Silver Pride: Project Brings LGBTQ+ Pioneers Back to Parades

Aline Tracol, at 75 years old, is long past her days of pounding the pavement and crowding shoulder to shoulder with thousands of fellow revelers at Pride parades in her French hometown.  

Though she has still wanted to take part—she was on the front lines of the LGBTG+ rights movement decades ago—she’s reluctantly been sitting out the annual event for years, unable to navigate conditions that are decidedly unfriendly to septuagenarians.

Until recently, that is, when Tracol and about 80 other seniors got a bird’s eye view of the festivities in Paris through a first-of-its-kind program from ad agency BETC Paris and its new client Misterb&b, often referred to as the queer version of Airbnb.

The partners blocked out apartment rentals along the Paris Pride route, making sure they were equipped to be welcoming to elderly folks, with air conditioning, cold drinks, snacks, quiet rooms, elevators and other amenities. The guests could sit above the street-level fray, yet still be part of the party by watching it from windows and balconies.

The project, called Silver Pride, was the brainchild of David Martin Angelus, executive creative director at BETC, who called it “a labor of love” and a way “to create a space for the seniors who gave us Pride itself.”

Silver Pride’s debut in Paris—which unveiled a custom-created Pride flag with a silver stripe—will serve as a template. Two more events are planned so far, one for Europride in Malta in September and the other for Atlanta Pride in October, but others could be added.

“In our heads, we’d love to turn this into a yearly initiative that happens in different cities,” Angelus told Adweek.

Honoring the pioneers

Silver Pride was several months in the making, but much longer as a gestating idea for Angelus, who identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community. He felt compelled to uplift the early activists who had become sadly invisible in the modern movement.

“I realized that the community itself needed to be reminded that we can’t forget the generation that fought for our rights,” Angelus told Adweek. “We needed to bring them back to Pride, honor them, celebrate them.”

At a time when LGBTQ+ rights are under attack in the U.S. and elsewhere, it’s crucial to lift up the trailblazers.

“They fought against prejudice, hate, they were pointed out as the culprits of the AIDS epidemic,” Angelus said. “But if there are laws today for gay marriage, against discrimination, for gay adoption … if we have something called Pride month at all, it’s thanks to their blood, sweat and tears.”

As part of his groundwork, Angelus brought in nonprofit group Les Audacieuses et Les Audacieux. The organization shared with him some startling data about isolation and depression among LGBTQ+ seniors, 65% of whom live alone and 90% who have no children or family caregivers. Suicide rates in the demo are between two and seven times higher than the straight population.

“The statistics are scary,” Angelus said. “For a lot of LGBTQ seniors, the community is their family, especially when their real families have turned their backs on them.”

‘Very emotional’ day

Les Audacieuses et Les Audacieux helped to locate seniors who wanted to attend Paris Pride but were daunted by the heat, noise and inaccessibility of the event. Given the elderly folks’ history of activism, “knowing that they are excluded is just impossible for us,” said Michael Simon, a member of the nonprofit.

The brand-backed program, meant to serve as an authentic counterpoint to rampant pinkwashing, was a hit with its guests, as seen in an accompanying campaign video.

But the impact was wider—there was an outpouring of support from media and influencers in the run-up to the parade, with press interviews and social sharing about the program and its participants. 

On event day, marchers embraced the seniors from the street level, waving the silver-striped flag and interacting with them.

“It was beautiful to see everyone looking up at the balconies and cheering them on,” Angelus said. “It was very emotional.”

A tearful Tracol, featured in the video’s final frames clutching the flag and touching her heart, thanked the organizers for returning her to the event: “I thought I would never be able to do it ever again.”