The BUMC group marching in the 2015 Boston Pride Parade.
Members of the Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM) community joined the Boston University Medical Campus (BUMC) Pride group and the Boston Medical Center (BMC) Gay Straight Alliance on June 13 to march in this year’s Boston Pride Parade.
The 45 annual Boston Pride Parade was one of several events during Boston’s annual Pride Week, which ran from June 4 – 14 and boasted more than two dozen events. It is put on by Boston Pride, a 501c3 not-for-profit organization.
The 2015 parade route spanned 2.27 miles and weaved from Copley Square through Boston Common, ending at City Hall Plaza. Thousands of people are reported to have marched in the 2015 Pride Parade, which kicked off with Boston Mayor Marty Walsh cutting a rainbow-colored ribbon at Copley Plaza.
The BUMC contingent of marchers was made up of about 30 people, including two GSDM students. The marchers met at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square at 9:30 wearing matching t-shirts that read “BUMC Pride.”
“It was an incredible moment when I realized that our group was not only formed by students of the different Medical Campus schools, but that there were several faculty members marching with us and their families as well,” said organizer and current BUSM MD student Jonathan Schouten. “It allowed me to connect on a more personal level with several professors who I had previously not known.”
As Schouten and others marched, thousands of onlookers lined the parade route and cheered them on.
The marchers were led by three Grand Marshals, who were selected by Boston Pride. Two of these three Grand Marshals, David Velasco Bermudez and Erica Kay-Webster, participated in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Greenwich Village, New York City. The third, Samuel Brinton, is an ardent activist against conversation therapy.
“I am very proud of the GSDM community and our friends at BUMC for participating in this year’s Boston Pride Parade,” said Dean Jeffrey W. Hutter. “By all accounts, the 2015 Boston Pride Parade was a great success that gave all members of the BUMC community an opportunity to rally around a great cause.”
When the parade finished, marchers joined in the fun at the annual Pride Festival, which began at the City Hall Plaza finish line and went until 6 p.m.
Photos from the 2015 Pride Parade can be found on Facebook and Twitter.