Celebrating Pride Month

At Healthworks Group, we firmly believe in equality for ALL and that love is love, no ifs, ands or buts. June is dedicated as Pride Month internationally, dating back to the first Pride Parade in 1970, marked by the anniversary of Stonewall Uprising.

June is globally recognized as Pride Month, a time of celebration, commemoration, and activism for the LGBTQ+ community. It is a time to celebrate diversity and acceptance, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. Now even more than ever, it’s important to stand in support against discrimination and for equality for all.

We celebrate, preach and educate the importance of equality and LGBTQ+ rights all the months and this June for Pride month, we’re shouting it from the roof tops!

Boston Pride for the People Parade: June 14

We’re thrilled to marching in the Boston Pride for the People Festival & Parade on Saturday, June 14. We invite all to join us as we meet at Healthworks Back Bay (441 Stuart Street) at 11am to get into festive attire and then we’ll head over and get into place as a community, united in LGBTQ+ Pride, support and allyship. We will plan to meet for the Parade’s start at Copley Square at 12pm (exact timing TBD). For those joining us, please remember to bring and wear your Pride spirit, sunscreen, water and comfortable sneakers.

HWX x PRIDE Community Classes

Open to members and non-members alike, we invite you to own your power and join us in support as we celebrate Pride Month with movement to the music of LGBTQ+ artists and allies in special classes led by inspiring HWX instructors! Spots open up one week in advance in ABC for members (sign up here). Guests and members of the community can sign up on Eventbrite here.

Important Figures in the LGBTQ+ Community

Barbara Gittings – Regarded as the mother of the LGBTQ+ rights movement, Barbara Gittings was one of the earliest gay activists. In 1958, Barbara co-founded the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis, the first U.S. lesbian civil rights organization. Her work was also pivotal in getting the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality as a mental disorder from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.
Billie Jean King – Billie Jean King is one of the greatest tennis players of all time and a prominent figure in the LGBTQ+ rights movement. King came out as a lesbian in 1981, becoming one of the first well-known openly gay athletes. After her coming out, King became a vocal champion for the LGBTQ+ community, advocating for their rights and equality.
Janelle Monáe – Janelle Monáe is a singer and activist who has used their platform to advocate for the community and challenge societal norms. Monáe came out as pansexual in 2018 and later identified as non-binary in 2022, using both she/her and they/them pronouns. Monáe’s activism includes anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, erasure of LGBTQ+ history and the fight for LGBTQ+ rights in education.
Madonna – Madonna is widely recognized as a gay icon and pioneering ally for the LGBTQ+ community. She was an early advocate of transgender awareness and rights, AIDS and HIV awareness and more. Celebrities, including Anderson Cooper, Ellen Degeneres and Rosie O’Donnell have all credited Madonna’s influence on their own coming out journeys.
Marsha P. Johnson – Marsha P. Johnson, a drag queen and prominent gay liberation activist, is one of the most well-known participants in the June 28, 1969 Stonewall Uprising. That night, after growing tension, police stormed the gay bar, arresting multiple people. Patrons resisted and riots broke out, lasting six days. After Stonewall, her activism continued—she joined the Gay Liberation Front, ACT UP, and cofounded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries.
Maura Healey – Maura Healey is currently serving as the 73rd governor of Massachusetts and the state’s first female governor. Governor Healey is also the nation’s first openly lesbian governor and she remains committed to fighting and speaking out against anti-LGBTQ+ lawmakers in other states across the country.
Megan Rapinoe – Megan Rapinoe was one of the first openly gay players on the U.S. Women’s National Team, which put her in the spotlight as an LGBTQ+ activist. She’s fought for equal pay in women’s soccer and was part of a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation and is an outspoken advocate for trans inclusion in sports. In 2022, President Biden awarded her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contribution to LGBTQ+ equality and equality in women’s sports.
Raffi Freedman-Gurspan – Raffi Freedman-Gurspan is a transgender rights activist and the first openly transgender person to work as a White House staffer. She was also the first openly transgender legislative staffer to work in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Appointed by President Biden, Freedman-Gurspan served as the Senior Associate Director for Public Engagement and the White House’s primary liaison to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community from 2021-2025.
Stormé DeLarverie – Rumored to have thrown the first punch at Stonewall Uprising, Stormé DeLarverie spent her life fighting “ugliness” – her word for discrimination of any kind. Dubbing herself the “guardian of the lesbians in The Village,” DeLarverie would patrol the streets of Greenwich Village, ensuring the safety of lesbians and children at night.
Sylvia Rivera – Sylvia Rivera was an American gay liberation and transgender rights activist, participating in demonstrations with the Gay Liberation Front. A veteran of the 1969 Stonewall Inn uprising, she spent her life, fighting against the exclusion of transgender people, especially of color, from the larger gay rights movement.