The Rise and Fall of Boston Pride: The Rise of a Movement, The Fall of an Organization

by Daniel Joseph Gonzalez

The Rise and Fall of Boston Pride delves into the vibrant history of LGBTQ+ activism and community in one of America's most historic cities. From its early roots in the 1970s to becoming a symbol of resilience, visibility, and celebration, this book traces the evolution of Boston Pride and its profound impact on both the city and the national movement for LGBTQ+ rights.

From its inception in 1970 through a series of workshops, the early AIDS epidemic of the 1980's, the St. Patrick's Day parade fight in the 1990s and the shutdown of Boston Pride in 2021 due to activism against the organization, the book looks into every year of events that Boston Pride has held.

This book represented over two years of research from sources such as the Boston Public Library, the History Project, and two college universities, this is currently the only book that tracks the complete history of Boston Pride.

Through personal stories, pivotal moments from every Pride from 1970-2024, and detailed accounts of activism, The Rise and Fall of Boston Pride highlights the struggles and triumphs that shaped the community. The book explores the intersection of local history with broader social justice movements, showing how Boston became a hub of progressive change. With rich historical context and modern perspectives, it honors the legacy of those who fought for equality while offering a hopeful look at the future. Boston Pride is a must-read for those interested in LGBTQ+ history, civil rights, and Boston's unique place in the fight for inclusion.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, LGBT

292 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2025

Reviews

[Ren · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. There was a significant amount of information in the book, mainly in a timeline format to highlight each year. I love how the book was written in an accessable way so that everyone could read it. History books often are written in a way that makes you not want to continue reading after a chapter or two. I found myself reading it quickly and was able to remember many of the years. I would hope that more history books would be written in this way. More of them would likely be read cover to cover.

I hope that the author continues to add in new editions as books like this will never feel complete.

[Todd · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a hard one to rate. On the one hand, it's full of indispensable information and 50 years of history. But it's all pretty superficial. It's a basic chronology and little else. People are spoken about, but who are they. One thing that was clear in my case is that I was pretty familiar with all those involved from about 1984 until, say 2015 or so and I kind of drifted away after that. Well, not drifted away, exactly, but disenchanted with the commercialization of the event. This could have been so much more. So many important people were mentioned, and that's it. Mentioned. Just a name. And while you can't really write an in depth biography of everyone (it would turn into a Chernow sized book). But just mentioning Urvashi Vaid or Ann Maguire without any context isn't very helpful. Subtracting out the photos, notes, acknowledgements, and index, the book is barely more than 100 pages.

Most of the nits I have to pick (and they are nits) are technical ones. Firstly, it's self-published and while that's fine, the book could really have benefited from a copy editor. Typos abound and get worse towards the end of the book. The strange formatting of pull quotes results in the book being even shorter with all the extra white space. And, shaking my fist at the sky, the typeface is terrible. It must be based on some sort of Antiqua with a teeny tiny x-height that at the small font size, make it tough reading. (This is another reason that I tend to prefer ebooks nowadays).

All that said, this is an important book and very much worth the read. You might want to wait for the ebook, though.

[Doutzen Bachman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I met Daniel Gonzalez at the Rhode Island Pride festival in Providence in June of 2025. He had a booth set up promoting this book, and intrigued, I decided to give him the $15 in exchange for a paperback copy of this book. Excitedly he thanked me and took the copy I had in my hand to add his signature on the inside. He was a man you could tell was very excited about his work, and I hate to burst his bubble if he sees this, but, well....it's not very good.

The Rise and Fall of Boston Pride is basically a quick plot summary of the entire queer movement of Boston since the 1970s onward, name-dropping people without context of who they are or how they're important, breezing over events and people like you're supposed to already know about them. It's all kind of shallow and I quickly lost interest. The book is littered with typos and clearly could have benefited from an editor or beta reader of any kind. All in all just saying nothing unique and giving me the same emotional impact as just reading someones blog post.

[Ben J · Rating 5 out of 5]

FINALLY! I’ve been looking for a more complete history of Pride in Boston and came across this! Considering how extensive the sourcing is with this, it is the only reliable history on Pride in Boston. The History Project does have a small resource but this gives a glimpse into every year, complete with quotes from people at the time. Would I have liked more stories, of course, but considering how hard it is to get any history on Boston Pride, its a miracle to get any of this! I can’t wait for the next edition!