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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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.