BNN News Interview with Adrianna Boulin, Boston Pride for the People

[Music] the most what I'm looking forward to the most is a vision of queer Euphoria throughout um the event on that day and what that looks like are people being their authentic selves in a place where they feel like they belong where there's space for their unique expression to take form um and that can look in so many different ways I saw people dancing I saw people crying crying I saw people just being in ways that I don't think we always able to do in the spaces that exist around us I'm looking to see joy and absolutely Euphoria what's your favorite memory from either last year or Year's past from the Boston Pride for the people parade oh I have a couple I have three so the first I talked about this queer euphoria that I want to see among our lgbtq plus communities and what that looks like and I remember last year we had just started the parade the ribbon was cut and um I was moving from the ribbon cutting to our Festival space CU there were a couple of responsibilities to take care of there and I remember turning the corner um of Boon street moving towards the common and there was a sea of people cheering and I remember looking at the person I was walking with like is there another event like literally is there another event happening like what are all these people here for and we kept walking we kept walking and we got to that point in between the Boston Garden and the Boston Common and more people and I was just like oh my goodness our little group of volunteers that were just working off a dream created something that all these people have attended believe in feel a sense of belonging enough to come here and be in community with all these people so that that feeling was something like I've never felt before in my life and two other instances related to that is um while I was at the festival where we have speakers and entertainers um I was coming down from the stage and someone came towards me and she was like are you the president of this organization and I was like yeah and she was like girl girl I made something for you when I saw there was a black woman who was leading this organization I felt so moved to create something for you she created these earrings that is amazing they are so beautiful and cute I love them thank you she was like I'm so inspired and empowered by what you said about what you all are creating and coming together to do and you know that I put that into the creation of this and I literally feel that every time I put these on I feel so empowered and fabulous and just I I feel the spirit of everyone's empowerment when I put these on and it really motivates and inspires me and the last moment that is just etched into my mind I was looking at all the different coverage that we'd received and there's this one segment uh it was a real actually on Instagram and it was of a young person from the boys and girls club and oh I'm just in Bliss thinking about it there like this is my first pride and this is awesome and I can be here be myself and it was just like the the the younger person inside of me like the inner child was just like ah wow that moment exists for someone and this moment created that for someone so just Joy Euphoria all my favorite moments oh my God those are so moving I'm like touched by that right now that was wow so um I'm going to shift to a little bit of a different topic now you know with anti-trans bills on the on the rise a huge election coming up why is it important that we hold these safe spaces and we have these Pride events during this political climate it's so important for people in our society our youth our young people who are the future they're the current and the future they they got it going on it's so important for them to know existing as your authentic self is not wrong not um aligning with the status quo or Norms of our society that tend to be binary is not wrong it's so important for the health and well-being of our people to show the representation of ourselves it's important that people know that they matter that they're enough and that there is a force there's a movement that is alive and growing despite these bills and laws that are coming into place that are informed by othering and not really seeing the value um across our differences though that's happening there is a movement of people that stand by you stand with you strong allies it's so important for our world for us to celebrate and to show that we are worthy of this this acknowledgment this expression and that although there are all these things happening in the world that it is still important to show up as ourselves and that we claim this space in the world as important and valuable people amazing I couldn't have actually said it better myself that was right on the money and lastly what does Boston Pride for the people hope for the future of the queer Community especially in Boston yeah two things um a lot of things but two things that are on my heart right now one we have such a rich LGBT we have such Rich lgbtq plus communities we're so intersectional we have such rich communities and I think there's so much there's so much of an opportunity we have especially now in this world and what you mentioned there's so much an opportunity for us to come together and both live and show the world what it means to come together across differences and support one another I think it it's critical that we continue that work and I would say the second thing is um I'd love to see folks in our lgbtq communities see organizations like Boston Pride for the people as a place that they can or as a place or entity that they can be a part of that they can grow in they can lead in I'm president now I don't want to be president forever what I want to do is contribute to something that that young person that I just talked about can say like I'm going to join a meeting next year you know or I want to be in that role we want this organization that plans our yearly pride parade and Festival to um it we're malleable we're fluid to what our community our city our state our our our region needs um and so I want one there to be more Unity I want us to continue to cultivate ways and facilitate spaces where we can come together across our differences and I want people to feel empowered where they can lead both in this organization but just in general I think there's so much in the world that um sometimes may make our lgbtq communities feel like they can't be in a specific role or have as loud as a voice and I want to make sure that people see that this space is there for them and there are other spaces that exist like that for us amazing and can you just let the viewers know uh where they can find more information about Boston for the people and if they want to get involved next year or this year yeah oh my gosh boss and pride forthe people.org or bp4 tpp.org we're on Facebook we're on Instagram there are definitely still opportunities to engage we're still looking for a day of volunteers there's so much greatness that goes into um having the day happen and we welcome your participation there's a volunteer tab on our website if you're interested in day of and there's also ways to stay connected if you'd like to be a part of the planning process for 2025 which will start in about a month and a half so we welcome your participation and if you just want to share the impact that this event has on you or for you we welcome it as well