Philly Pride 2015

Philly Pride – The largest celebration of LGBT pride in the region, attracting over 25,000 people each year. In 2015 we will celebrate “Reminder Day”: the 50th anniversary of the 1965 Independence Hall gay rights picket on PrideDay and a special Annual Reminders Block Party

Our Pride Day theme this year is the 50th Anniversary of the Annual Reminders picketing of Independence Hall, July 4 1965 through July 4, 1969.  Three weeks later the picketing will be reenacted at Independence Hall on July 4, and we will have a block party in the Gayborhood on Sunday, July 5.

Philly Pride 2015

The first gay pride parade took place in New York City, June 28, 1970, to commemorate the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots (June 28, 1969), considered to be the beginning of the LGBT civil rights movement.  By 1972, many cities, including Philadelphia, were staging gay pride parades and festivals.  From 1977 to 1987, there were no parades in Philadelphia.  In 1988, there was a spontaneous  parade from the gayborhood to a rally sponsored by the Lesbian and Gay Task Force in Love Park.  This parade was so successful that community leaders got together to establish an organization that would coordinate a gay pride parade and festival in Philadelphia every June. That organization is Philly Pride Presents, and we are celebrating our 27th PrideDay.  We grow every year.

PrideDay, the LGBT Pride Parade and Festival, begins in the heart of the Gayborhood at 13th and Locust (11:30 — 1/2 hour earlier this year) proceeds through Center City and Philadelphia’s historic district.  The judging stand is at Independence Mall, 6th and Market Street.  The parade terminates at the Festival location at the Great Plaza of Penn’s Landing, the best pride festival location in the country.  Although the parade turns down Front Street and crosses I-95 via Chestnut Street, there are several ways into Penn’s Landing via the Market Street and Walnut Street overpasses.

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