ADAMS COUNTY, Pa. — Pride Month is underway and communities across Pennsylvania are joining in on the celebration, including Gettysburg.
Nonprofit Gettysburg Pride Inc. hosted its seventh annual Gettysburg Pride Festival on Saturday.
“We’re definitely making history being in the seventh annual Gettysburg Pride,” said Chad-Alan Carr, President of Gettysburg Pride Inc.
Since 2017, Gettysburg Pride has continued the conversation around the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community.
The event centers around things like gender affirming care and transgender athletics, to name a few.
“I think a lot of people don’t understand that the reason why we have Pride is because, even though there is marriage equality, we still don’t have all the same rights as everybody else,” Carr described.
That’s how the Pride Festival became a staple for the borough and embraced by locals.
“We’re getting more towards [being] known as a gay community, as people that are accepting of people and we’re all about love and just wanting to share love,” said Bradley Richardson, an Adams County resident.
The festival has grown over the past several years, bringing in more than fifty vendors for one simple purpose—to participate in an event which supports treating everyone equally regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, or lifestyle choices.
“It’s an absolutely wonderful time when everyone can come together and be who they are and learn from each other,” Carr said.
“I think it can help others that have trouble coming out into the world, I think it’s a good way to let them know that it’s okay,” said Diana Daniels, another Adams County resident.
Although Pride is celebrated across Pennsylvania in June, festival organizers say the conversation about it should continue throughout the whole year.
“That’s why we celebrate, it started in June in 1970 at Stonewall NYC and here we are, 2023,” Carr said.