2019 Pride Marshals

Grand Marshal Dale Mitchell

Dale convened Boston’s very first LGBT Aging Summit in 2001 and the LGBT Aging Project, where he was named Chair, followed soon thereafter. He has been a leading champion and advocate for LGBT older adults and caregivers in Massachusetts. He is CEO of Ethos, a Boston based elder service organization, and his passion is to make sure that LGBT older adults age with the dignity and respect they deserve. Dale has elevated the visibility of LGBT older adults in Boston and across the state. Because of Dale’s vision, today’s LGBT seniors – and those who follow in their footsteps — are able to thrive socially and with the necessary supports and providers that are culturally competent and LGBT inclusive. Dale also is a veteran of the Stonewall Inn riots in 1969 in Greenwich Village as he witnessed the aftermath of the raid on Stonewall and the clashes with patrons and police officers.  

Parade Marshal Ava Glasscott

Ava represented the State of Massachusetts in the Miss Trans USA Pageant 2018. She is the first post-op transgender contestant from New England to represent her Community in a National Pageant.  The story of Ava’s journey as a trans model has been featured by NBC Boston and the WCVB-TV show “Chronicle.”  Ava made a cameo in Amy Schumer’s 2018 movie “I Feel Pretty,” which was filmed in Boston. She also appeared in the documentary film “All Stars: The Changing Face of Drag (2016)”, which she promoted at RuPaul’s DragCon in Los Angeles.

Honorary Marshal Chris Harris

Chris Harris passed away in January 2019 and had helped Boston Pride secure entertainment for events as well as support volunteers with free passes to his club nights for working at Pride events.  When Boston Pride hosted its first international Pride conference in 2012, Chris hosted all the delegates at his venues and treated each one as a VIP. To this day, Interpride members talk fondly about the warm welcome they received in Boston.

Champion of Stonewall Honorary Marshal Marsha P. Johnson

Marsha P. Johnson, a gender non-conforming African-American activist and icon, was one of the most prominent participants in the Stonewall Inn uprising, which started on June 28, 1969 in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Johnson had organized a party for her transgender/transvestite friends on the night of June 27, 1969, but met with no-shows as friends headed to the Stonewall Inn instead. She went to join them, determined to party somewhere. She was identified as one of the main participants in the riots that broke out after the police raided the Mafia-owned bar. Legend has it that either she or her friend Sylvia Rivera threw the first brick at police. Johnson and Rivera both denied being the first to act, and most eyewitnesses credit a butch lesbian with igniting the resistance to the infamous police raid. Johnson said the riots had already started by the time she got to the Stonewall.


2019 Pride Marshals Selection Process

  • Phase 1 – Community Nominations
    • In Phase 1, the community is invited to submit nominations for the next Pride Marshals. The nomination phase opens on Saturday, December 15th, and closes at 11:59 PM on Thursday, January 10th. This phase is now complete.
  • Phase 2 – Slate Creation
    • In Phase 2, the Boston Pride Committee reviews the community suggestions and narrows down Pride Marshal nominations to create a slate of candidates. This phase is now complete.
  • Phase 3 – Community Vote
    • In Phase 3, the community is invited to vote online for their preferred Pride Marshals, from the slate of Phase 2. The voting period begins on Thursday, January 17th, and closes at 11:59 PM on Thursday, January 31st.

The winners of the community vote will be announced on Monday, February 4th via our newsletter. Click here to sign-up now.


Past Pride Marshals

Click on the year to learn more

  • 2018 Boston Pride Marshals
    • Boston Pride Grand Marshal: Freedom for All Massachusetts
    • Boston Pride Marshal: Jo Triglio
    • Boston Pride Honorary Marshal: Gordon Burns, Edie Windsor
  • 2017 Boston Pride Marshals
    • Boston Pride Grand Marshal: Kristen Porter
    • Boston Pride Honorary Marshal: Norman J. Hill, Jr., Judith Bradford, John Michael Gray
    • Boston Pride Celebrity Marshal: Hedwig
  • 2016 Boston Pride Marshals
    • Boston Pride Grand Marshal: Claire B. Naughton
    • Boston Pride Marshals: Raffi Freedman-Gurspan
    • Boston Pride Honorary Marshal: Bayard Rustin, Thomas V. Barbera
  • 2015 Boston Pride Marshals
    • Boston Pride Grand Marshals: Erica Kay-Webster, David V. Bermudez, Samuel Brinton
    • Boston Pride Marshals: Ellyn Ruthstrom, Woody Glenn
    • Boston Pride Honorary Marshal: Mayor Thomas M. Menino
  • 2014 Boston Pride Marshals
    • Boston Pride Grand Marshals: Governor Deval L. Patrick, The Boston Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
    • Boston Pride Honorary Marshal: John Mitzel
  • 2013 Boston Pride Marshals
    • Boston Pride Grand Marshal: Mayor Thomas M. Menino
    • Boston Pride Honorary Marshal: Jeanne Manford
  • 2012 Boston Pride Marshals
    • Boston Pride Grand Marshals: Mix 104.1’s “Fast Freddy” Murphy, the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition
    • Boston Pride Honorary Marshal: Brendan Burke
  • 2011 Boston Pride Marshals
    • Boston Pride Marshals: John Affuso, Community Servings
    • Boston Pride Honorary Marshal: Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes
  • 2010 Boston Pride Marshals
    • Boston Pride Grand Marshals: BAGLY, Grace Sterling Stowell, Don Gorton
    • Boston Pride Honorary Marshal: Senator Ted Kennedy
    • Boston Pride Celebrity Marshals: Laverne Cox, Ronnie Kroell, Alexis Arquette
  • 2009 Boston Pride Marshals
    • Boston Pride Grand Marshals: Pathways to Wellness
    • Boston Pride Honorary Marshal: Barbara Jordan
    • Boston Pride Celebrity Marshals: Melissa Etheridge
  • 2008 Boston Pride Marshals
    • Boston Pride Grand Marshals: Tim McFeeley
    • Boston Pride Honorary Marshal: Cpl. Ciara Durkin
    • Boston Pride Celebrity Marshals: Leslie Jordan
  • 2007 Boston Pride Marshals
    • Boston Pride Marshals: State Rep. Liz Malia, Jacob Smith Yang, SpeakOut Boston
  • 2005 Boston Pride Marshals
    • Boston Pride Marshals: Ann Maguire, the History Project, Jim Morgrage
  • 2003 Boston Pride Marshals
    • Boston Pride Grand Marshal: Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD)
    • Boston Pride Marshals: Gunner Scott (MTPC), James Bonanno (Fenway Community Health), Nancy Norman (Fenway Community Health)
  • 2000 Boston Pride Marshals
    • Boston Pride Grand Marshal: Wilson Cruz
    • Boston Pride Marshals: State Rep. Jarrett Barrios
  • 1999 Boston Pride Marshals
    • Boston Pride Grand Marshal: Randy Price