Formation of InterPride
In April of 1981, Pride Coordinators Rick Turner and Marsha H. Levine, from San Francisco and Boston respectively, met at "Call To Unite" – a gay and lesbian leadership conference in Los Angeles, and the start of an organization then known as NOLAG (National Organization of Lesbians and Gays). While discussing common issues that their individual Pride organizations faced, and remarking that their connections with the New York and Los Angeles Pride committees were helpful for problem-solving, Rick and Marsha felt this trading of information was important and could develop into a potential network.
More than a year later (August 1982), Levine sent out a call for the First Annual Conference of the National Association of Lesbian/Gay Pride Coordinators (NAL/GPC)*, to meet in Boston. With the aid of San Diego Gay Pride Committee and chairperson Doug Moore, who had been collecting a list of national Pride organizations, and with small donations from the Los Angeles and Boston Pride Committees, the mailing list from Moore was used to distribute a self-mailing registration form designed and produced by Levine. Though many committees expressed an interest in attending, most didn’t have the funds to send delegates at that time. (*Rick Turner declined joining in establishing the organization, due to his declining health.)
On October 9, 1982, in the historic Hill House brownstone row house at 74 Joy Street on famous Beacon Hill, members from the Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Diego, and San Francisco Pride committees gathered in response to Levine's mailing.
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 many topics concerning coordinating lesbian/gay pride was discussed, and while each city had different events, they discovered much of the planning and logistics was surprisingly similar. They voted to hold a second conference in San Diego the next year.
The 16 people in attendance at that first call were:
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- Boston - Marsha H. Levine
- New York - Tony Gambino (and lover), Brian O'Dell, David Colle, Janet Love, Fred Goldhaber, R. Paul Martin
- San Francisco - Konstantine Berlandt, Glenne McElhinney
- Chicago - Rich Pfeiffer
- San Diego - Doug Moore
- Los Angeles - George Piazzi, Sharon Tobin, Cheryl Ruddy, Sean Johnson
- Boston - Marsha H. Levine
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