Pittsburgh Pride Revolution Tops Pride Month Events In Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH, PA — Pride Month starts Thursday and continues through June, with several ways locally to participate in the celebration of LGBTQ culture, rights and identity.

Among them is the Pittsburgh Pride Revolution, a three-day LGBTQ+ community event taking place Friday through Sunday. Its diverse assortment of community events and performances should offer something for everyone.

The Pittsburgh Pride Revolution 2023 will take place in Allegheny Commons Park, West (behind the National Aviary) on June 2 and 3 and in Bloomfield on Main Street between Penn and Liberty avenues on June 4.

The Pittsburgh Pride march and parade, which will occur Saturday and feature a new lineup location, new route through Downtown to the Pittsburgh Pride festival on the North Side and the return of vehicles and floats in the event. The parade begins at 12 p.m.

The grand marshal will be state Rep. La'Tasha D. Mayes of Pittsburgh, the first out lesbian to serve in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Mayes recently worked with colleagues in the House LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus to pass The Fairness Act (H.B.300), which would prohibit discrimination in Pennsylvania based on sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.

Madison Rose will be the Pittsburgh Pride Revolution's headline musical act. She will perform on Saturday.

Pride Month occurs during June in deference to the Stonewall Uprising, a tipping point in the struggle for equality among people who identify as LGBTQ. New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969. Such raids were common, but patrons fought back, resulting in days of violent clashes across Greenwich village.

The observance started as Gay Pride Day on the last Sunday in June, but soon grew to the point that June calendars are packed with pride parades, parties, workshops, symposiums and concerts across the nation and around the world.

In Pennsylvania, about 4.1 percent of the state's population of 13 million identify as LGBTQ, according to the Movement Advance Project, which tracks legislation targets. They represent 5 percent of Pennsylvania's workforce.

The organization gives Pennsylvania 16.5 points out of a possible 43.5 points legislatively. Our state received 6.75 percent points out of a possible 20 for sexual orientation policy and 9.75 points out of a possible 23 for gender policy. The overall ranking was graded “FAIR.”

Pride Month 2023 occurs amid a historic surge in bills targeting LGBTQ rights, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Nearly 500 pieces of legislation nationwide have been filed in state legislatures this year, according to the ACLU tracking.

“LGBTQ people are under fire, unlike possibly ever before and across virtually every aspect of our lives,” Logan S. Casey, a senior researcher at Movement Advancement Project, told The Washington Post in April. “This is part of a very clear and identifiable national effort in state legislatures that is and has been going on for years — and it’s really culminating this year.”