For the next month, consider ‘rainbow’ the official colors of Pittsburgh.
Pride Month has officially begun, with the biggest events kicking off this weekend. Here’s the full report on what to expect this weekend, along with thoughts from the event organizers. Plus, we’ve got The Big List of events to add to your calendar for the rest of the month, a round-up of the fashion you’ll want to check out, and some additional reading.
Happy Pride, Pittsburgh.
MARCHES
Two Pride marches will take to the streets on Sunday, June 9, featuring floats, art, and music.
People’s Pride 2k19
First, People’s Pride 2k19 – Pride Of The Ages begins at 11 a.m. at Freedom Corner in the Hill District, heading Downtown and into the North Side. It’s the third year for People’s Pride, the creation of SisTers PGH, which seeks to serve trans and gender nonconforming people in the region, especially trans women of color.
People’s Pride will have a “high focus around black trans women and the deaths that have been happening around our state and our country with black trans women,” SisTers Executive Director Ciora Thomas said.
“(The) People’s Pride mission is to be a real holistically inclusive Pride like it should be. Our mission is to also keep in tune with the history of Pride and our ancestors because our ancestors have been whitewashed in Pittsburgh, unfortunately,” Thomas said. “We’re going to keep on that route of liberation — trans liberation, gay liberation.”
People’s Pride has declined corporate sponsorship.
SisTers recently opened a drop-in center to help trans people, and donations of food, clothing, and money are welcome.
Equality March
The Delta Foundation’s Pittsburgh Pride Equality March begins at 12:30 p.m. Downtown and continues through the Golden Triangle. The Delta Foundation describes itself as the “leading non-profit advocacy LGBT organization in Western Pennsylvania.”
Expect this year’s march to be bigger than ever as Delta anticipates its highest number of marching contingents, per Christine Bryan, Delta’s director of marketing and development.
“We have a lot of community members who work for different companies, and they’ve been great advocates for getting their companies involved,” Bryan said. “While I understand the controversy over corporations being involved, the people who work for corporations are people. … They want to be proud of where they work and who they are.”
(The Delta Foundation’s Pride events have come under fire for corporate ties and for a recent Trump-related Facebook post.)
Thousands of Pittsburghers will march, and they’ll be joined by the Pirates’ Parrot and the Penguins’ Iceburgh.
“We want everybody to come to Pride, and we want you to come with an open heart and an open mind,” Bryan said. “It’s a time to celebrate. It’s a time to remember the folks who stood up and said, ‘We’re not taking this anymore.’ It’s a time to pay homage to the folks that we lost to AIDS. It’s a time to be yourself. It’s a time to remember that there are a lot of people that are still struggling.”
OTHER EVENTS
Celebrate Pride all month with these activities you won’t want to miss.
🎨 June 7: Listen to live music, eat empanadas, and explore works of local queer history and art during “People’s Pride at First Friday” (Garfield)
🎉 June 7: Check out Workshop’s “Queer Art Show” and stick around for a wig dance party (Garfield)
👑 June 7: Play GAYmes at “Liza Minnelli’s Big Gay Game Show” with Schwa de Vivre (Downtown)
💃 June 7: Dance into Pride Month with “ICON: LIZZO, hosted by Bambi,” followed by Pittsburgh’s first all-Lizzo drag show (Shadyside)
🎤 June 7-8: Hear live music all weekend from Walk the Moon, Toni Braxton, and Rina Sawayama (Downtown)
✨June 8: Practice self care with healing workshops and healthy living tips in this event by Sisters PGH & True T (Bloomfield)
😂 June 8: Laugh out loud at Arcade Comedy Theater’s Pride-themed improv night (Downtown)
🌈 June 8-9: Stop by nearly 200 vendor booths, learn about unconscious bias, grab some food, make crafts, and get free STI and HIV testing at the Delta Foundation’s “PrideFest” (Downtown)
👵🏻 June 8-9: Compete to be the #TokenSophia at “Golden Gays NYC Pride Tour Pittsburgh,” a “Golden Girls” musical drag parody (Bellevue)
🎶 June 9: Hear live music from several performers including Big Freedia and listen to speeches from local politicians including Summer Lee at “Pride of the Ages” hosted by SisTers and True T (North Side)
📽 June 14-20: Watch a week of films celebrating queer cinema, from “But I’m a Cheerleader” to “Rafiki” (Lawrenceville)
💄 June 16: Pick up some make-up tips at Sephora’s “Classes for Confidence for the Trans & GNC Community” (Bethel Park)
🐝 June 21: Play OUTrageous Bingo, sign a 2020 Pride scarf for Dippy the Dinosaur, and learn about “Sex Ed” in nature at Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s “Celebrate Pride After Dark” (Oakland)
👟 June 23: Get your steps in at the “Stride for Pride 5K,” a benefit for the Human Rights Campaign (North Shore)
🎞 June 28: Watch the documentary “Before Stonewall” at the Warhol Museum on the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots (North Shore)
📣 June 28: Remember the Stonewall riots at Delta Foundation’s “NYC to PGH: 50 Years After Stonewall” — or protest the event with SisTers PGH, which says “The delta foundation will not tokenize our community for clout any longer” (Shadyside / Shadyside)
🎰 June 28: Get competitive at “Bottoms Up Bingo: PRIDE,” hosted by Alora Chateau (Oakmont)
🤣 June 29: Watch the “Epic Pride Adventures” of comedy troupe Knights of the Arcade (Downtown)
🎲 July 1: Play some games at “TransPride Pittsburgh: Board Game Night” (Lawrenceville)
⚾️ July 7: Root for the Buccos at “Pride Day at the Pirates” (North Shore)
What events did we miss? Tell us at hello@theincline.com, so we can update the list.
GETTING AROUND
Lyft, the official rideshare partner of Pittsburgh Pride, launched a new pronoun feature and is offering a discount code.
- Select your pronoun in the Lyft app. Lyft introduced pronouns to its app, giving passengers the option to select from the list below (find it under ‘settings’). Drivers will be able to see the passenger’s pronoun. Lyft is the first rideshare network to offer these options in North America.
- They/Them/Theirs
- She/Her/Hers
- He/Him/His
- My pronoun isn’t listed
- Prefer not to say
- Get a discounted Lyft to Pride activities. Use the code PITPRIDE2019 for 25 percent off two rides to any of the scheduled Pittsburgh Pride events (Pride Rocks, Pride Fest, and the Equality March).
FASHION
Here’s a round-up of where to get some Pride gear — everything from the Rainbow Disney collection to socks reading “feet have no gender” to Converse inspired by the transgender flag.
Locally, check out the shirts from Etna Print Circus with messages like, “Yinz is a gender neutral pronoun,” “Queer,” “Pro Homo,” and “Fat, Gay, & in the Way.” Here’s more about the business, via City Paper.
Even Dippy the Dinosaur, Pittsburgh’s fashion icon, is sporting a Pride look.
I love my new scarf! Happy Pride Month 🥰
🦕❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🦕#NewProfiIePic #HappyPrideMonth 🌈 pic.twitter.com/gBO5EQ3PcK
— Dippy the Dinosaur (@Dippy_the_Dino) June 4, 2019
ADDITIONAL READING
📍 Check out Queering the Map and read this interview with its creator (Queering the Map / Pittsburgh City Paper)
📜 Explore 30 years of queer culture with the Pittsburgh Queer History Project (Pittsburgh Queer History Project / Pittsburgh City Paper)
📆 Get some ideas (54 ideas, to be exact) of how to honor the 50th anniversary of Stonewall (Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents)
🌈 In honor of LGBTQ Families Day, read these stories from 50+ local LGBTQ parents (Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents)
🎨 Learn the history of the Shayside intersection that’s home to a new piece of public art and is a “point of pride” (Pittsburgh City Paper)
💗 SisTers recommends these tips: Dear straight allies, please don’t come to pride until you’ve understood these 6 things (Matador Network)