Pride Month 2025

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.

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.
Bayard Rustin – Bayard Rustin was a prominent figure in the Civil Rights Movement and also a strong advocate for gay rights. He openly identified as gay and became a vocal advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, during the 1980s as the Aids epidemic emerged. He advocated for gay rights, testified in support of New York State’s Gay Rights.
Bill, and became a prominent figure in
the AIDS education movement.
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.
Harry Hay – Harry Hay is considered the founder or father of the gay liberation movement. In 1950, he cofounded the Mattachine Society, the first sustained gay rights group in the U.S.. Hay’s creation of the Mattachine Society established a formal organization for LGBTQ+ individuals to come together and advocate for their rights. His ideas also heavily influenced the Gay Liberation Front, the organization that emerged after the Stonewall Riots in 1969.
Harvey Milk – Harvey Milk was a LGBTQ+ rights activist and community leader, affectionately known as the “Mayor of Castro Street,” who in 1977, won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, becoming the city’s first openly gay officer, and first openly gay man to be elected to office in California.
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.
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.