Twin Cities Pride, also known as Twin Cities GLBT Pride, is a

nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

which runs an annual celebration in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul,

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

every June focusing on the LGBT community. The celebration features a pride parade which draws crowds of nearly 400,000 people. The parade was designated the Ashley Rukes GLBT Pride Parade in honor of the late former parade organizer and transgender LGBT rights activist. Other Twin Cities Pride events include a festival in

Loring Park Loring Park is a park in the Loring Park neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota. History Loring Park was established in 1883 after the passage of the Park Act, which first created the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board. The park was first ...

and a block party spanning multiple days.

History

The progenitor to the Twin Cities Pride Parade was a 50-person protest march in 1972 on the Nicollet Mall in downtown Minneapolis, held on the third anniversary of the Stonewall riots. In 1973 pride events in Minnesota consisted of a "Gay Pride Week" including a picnic, a march, a dance, a softball game, and canoeing, featuring 150 attendees. 1974's pride event included the first

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

speaker. The name was changed to "Lesbian-Gay Pride" in 1981, but changed back to "Gay Pride" the next year after an alternative Lesbian Pride event took place in Powderhorn Park. In 1983, the two events reunified to form Lesbian and Gay Pride. The 1990s saw expansion of Twin Cities Pride activities, including vendor stalls and non-profit booths. The name of the organization was officially changed to "The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Committee" in 1993, one of the first pride event organizations to add bisexual and

to its name. Multiple music stages were added in the mid-1990s; attendance in 1995 reached 100,000.

2010s

Events organized in June by Twin Cities Pride in the mid-2010s include family picnics, music concerts, a

5K run The 5K run is a long-distance road running competition over a distance of . Also referred to as the 5K road race, 5 km, or simply 5K, it is the shortest of the most common road running distances. It is usually distinguished from the 5000 me ...

, and a festival featuring hundreds of exhibitors and vendors. In 2017, a group of Black Lives Matter protesters briefly halted the LGBT Parade. They objected to police involvement in the parade after St. Anthony, MN, police officer Jeronimo Yanez's recent acquittal of killing of Philando Castile. In response to the protest, officers marched midway through the parade rather than at the front as planned. Twin Cities Pride parades now attract almost 400,000 viewers in its route along

Hennepin Avenue Hennepin Avenue is a major street in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. It runs from Lakewood Cemetery (at West 36th Street), north through the Uptown District of Southwest Minneapolis, through the Virginia Triangle, the former "Bottleneck" a ...

in downtown Minneapolis. In 2018, a protest delayed the parade by an hour.

References

External links

Website
of Twin Cities Pride
2004 oral history
of Twin Cities Pride published by '' City Pages'' {{Pride parades Annual events in Minnesota Festivals in Minnesota LGBT in Minnesota Pride parades in the United States

History

2010s

Archives

References

External links