There were lots of colors and costumes on Boston Common Friday as hundreds of people took part in a smaller, more intimate gathering than the upcoming and massive Boston Pride Parade.
"It's a great, very welcoming community space for a lot of queer folk," said Nancy Cashin of Jamaica Plain. "This is more grassroots, more community-based."
This annual march from the Common is billed as an alternative to all of the Pride activities, but it is still very much a part of the official list of events.
"Here, specifically, we're focusing more on women's issues and stuff that maybe gets lost a little bit," said Kit Mikkonen of Wilmington. "Pride is a great event, but there's a lot of things that are specific to women that also need attention, and it's great to have a night for that."
Supporters of the Friday night march say it feels a bit more inclusive for some groups that may feel on the fringe of the traditional Pride community.
"You know that everybody here is really here to stand up for liberation and to get rid of homophobia and heterosexism and other oppressions," said Laura Heath-Stout of Somerville. "It really feels political in a way that I think Pride was meant to be in the first place but sometimes gets less political these days."
