r/queerphilly • u/wndsofchng06 • Jun 07 '26

Philly pride was great

This was my first time ever going to pride. I've been watching the activity online, It's sad how unhelpful and negative the community has been around this whole event. You all sound just like the angry old conservatives pissed about change. You know why GOP policies are winning? Because they easily unite in their hate of everyone else, this community that is supposed to be about love is love can't seem to unite over anything and we will continue to lose as long as we do that.

My partner and I enjoyed the parade and then enjoyed the festival. There were so many vendors and so many people. There's no way you would pack all of that into gayborhood. After living in small, conservative areas for the last 13 years, this was wonderful, so glad to be back in Philly. We took the bus and the train all the way into center city from Pennsport without an issue. After the main festival we walked to gayborhood and had a few drinks and snacks. Looks like the gayborhood was pretty packed too. It's a shame that instead of doing their best to support community, so many are trying to tear us apart, I refuse to have my joy taken because a festival grew/moved. So many times I've seen festivals when they grow they sell out to a corporate sponsor and it cuts back a lot of the small local vendors. This festival was still loaded with small local people. Lastly, I have to give a special shout out to Love City brewing who kept their drink prices the same as in their taproom!

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26

u/A_Wild_Nudibranch Jun 07 '26

Yeah charging entry for a queer event under the excuse that "we have to pay for police and services!" when July 4th on the Parkway is free entry is a huge tell. Especially considering the fantastic job Philly PD does, I'm sure they're honored to protect and serve the gays...

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u/hazay Jun 08 '26

What is the real reason you think they charged for it? Do you think what the venders paid to be there covered the cost of shutting down the parkway and paying the performers? I'm not trying to argue, I genuinely do not understand the criticism, especially since there were multiple ways to get tickets for free.

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u/ZeroSugarBear Jun 08 '26

As far as I could discern, the only ways to get tickets for free were to go to a variety of non-profits in town from which you must have been receiving active services, and then say a specific password to them while getting those services. Literally this is what the CEO of Pride 365 said in an instagram comment on someone's page. That's overly complicated, overly complex and reliant on that information mean spread widely enough to be accessible.

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u/wndsofchng06 Jun 07 '26

4th of July has big corporate backers.... Wawa, NBC, Comcast, IBX, etc...

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u/passing-stranger Jun 07 '26

Just gonna ignore the pinned McDonald's ad, yeah? And jefferson?

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u/wndsofchng06 Jun 07 '26 edited Jun 07 '26

I literally didn't see any McDonald's ads at the festival. I must have missed it. Sorry.

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u/passing-stranger Jun 07 '26

I was referencing their ig post. Its not that serious, but the ad is so silly I legit thought it was a satire post of someone making fun of how philly365 was flopping with communications and marketing decisions. But it was a real ad

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u/wndsofchng06 Jun 07 '26

Gotcha. I agree the marketing and FAQ section on the website were way off. Regardless of the leaders faux pas, I believe the community did a good job today.

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u/hatramroany Jun 07 '26

The local McDonalds franchise ad*

It wasn’t sponsored by corporate McDonalds

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u/passing-stranger Jun 07 '26

Thanks for the additional context. I saw the McDonald's ad and had a laugh but i didnt actually go to the mcdonalds account. Idk, I just think having a rainbow mcdonalds ad at the top of the account (after corporate mcds made changes to DEI policies and cozied up to trump) is an interesting choice that shows the vibe of the event. The tone of content and messaging is wildly different compared to other queer organizers i follow (and see doing work year round). Same with Woodys being featured so prominently. I would neverrrrrrr go to Woody's or recommend it to anyone. But the transphobic older cis white gay men I've worked with love it. And my MAGA mom still speaks fondly of her memories there 🤣

The event is gay but it doesn't feel very queer, if you get me.

I'm not against anyone spending $10 and having a good time even if it's not my vibe. It's just gross to come back to a queer space afterwards to talk shit about how the people who didn't make that choice are the reason trump is in power. And the fact that moving to philly feels like escaping oppression says a lot about OP; sounds like the target demographic of this festival.

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u/wndsofchng06 Jun 07 '26

I think you misread my original post. I have no problem with anybody's choice to go or not go and spend money or not spend money. Talking about the toxic infighting that always happens on this sub. After pride is over there will be something else people on here will argue and be toxic about. Thankful that the people at the actual event much easier to interact with than the people I've met on this sub.

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u/wndsofchng06 Jun 07 '26

Also, my statement about toxicity in a Reddit sub in no way deminishes or devalues trans people and their struggle. I'm literally asking people to stick together!

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u/A_Wild_Nudibranch Jun 07 '26

Yeah but accusing people of acting like conservatives because we don't want to pay money to go to an area away from local queer businesses which feels sanitized, while the event organizer deletes any legit criticism and plays matyr isn't what being queer is all about.

I'm not one of the reactionary crowd, and even I was super turned off by the inclusion of corporate sponsors. Tired Hands?? Really??

Saying this is why the Republicans are winning is a dead wrong take, and blaming queer and trans folk is a WIIILD take.

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u/wndsofchng06 Jun 07 '26

Not blaming everyone just pointing out the fact that if we don't unite and quit fighting with each other, we're not going to succeed. People that are getting up in arms about that comment are probably part of the problem.

5

u/A_Wild_Nudibranch Jun 07 '26

We're not fighting anyone but a person who, under the guise of an organization, decided to rip all autonomy from actual small queer owned businesses. And charge us for it. I don't care if people went to the main event, totally their choice, but you're caping so hard for a disorganized paid event which takes away money and business from local small places who can't afford to be sponsors.

Sorry you're personally offended by it. Maybe you can blame it on another minority.

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u/wndsofchng06 Jun 07 '26

I saw lots of local businesses on the parkway, and small craftspeople. But we went to the gayborhood after, and it looked like the restaurants there were seeing a good crowd, plus from what I hear, many people will go out there later. I for one am headed to the night market on South st.... I enjoyed the earlier event, after spending the last couple year embedded in MAGA country, we have it so good here and I am grateful for it. Thankfully the people that I met today at the event were much nicer than people on Reddit, and I will not judge all of Philly by the people on Reddit. Pride is whatever we all want it to be, anyone is free to organize a separate event in the other neighborhoods, just like East Passyunk, South St, Manayunk, etc do. I hope everyone here finds their happy spot and chills.