in establishing the organization, due to his deteriorating health. With the aid of San Diego Pride Committee chairperson Doug Moore, who had been collecting a list of national pride organizations, and with small donations from the Los Angeles and Boston Pride Committees, the mailing list from Moore was used to distribute a self-mailing registration form designed and produced by Levine. Though many committees expressed an interest in attending, most didn't have the funds to send delegates at that time.[1]

On October 9, 1982, in Hill House on Beacon Hill, members from the Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, and San Francisco Pride committees gathered in response to Levine's mailing. Three long tables were pushed together to make a triangular seating area. For two days many topics concerning coordinating LGBT prides was discussed, and while each city had different events, they discovered much of the planning and logistics was surprisingly similar. They voted to hold a second conference in San Diego the next year.[2]

Milestones
Date Milestone
October 1985During the organization's conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with representatives of Toronto, Ontario, and Germany in attendance, the membership voted to officially change the organization's name from the National Association of Lesbian/Gay Pride Coordinators, to the International Association of Lesbian/Gay Pride Coordinators (IAL/GPC). The organization also pledged to continue reaching out to other countries.
October 1997During the organization's conference in New York, its membership voted to establish the "WorldPride" title and awarded it to the city of Rome, Italy, for the year 2000.[1]
October 1999The first conference held outside North America, in Glasgow, Scotland.[1]
October 2001The first conference held in the southern hemisphere, in Auckland, New Zealand. Delegates were welcomed by the New Zealand Prime Minister.[1]
October 2003The first conference held in a city that did not use English as its primary language, in Montreal, Quebec. The conference itself was still conducted in English.[1]
October 2004The 22nd annual InterPride conference and the first conference held in a non-English speaking country, in Reykjavik, Iceland.[1]
May 2005The second WorldPride was postponed until August 2006, due to military and religious unrest in the region.[1]
June 2019Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019 included Human Rights conference, festival and Pride March with 150,000 pre-registered participants among 695 groups.
June 2020In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, co-produced Global Pride, reached more than 200 million people globally, thanks to coverage around the world, including in global titles Time Magazine, Forbes.
October 2022The first ever General Meeting & World Conference in Latin America takes place in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Membership

As of October 26, 2022, InterPride includes 338 member organizations from 70 countries.[3]

Annual General Meeting & World Conference

During the last three decades, pride organizations from almost every continent have participated in InterPride's annual world conference.[4]

The conference is held each year in a different city, with the location of upcoming conferences being voted on two years prior to their occurrence. To demonstrate a commitment to support and empower the global LGBTI+ Pride community, the conference is now frequently held outside North America. Scholarships, through the Pamela O'Brien Memorial Scholarship Fund, are available for member organizations that cannot afford to attend. O'Brien was a longtime member of Cape Cod Pride in Massachusetts, US and served InterPride as a Regional Director and Vice President of Operations.[5]

In addition, several regional Pride networks hold their own conferences independent of InterPride.[2]

World Conference and General Meetings[6]
Year Theme Host city
1982 (first AGM) United States Boston, MA, US
1983 (first conference and AGM) United States San Diego, CA, US
1984 Unity & More in '84 United States Wichita, KS, US
1985 Alive with Pride in '85 United States Fort Lauderdale, FL, US
1986 Forward Together United States San Francisco, CA, US
1987 Proud, Strong, United United States Baltimore, MD, US
1988 Rightfully Proud United States St. Louis, MO, US
1989 Stonewall 20 – A Generation of Pride Canada Vancouver, BC, Canada
1990 Look to the Future United States Minneapolis, MN, US
1991 Together in Pride United States Boston, MA, US
1992 Pride = Power United States Long Beach, CA, US
1993 A Family of Pride United States Houston, TX, US
1994 Stonewall 25 – A Global Celebration of Lesbian & Gay Pride & Protest United States Fort Lauderdale, FL, US
1995 Pride – From Silence to Celebration United States Phoenix, AZ, US
1996 Pride Without Borders United States Kansas City, KS, US
1997 Equality Through Visibility United States New York City, NY, US
1998 Unity Through Diversity United States West Hollywood, CA, US
1999 Prideful Past, Powerful Future Scotland Glasgow, Scotland
2000 Take Pride, Take Joy, Take Action United States Atlanta, GA, US
2001 Embrace Diversity New Zealand Auckland, New Zealand
2002 Pride Worldwide United States San Francisco, CA, US
2003 Peace Through Pride Canada Montreal, QC, Canada
2004 Vive La Difference Iceland Reykjavik, Iceland
2005 Equal Rights. No More. No Less. United States Minneapolis, MN, US
2006 Pride – Not Prejudice United States Portland, ME, US
2007 United For Equality Switzerland Zurich, Switzerland
2008 Live Love Be Canada Vancouver, BC, Canada
2009 Your Rights, Our Rights, Human Rights United States St. Petersburg, FL, US
2010 One Heart, One World, One Pride United States Long Beach, CA, US
2011 Pride Around the World Belgium Brussels, Belgium
2012 Pride Links Us Together United States Boston, MA, US
2013 Pride 365 Canada Montreal, QC, Canada
2014 Reflections of Pride – Stonewall 45 United States Pittsburgh, PA, US
2015 Color Our World with Pride United States Las Vegas, NV, US
2016 Solidarity Through Pride France Montpellier, France
2017 Viva la Vida United States Indianapolis, IN, US
2018 Remember the Past, Create the Future Canada Saskatoon, SK, Canada
2019 Millions of Moments of Pride Greece Athens, Greece
2020 Exist. Persist. Resist. Norway Oslo, Norway
2021 #YouAreIncluded Online due to COVID
2022 English: From Silence to Solidarity

Spanish: Del Silencio a la Solidaridad
Portuguese: Do Silêncio à Solidariedade
French: Du Silence à la solidarité

 Mexico Guadalajara, Mexico
2023 Annual theme selection discontinued United States San Diego, CA, US

WorldPride
Main article: WorldPride
Marchers at Pride Toronto WorldPride 2014 with signs commemorating significant events in LGBT history in Canada.

WorldPride, licensed by InterPride and organized by one of its members, is an event that promotes visibility and awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT pride) issues on an international level. WorldPride includes parades/marches, a human right conference, arts and culture festivals, and other activities.

At the 1997 world conference and general meeting InterPride members voted to award the inaugural WorldPride to be held in Rome in 2000. The host cities continue to be selected by the members of InterPride with WorldPrides usually held every two years.[7]

Date Host city Notes
July 2000 Italy Rome, Italy The event was organized by the Italian gay rights organization Circolo di Cultura Omosessuale Mario Mieli along with InterPride and coincided with the Great Jubilee.
August 2006 Israel Jerusalem, Israel Took place after a year of delays. The scheduled parade was denied a permit owing to the 2006 Lebanon War.[8][9]
July 2012 United Kingdom London, United Kingdom Help just ahead of the London Olympic and Paralympic Games during celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee. Pride London planned a parade with floats, a large performance area in Trafalgar Square plus street parties in Golden Square and Soho.
June 2014 Canada Toronto, Canada Pride Toronto, in partnership with the city's tourism agency, Tourism Toronto, submitted a bid to host WorldPride 2014. The 2009 annual conference of InterPride, held in St. Petersburg, Florida, US, voted to accept the bid of Pride Toronto to host WorldPride in North America for the first time.
June 2017 Spain Madrid, Spain In October 2012, InterPride's membership voted at its annual conference in Boston, Massachusetts, US, to award WorldPride 2017 to Madrid Pride and the city of Madrid, Spain.
June 2019 United States New York City, United States On October 19, 2015, NYC Pride announced that the city would host WorldPride to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.[10]
August 2021 Denmark Copenhagen, Denmark For the first time, WorldPride will be shared by two neighbouring cities in the Øresund Region of Copenhagen and Malmö and coincides EuroGames. The LGBTI+ inclusive sporting event includes 29 sports with an estimated 6,000 athletes attending.
February–March 2023 Australia Sydney, Australia For the first time, WorldPride will be held in the southern hemisphere. This will provide a focus on LGBTI rights and communities of the Asia Pacific region including a First Nations Hub dedicated to showcasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts and culture. WorldPride will coincide with Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras.
2025 Taiwan Kaohsiung, Taiwan In August 2022, the WorldPride 2025 Taiwan Preparation Committee announced it will give up hosting the event due to allegations InterPride insisted the word "Taiwan" be removed from the name of the event.[11][12]
2025 United States Washington DC, United States In November 2022, the InterPride membership voted to accept the bid and proposal from Capital Pride to hold 2025 WorldPride in the nation's capital.
2026 Bidding Host Cities:[7] The InterPride membership selected Amsterdam as the site of the 2026 WorldPride event.

Controversies

InterPride allegedly rolled back on a decision to name its upcoming event "WorldPride 2025, Taiwan" and instead proposed "WorldPride 2025, Kaohsiung" which sparked suspicion from the public that the name change is politically motivated.[13] InterPride refuted this claim with the support of Taiwanese Pride organizers who were privy to the contract negotiation.

See also

References
  1. "History". InterPride. Archived from the original on January 21, 2022. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
  2. Robinson, Charlotte (October 12, 2012). "InterPride 2012 Co-Chairs on Celebrating 30 Years of Global Pride". Huffington Post. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
  3. "Our Members". InterPride. Retrieved 26 October 2022.
  4. Houston, Andrea (October 8, 2013). "Xtra heads to Montreal for the InterPride conference". Daily Xtra. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
  5. "Scholarship". InterPride. Archived from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
  6. "Themes & Host Cities". InterPride. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
  7. "WorldPride". InterPride. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
  8. Buchanan, Wyatt. "Broad Opposition to World Pride in Jerusalem", The San Francisco Chronicle, July 26, 2006. Accessed August 5, 2007.
  9. "Jerusalem gay rights group delays WorldPride events due to Gaza withdrawal", The Advocate, May 17, 2005
  10. "New York City Will Host WorldPride 2019 To Celebrate 50th Anniversary Of Stonewall - Towleroad". Towleroad. Retrieved 2015-10-20.
  11. Taiwan drops bid to host WorldPride 2025 over naming row，2022-8-12
  12. Blanchard, Ben (12 August 2022). "Taiwan blames politics for cancellation of global Pride event". Reuters. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  13. "Taiwanese organizers announce cancellation of WorldPride 2025". Focus Taiwan. Retrieved Aug 19, 2022.
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