InterPride
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
InterPride is one of few international GLBT entities in operation continuously since the 1980s. InterPride is incorporated in the State of Texas and has been granted Tax Exempt status as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Geared towards networking, education, and mentoring, the group boasts a membership of more than 200 Gay Pride organizations with worldwide representation from more than 10 countries, dedicated to GLBT Pride parades and other events.
Contents |
[edit] Formation of InterPride
In the spring of 1981, Pride Coordinators Rick Turner (San Francisco) and Marsha H. Levine (Boston) met at a "Call to Unite" gay and lesbian leadership conference in Los Angeles, for an organization then known as NOLAG (National Organization of Lesbians and Gays). While discussing common issues that their organizations faced, and remarking that their connections with the New York and Los Angeles committees were helpful for problem-solving, this trading of information was deemed a potential network.
Almost a year later, Levine started up the National Association of Lesbian/Gay Pride Coordinators (NAL/GPC) and began planning the first annual conference.
She contacted as many Pride groups that she could find. One of those was the San Diego Gay Pride Committee and chairperson Doug Moore who had been collecting a list of nationally known Pride organizations. With small donations from the Los Angeles and Boston Prides, and the mailing list from Doug, Levine created and distributed a self-mailing registration form. Though many committees expressed an interest in attending, they didn’t have the funds to send delegates at that time.
In October 1982, in a brownstone on historic Beacon Hill, 16 members from the Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, and San Francisco committees gathered in response to Levine's founding call.
The meeting site was just down the street from the renowned Freedom Trail, and just steps away from Boston’s Pride parade route and rally site. Three long tables were pushed together to make a triangular seating area. For two days everything germane to coordinating lesbian/gay pride was discussed, and while each city had different events, they discovered much of the planning and logisitics was surprisingly similar. They voted to hold a second conference in San Diego the next year.
In 1985, with representatives from Germany and Toronto, Canada in attendance, the organization formally changed their name to the International Association of Lesbian/Gay Pride Coordinators (IAL/GPC), and pledged to continue reaching out to other countries. During the last 25 years, Pride organizations from Asia, Africa, Indonesia, Europe, Mexico, and South America have participated in these conferences.
The conference continues annually, meeting in a different state, and frequently, on a different continent, in their continued commitment to support and empower the LGBT Pride community world wide.
Those who answered Levine's invitation to attend the first annual conference of the National Association of Lesbian/Gay Pride Coordinators were:
- Marsha H. Levine (Boston)
- Rich Pfeiffer (Chicago)
- Sean Johnson, George Piazzi, Sharon Tobin, Cheryl ? ( Los Angeles)
- David Colle, Tony Gambino and boyfriend, Fred Goldhaber, Ellen Levitt, R. Paul Martin, Brian O'Dell (New York)
- Doug Moore (San Diego)
- Konstantin Berlandt, Glehnne McElhennie (San Francisco)
[edit] History and Milestones
 |
This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it. |
October 1985 - Ft. Lauderdale conference: Voted to officially change the name from the National Association of Lesbian/Gay Pride Coordinators, to the International Association of Lesbian/Gay Pride Coordinators (IAL/GPC).
[edit] Conferences
Each year, InterPride holds a worldwide conference in a different city. The 2007 International Conference is scheduled to be held in Zurich, Switzerland from October 11-14, 2007 [1]. In addition, several of the regions into which InterPride is divided hold their own conferences independent of the worldwide conference [2].
