Portraits of Pride highlights people at forefront of LGBTQ advocacy in Boston
BOSTON - This month, WBZ is celebrating pride by highlighting people at the forefront of LGBTQ+ advocacy in Massachusetts. A Boston man came up with an idea to make sure queer artists have a space where they feel supported as their authentic selves. Through the arts, Jean Dolin wants everyone to learn more about the community's history and culture.
Dolin told WBZ's Courtney Cole he's always had a passion for storytelling. In fact, he once had aspirations of becoming a news anchor.
It was during the COVID-19 pandemic that he figured out he wanted to find creative ways to tell diverse, LGBTQ+ stories. That's when the idea came to him: Portraits of Pride.
Massachusetts at forefront of LGBTQ advocacy
Massachusetts has long been at the forefront of LGBTQ+ support and advocacy.
Gay & Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, more commonly known as GLAAD, was founded in the Old West Church in Boston in 1978.
Massachusetts also became the first state to recognize same-sex marriage in 2003, followed by the first marriage licenses being issued the following year.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg, which left Jean Dolin wondering, "Why isn't there a queer museum in Boston, given all the history that we have? And then I said, huh- I'll create one!"
Dolin is the founder, curator and creative director of Portraits of Pride.
"Take me back to the moment you first thought about bringing this to life? How did all of that happen?" Cole asked.
Dolin laughed a little bit, before a smile emerged on his face and replied, "It's such a long story! But the way I can summarize it is... a combination of wanting to tell the history and the story of LGBTQ people in this region that are pushing forward."
Dolin's mission is to make sure their stories are shared with the next generation.
20 years of marriage equality
There was a moment during our interview when a few people admiring the exhibit stopped to learn more about it from Dolin. "As people are walking by and they're looking and their reading- they might wonder how each person has been selected?" Cole said to Dolin.
"This year, what we knew for sure - 20 [years] of marriage equality is coming up. We knew we wanted to have some of the plaintiffs of the case featured," Dolin said.
Six of the plaintiffs from the 2003 Goodridge Department of Public Health case are featured.
"Seeing the couples humanizes the cases," said Cole.
Dolin agreed, "Exactly. It's not just a legal fight, it's not just a political discord, political conversation. They are real human lives behind those cases."
Those plaintiffs include Julie and Hillary Goodridge, the namesake of the marriage equality case.
"When they came on set, they showed me a photo of where they wear the same suits when they got married 20 years ago. It's inspiring, it is decades after. They had been together for almost 10 years before going into that case," Dolin explained.
This is the third year of Portraits of Pride. It debuted in 2022 at Boston Common. Dolin collaborated with the mayor's office for the second exhibit in 2023 at City Hall Plaza. This year, it's in Seaport at The Seaport Green. There are 13 portraits on display.
Others featured this year include people Dolin also said he has great respect for and whose stories have inspired him, including Harold Steward, the Executive Director for The New England Foundation for the Arts.
"What he has done is huge! But when he talks about it, it's like 'Yeah, that's just my work - where we can show trans folks, Black trans folks [having] a theater space for their art and their community.' So, I look at him and I see, I find a lot of inspiration- he carries a lot of humility," Dolin told WBZ.
Dolin told Cole it's been a long journey, but as he was putting the exhibits together over these last three years, he knew there had to be something more.
Museum founded in 2023
"We knew we were working on something bigger, which was the museum," Dolin said.
He founded The Boston LGBTQ+ Museum of Art, History &Culture in 2023. In years to come - the museum will have a permanent space, but for now the exhibits will be featured in different neighborhoods.
"There's always politics on who belongs where-and in what neighborhood and in what location-and what community lives in what neighborhood. And so, for us, we are everywhere. All across the city, all across the state, and so that's why it's important for us to have exhibitions all across the city," Dolin told WBZ.
Dolin looks forward to continuing to find new, creative ways to engage people in LGBTQ plus culture.
"For us, it's not just a month. It's every day. LGBTQ people don't just need places to be acknowledgment during a month. They needed throughout the year. And so, we're excited to be able to do work beyond June. When everybody stops, we're just getting started!" Dolin said with much conviction and pride.
Dolin told Cole, "You don't want people to forget history, because they are bound to repeat it."
He sees his museum as a form of activism, another way for the public to learn about all of the work that is being done and has already been done.