1972 – The Michigan Gay Confederation organized Detroit's very first gay pride march. It was known as "Christopher Street Detroit '72," named after the location of the 1969 Stonewall Riots.
1974 – The first openly lesbian politician elected in the U.S., Kathy Kozachenko of Ann Arbor, spoke at Detroit's third march, traveling down Woodward Ave.
1982 – The newly formed Detroit Area Gay and Lesbian Council began to organize Detroit's gay and lesbian pride, titling the event "Celebration '82." The group organized a dinner, picnic, memorial service as well as various other events throughout the metro area.
1984 – DAGLC held the 1984 Pride Festival on July 1, on Wayne State University's campus in downtown Detroit.
1985 – Michigan Organization for Human Rights hired Craig Covey to begin organizing a pride parade.
1986 – MOHR created "Forward Together," a statewide pride/civil rights parade in downtown Detroit.
1989 – MOHR moved their pride parade to Lansing in hopes of attracting more statewide participation and news coverage for the event. The decision was made to memorialize the 20th anniversary of Stonewall. This Lansing march will eventually evolve into what is today Michigan Pride.
Meanwhile DAGLC coordinator Frank Colasonti Jr. and his organization held a pride event in the University of Michigan Dearborn Campus' Gymnasium. The event was called PrideFest.
1991 – DAGLC moved the event into Oakland Community College of Royal Oak.
1992 – Michael C. Lary became PrideFest's coordinator.
1993 – Realizing DAGLC and the PrideFest Coordinators had different visions for the event, Lary and a number of others formed South East Michigan Pride, which mainly focused on producing an annual pride festival.
1994 – The event was renamed PrideFest Celebration with the tagline "A Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Pride Celebration," to draw attention to the event.
1996 – PrideFest Celebration was moved to the northern campus. It was the first year the event was held outside.
2002 – With the assistance of Ferndale city manager Tom Barwin, SEMP moved the event to downtown Ferndale. Later that year, PrideFest Celebration became a project of the Triangle Foundation.
2003 – The event was renamed Motor City Pride.
2009 – Motor City Pride became organized by a group of volunteers known as the Motor City Pride Planning Committee.
2011 – Remaining a project of Triangle's new name, Equality Michigan, Motor City Pride moves to Hart Plaza, in the heart of downtown Detroit.
The history of Pride
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