Bucks County Commissioners Proclaim June As LGBTQ+ Pride Month

DOYLESTOWN, PA — The Bucks County Commissioners this week proclaimed June as LGBTQ+ Pride Month throughout the county.

During its June 6 meeting, Commissioners Bob Harvie (chairma), Diane Ellis-Marseglia, and Gene DiGirolamo read a proclamation and presented a copy to representatives from the Bucks County Rainbow Room and New Hope Celebrates.

Each year, Pride Month honors the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan, which was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. And for more than a half-century since, the LGBTQ+ community during June has held Pride celebrations of evolving size and scope throughout the world.

Bucks County is home to many of those celebrations, including for the past 20 years, the New Hope Pride Parade, which has drawn more than 15,000 people annually to the New Hope area.

"Despite broad strides in the direction of justice and equality, many in the LGBTQ+ community still endure hardship and mistreatment from those who would see social progress undone," reads the proclamation. "In solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community and in recognition of the month-long Pride celebration, the county will fly the Pride flag over the administration building courtyard throughout June."

Holding the Pride Progress flag are, from left, Barbara Simmons, Marlene Pray, Bob Szwajkos, Melissa Patterson, Roger Green, and Geri Delevich. In back are Bucks County Commissioners Diane Ellis-Marseglia, Bob Harvie (chairman) and Gene DiGirolamo.

On hand to accept the proclamation were members of New Hope Celebrates, which is marking its 20th anniversary this year, and the Rainbow Room of Bucks County with locations in Doylestown and Langhorne.

"I express our appreciation to the members of the Bucks County Board of Commissioners for their actions today and the proclamation acknowledging the programs of New Hope Celebrates," said Bob Szwajkos, who serves as the pro bono legal counsel for the New Hope Celebrates and is also a Newtown Borough councilman.

"With legislation and educational policies in recent years growing that target the LGBTQ+ community, it is now more important than ever for us to be seen, heard, and supported - not just during Pride Month, but always," he said. "We are grateful for this recognition and for the diversity, inclusiveness, and acceptance of the Bucks County Commissioner's office. With support such as this, we can all have hope for our future."

He was joined at the event by Geri Delevich, a former member of the New Hope Borough Council who facilitated the passage in New Hope of the first comprehensive LGBTQ+ non-discrimination ordinance in a Pennsylvania borough; Marlene Pray, director of Planned Parenthood Keystone Rainbow Room in Doylestown and Langhorne; Barbara Simmons, former executive director of the Peace Center; Melissa Patterson, president of New Hope Celebrates; and Roger Green, the longest standing member of the New Hope Celebrates board of directors.