For the past six months, Boston Pride has been working with a consulting team, Dorrington & Saunders, LLC, to “institute transformational change within our organization regarding diversity, access, inclusion, equity and equality.”
“We’ve heard the concerns of our community, who were disappointed by the Boston Pride Board’s actions this summer, and we’ve been working hard over the last several months to address those concerns in a comprehensive manner,” said Boston Pride President Linda DeMarco in a public statement.
“Transformation is a process and Boston Pride will continue to evolve as our community evolves. We are creating a process that is interactive, representative of our community, transparent, impactful and sustainable,” Demarco said.
Earlier this month, Boston Pride issued a letter announcing a number of steps they plan to address to achieve this goal. The letter states in part:
You will see new opportunities for year-round community involvement in Boston Pride within the board, committees, volunteers, and advisors. We are immediately opening leadership opportunities including expanding our board roles to include a Director of Diversity, Access, Inclusion and Equity, Director of Human Resources, and Director of Technology. We are adding new Community Advisory Councils to guide and advise the organization, and are incorporating year-round diversity, access, inclusion, and equity training for Boston Pride and the community.
In addition, we are evaluating and revising, where applicable, our bylaws, policies, and procedures. During this transformation process, transparency will be provided about these initiatives to our community through our website.
We will use our platform and resources to reduce the negative impact of oppression and racism on LGBTQIA+ communities, with a deliberate focus on disproportionately affected people who face an intersectionality of racism, sexism, homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia that substantially increases the extent to which they are negatively impacted. We are making a long-term commitment to transformational change, and as such, anticipate this effort to be ongoing. To learn more about Boston Pride’s transformation plans, Board positions, advisory councils and committees, please visit www.bostonpride.org.
Read the full text of the letter here.
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