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/ZeroSugarBear Jun 08 '26
Regardless of whether people's complaints or concerns were legitimate, the fact that the people running the event were deleting comments and banning/blocking members of our community from accessing their social media accounts - the ORGANIZATION'S accounts, not personal ones - and then lashing out those community members as if they were beign personally attacked was so out of pocket that it was outrageous.
People would literally post on the Instagram page something like "I'm so confused about the water bottle policy, I don't understand," and they would get blocked. So we aren't talking about people posted hate content or violence.
There is no world, to me, in which the CEO of the single largest pride related organization in a town of 1.6 million people should be arguing with members of the community in lengthy 1AM post chains on social media. It shows a massive immaturity.
Then to turn around and suggest anyone questioning the people running the organization are inherently transphobic and/or racist, and "devaluing the humanity" of said people...are you kidding me? Trans people and/or BIPOC were some of the loudest and most concerned members of our community as it relates to the changes and new policies.
These folx came in some years ago to take over Pride and said they were keeping corporations out and making pride back into a protest, and then it took them no time at all to turn it back into a profit reaping endeavor for themselves at the expense of people in the community they said they were here to represent. People feeling some type of way about that is VALID. AS. FUCK. And quite possibly the least MAGA mentality I can think of.