Over 40 years ago, on 2 November 1969, Craig Rodwell, his partner Fred Sargeant, Ellen Broidy, and Linda Rhodes contemplated the country’s first gay pride parade. They proposed a resolution at the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations (ERCHO) meeting in Philadelphia to organize a gay pride parade in New York. Brenda Howard (a.k.a., the "Mother of Pride’) coordinated the first New York march in Greenwich Village on 28 June 1970.

That same weekend, gay activist groups held marches in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago as well. This proud tradition continues to the present day with festivals, marches and related activities taking place annually around the world – often in June to commemorate the Stonewall Riots.

Continuing in this now-annual tradition (in what we hope will the year that ushers in marriage equality nationwide) MEUSA will have a strong presence at Pride events this year in New York (Manhattan) and San Francisco. For more information on those events and how to get involved, see below.

For information on worldwide Pride events in June 2015.

San Francisco CA — June 27 & 28

March with us in the 45th annual historic San Francisco PRIDE Parade - often said to be "one of the last remaining PRIDE events that can truly be called a rite of passage."

Love will be in the air at the Marriage Pavilion at the San Francisco Pride Celebration at Civic Center! Publicly pledge your love, renew your vows, take pictures in front of San Francisco City Hall, and learn about the latest about the US Supreme Court decisions -- when will wedding bells ring? Join Marriage Equality USA and learn how sharing our personal stories can bring us full lived equality in all aspects of our lives.

Sign up here to march with MEUSA in the parade.

For full details on PRIDE Events go to the San Francisco PRIDE site.

New York City, NY — June 28
If you are fortunate enough to be in Manhattan, the birthplace of PRIDE, in June, MEUSA is hosting or participating in several events.

PRIDAY NYC at the Gramercy Theater, June 26, 10:30pm

SIREN NYC Women's PRIDE Dance at the Watermark, June 27, 8:00pm

MEUSA NYC PRIDE Breakfast at Playwright Irish Pub, June 28, 9:00am
MEUSA invites you to attend its 8th Annual at Playwright Irish Pub right in the parade formation zone on W. 35 Street. You can purchase tickets through Friday, June 26 or a limited number of tickets will be available at the door.

Afterwards, MEUSA welcomes you to be a part of its contingent in what we hope will be an historic march celebrating marriage equality throughout all 50 U.S. states and five territories. Sign up here to march with MEUSA in the parade.

Get full details on PRIDE Events at the NYC PRIDE website.

Other MEUSA Pride 2015 events include:

Salt Lake City UT – June 4-7

This year, our MEUSA Salt Lake City Local Organizers Colleen and Jolene Mewing have been honored as announcers for the entire Salt Lake City Pride Parade on Sunday, June 7! Check the Utah Pride Festival for further information.

Castro Valley CA -- July 11

MEUSA’s San Francisco Bay Area logistics volunteer supreme, Billy Bradford, is organizing Castro Valley Pride is FIVE!, a welcoming, inclusive, family-friendly celebration for the LGBTQ community members and allies.

Castro Valley Pride was started five years ago by a group of high school students who believed they should create a space for Castro Valley's LGBTQ community. Click here to register a booth for a group or business. To participate in the day's activities, check out the Facebook event! 

Marriage Equality USA would not exist were it not for its many local volunteers and affiliates. Colleen and Jolene Mewing are two such local volunteers, serving as the local organizers for the state of Utah.

"We've always referred to our local organizers as our 'Love Warriors on the front lines of marriage' and that, indeed, describes Colleen and Jolene," says Christine Allen, MEUSA IT Director, referring both to the example they set as a couple and to the warm relationships they have forged with allies and adversaries alike.

The two have been at the center of MEUSA activities in Utah the last two years, having attended their first MEUSA event in early 2013. “We attended the MEUSA Valentine’s Day event and admired Jamila and Michelle greatly for what they were doing,” says Jolene. Shortly thereafter, Michelle Hasting (one of the former Utah organizers), received a job offer in Portland. “We want you and Colleen to take our place,” Jamila Hasting-Tharp and Michelle told the couple.

We were already running OWLS (Older, Wiser LesbianSisters) of Utah, so we had a pretty booked schedule,” said Colleen. “We decided we were more passionate about our rights so we left OWLS of Utah and focused on MEUSA.”

We’ve organized and run marriage equality booths at Utah pride and at the Women’s Redrock Music Festival,” says Jolene. “We’ve spoken at several rallies representing MEUSA. We’re pretty well connected with the community.” Colleen says that Salt Lake City Pride is a huge event in Utah. “Pride holds one of the biggest parades in the state. We scanned in more than 50 pages of people that signed up in support of us.” Jolene adds, “We had a woman come up and ask us advice on how to get her wife legal status in the United States. Colleen went to the MEUSA website and found some valuable information for her. This woman was extremely happy with the information we provided. People come up to us with questions and we’re able to help them and point them in the right direction. We’ve made a lot of lasting friendships that way.

The two are actively promoting and involved in the Living Room Conversations project, an effort to garner support for equal marriage rights by mixing small groups of supporters with small groups of opponents or the“moveable middle” -- people who might not feel strongly one way or the other but are willing to listen. MEUSA is connecting Living Room Conversations with its Getting to I Do program, which collects and shares personal stories of journeys to and experiences with marriage equality. “It is important to share stories with each other,” says Colleen “Getting together and talking and allowing people to see who we are opens everybody’s hearts a little more,” adds Jolene. Their next step is to reach out and build bridges with the Mormon community.

Recalling their first such gathering the end of January, Jolene says, “One of the Mormons is actually completely on board with us and never agreed with anything that was spoken about us in church. ‘Everybody deserves to love,’ is his philosophy. Some Mormons are willing to listen, hear and learn. One woman who is a school teacher said that she thinks marriage equality confuses younger students. She thinks it will be hard on them if they are introduced to the concept of women with women and men with men." Jolene told her, “I understand what you’re saying. But imagine what it would have been like for me to attend a class that actually validated I was normal. How much easier my childhood would have been!”

The two also shared their marriage perspective, from a personal standpoint, with the group. “Another thing the woman said was she wasn’t sure she was okay with same gender marriage,” says Colleen. “She got to know us as we shared personal stories. When I proposed, I didn’t ask Jolene to domestic partner me or civil union me—I asked Jolene to marry me. That resonated a lot with the woman. Her way of thinking shifted by the end of the night as she had thought civil unions had all the rights of marriage, but we explained the difference.”

“Colleen and Jolene are the essence of what MEUSA stands for,” says MEUSA Executive Director Brian Silva. “They began as attendees and, through their involvement, chose to serve their community by becoming marriage equality leaders in Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake community and our movement in general are better because of their service!”

If you are in the Salt Lake City, UT area and would like to participate in local Living Room Conversations or to work on bridging the LGBTQ and Mormon communities, please contact Colleen at (801) 391-9144, Jolene at 801-589-7771, or the Salt Lake City Regional Organizing team at [email protected].

If you would like to share your personal marriage equality story, be sure to sign up for our storytelling webinar, Sharing Our Experiences, with the Family Equality Council on February 19th! We'd love to have you participate in our Getting to I Do program.