With June 1 marking the first day of Pride Month, about 80,000 gathered in downtown Pittsburgh for the annual parade.
The parade kicked off a month full of events honoring Pride Month, with people from across Pittsburgh and beyond coming to celebrate. briefly speaking in Allegheny Commons Park West.
At the event, Biden addressed recent threats towards LGBTQ+ rights, including and
鈥淚n some way, all of you here today have called upon your courage and you used your voice to say, 鈥榃e will not go back,鈥欌�� Biden said.
Lexi Byrom, a sophomore nursing student at Pitt, attended Pittsburgh Pride for the third year in a row.
鈥淚t’s always a very feel-good event,鈥� Byrom said. 鈥淓veryone’s coming together. It feels very safe and like a celebration of your identity 鈥� There’s not the expectations of the everyday world.鈥�
Byrom said she thought of pride as 鈥渂eing authentically yourself no matter what the situation is.鈥�
鈥淚 think it’s a whole way of life,鈥� Byrom said.听
West Mifflin residents Amanda Sorg and Reuben Miller sported matching with other attendees also wearing similar variations of the shirt. They wear their shirts to Pride every year.听
鈥淲e get a lot of love,鈥� Sorg said. 鈥淟ast year, we had people getting out of the parade coming over to hug us.鈥�
Miller said they see it as 鈥渁 chance for people to be who they are and express themselves,鈥� an opportunity that Miller said many in their generation didn鈥檛 have.
鈥淪ome people haven鈥檛 had a chance to get a hug from a parent in a while,鈥� Miller said. 鈥淲e grew up in a different generation where it wasn鈥檛 OK.鈥�
Sam Michael, a resident of Aliquippa, has been attending Pride in Pittsburgh 鈥渇or years.鈥� She said she plays an active role in the community, formerly serving as the vice president of her college鈥檚 Gay-Straight Alliance and volunteering with Pittsburgh organizations, such as the 听
鈥淚 think it’s really important to support the community because not only am I part of the community, my daughter’s part of the community and my sisters are part of the community,鈥� Michael said. 鈥淪o it’s one big family in my case.鈥�
Michael said she sees pride as 鈥渁 chance to celebrate the things that make us the same instead of the things that make us different.鈥�
鈥淚 think that Pittsburgh, for a lot of our faults and a lot of rap we get, we’re a very queer-inclusive city,鈥� Michael said. 鈥淲e have one of the safest prides anywhere. We have a very warm community.鈥�