Talk:InterPride

InterPride and their old name
Because originally groups in the gay community had always called themselves "Gay" or put the word "Gay" (meaning Gay male) before the word "Lesbian", the acronym for the 'old name' of Interpride was given as IALGPC, switching the name so that Lesbian comes first. I remember when it was IAGLPC (we called it Eagle-Pick). This article appears more to have been copied from some form of publicity put out by InterPride. I agree it needs to be cleaned up to provide information and not to sound like a press release.

Greg 05:50, 6 July 2006 (UTC)

Considering I founded the organization, created the first logo and letterhead, too, and served as the Executive Adminstrator of the organization for five years before we started calling ourselves "InterPride", I think I know what I'm talking about.

Yes, people called it the icky eagle-pick, because those were the days when you generally had acronyms that made a sound, or were much shorter than having to say "eye-aye-ell-gee-pee-see."

But, since I also came from the forward-thinking, grassrroots, liberal Boston queer scene, where we made a point of adding Lesbian in front of Gay, to be more politically correct and give equal status to queer women, (as opposed to making them come second or feel like they were second class citizens -- hey, not necessarily my sentiments, but the vibe of the community politics at the time of organization conception), that is precisely why I put the L before the G, when it was first the NAL/GPC. It was never IAG/LPC.

The only name changes that occured were the one at the 1985 conference and meetings in Ft. Lauderdale, from National to International, and I believe it was in Atlanta in 1999 that we just agreed to refer to the org as InterPride.

Though we might have voted to refer to the organization as InterPride (as opposed to adding yet more labels to the name), I suspect we're still incorporated as a 501(c)(3) as IAL/GPC, unless someone filed a name change with the IRS, or the original incorporation lapsed and thus, when it was filed in Texas, the name was changed to InterPride.

Marsha H. Levine

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Mhlevine (talk • contribs) 21:56, 7 October 2006 (UTC)


 * I think the slash in the article title is unnecessary and distracting. Name ambiguity is why Wikipedia has the redirect function; both IALGPC and IAGLPC, being (I think) fairly unique acronyms, can be made to redirect to InterPride (which I believe is the organization's current name).


 * Irrespective, the article needs massive wikifying. I'm adding it to some relevant categories so someone better acquainted can edit it up to par. I've heard of the organization, but I don't know it very well. LeaHazel : talk : contribs 15:03, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Egos and Arguments
I served on the board of directors for 6 years, ending in 2005. 4 of these were as a regional director, and 2 as a vice president. No two people could agree on the details of the people and oranizations involved in the founding, to the point of it being the biggest inside joke of the conference.

I have edited the article to refer to the organizations the were verifiably in attendance (Reference the Tretter Collection) and ommitted the names of individual people. By the bylaws of the organization, no person has a membership - only organizations.

The reason I do not sign my name is because I don't think the people involved should be the focus of the article, 25+ years worth of names of the board of directors will clutter the article as people use it for name recognition.

66.41.0.174 06:02, 21 June 2007 (UTC)


 * While I appreciate your contributions to the article, I removed the section on "Controversies." I actually just commented the text out, so feel free to restore it, if you provide some references.  This should be simple enough for the first two points, dealing with the executive board.  I think a reference is also needed for the "stated intention of the licensing."


 * Regarding WorldPride -- I'm not sure that two data points are enough to justify the use of the word "only." Instead, do you think that the article warrants a separate section on WorldPride, discussing the controversies of Rome 2000 and Jerusalem 2006? --RunnerupNJ 11:49, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

I have great respect for Jean (Tretter) however, he was not present at the start of the organization in Boston, and neither was any representation from Minneapolis/St. Paul. Also, my thanks to Lea Hazel for her Wikifying.

While the *current* by-laws may only pertain to and refer to member organizations, the IAL/GPC (aka InterPride) did indeed have a class of individual, non-voting members -- set up as a means of keeping our "elders" involved with the organization, instead of disenfranchising them. The trend towards historical revisionism in our community is, frankly, frightening. I agree that a listing of Board Members is completely unnecessary, however, a listing of themes elected each year might be of some interest -- but, they should be easily found on the IP Web site.

Why deny who were the key people involved at the creation of one of the world's longest, consecutive serving LGBT organization? Yes, I've heard the mantra being touted that no one person can found an organization... and yet, the Human Rights Campaign proudly touts Steve Endean as their founder, just 2 years before InterPride. NGLTF proudly lists co-founders Bruce Voeller, Frank Kameny, and Howard Brown -- the only consistent LGBT organization beating out InterPride's longevity by 9 years. Some would erase the name of a loving and giving man who was commited to LGBT Pride, yet died tragically young from AIDS, and the name of a woman, because they think it's an ego thing? Or because they have a personal issue with one or both?

While the nameless editor above mentions having served on the Board for six years, my credentials with the organization include Board member, Regional director, Co-chair (prior to incorporation), and other positions of leadership consistently from 1982 through 1996. Then as an individual member for several years since that time. Of the 25 conferences, I've attended 20.

In parting, it's a shame that some consider the true history to be an "inside joke" when it used to be updated annually and distributed until about 6 years ago, and acknowledged at the conference as recently as 4 years ago. The poor record-keeping by several previous leaderships are responsible to some degree, but it's definitely more egregious to deny how it all started.