Pride saw two events Saturday as a protest marched up Garrett Road in Upper Darby and as vendors set out their wares at the Delco Pride Festival
The protest march and Pride festival are part of a month of events, including the June 7 Pride parade in Media and the June 28 Aston Pride Party at the Phoenix Bar & Grill.
During Saturday’s festival, vendors were stationed around the Upper Darby township building and down Garrett Road.
Vendor Lorraine “DJ Sweet Butterfly,” left, joins Thalia Hernandez and her dad, Ernesto, Saturday at the Delco Pride Festival. (KATHLEEN E. CAREY – DAILY TIMES)
Lorraine “DJ Sweet Butterfly”, a lesbian from New York, said she set up her booth Saturday as a “rainbow vendor.”
She shared why she attended such events around the country.
“Love,” she said. “I love the love. I share the love. I give out love. I love people and I love being who I am and I love to see people live their truth. I know people who won’t come out or nothing. I live like my glasses and the rainbow.”
Thalia, 11, brought her dad, Ernesto Hernandez, to the event.
“I’m here to support my daughter,” Ernesto said. “Last summer during a swim meet, right before she went up to the starting block, she said she had something to tell me and she’s like, ‘I like girls.’”
The dad responded, “OK, that’s going to be fine.”
Hernandez said he could immediately see a weight come off the girl’s shoulders.
“I’ve always been a supporter of the LGBTQ community since I was in high school, and I’m 49 now,” he added. “So, I’m just here to support wherever I can. I think when she realized she could come to me for anything, I think that was the biggest thing for her.”
Thalia spoke about what that means to her.
“It’s really nice,” she said. “I feel like I’m surrounded by a good community of friends and family who love me and will support me in anything I do.”
Protest march
Before the festival, about a dozen people gathered at the 69th Street pedestrian bridge and marched up Garrett Road.
Chants included, “Politicians hear our voice, let trans kids have a choice,” “We’re not silent, we’re not weak, it’s just health care that we seek” and “Your fear is loud but we are louder, you’ll regret this, you’re a coward.”
Activist Kyle McIntyre, who has hosted and organized numerous Pride events in Delaware County, spoke when the march reached the township building.
“We’ve been doing protests, we’ve been doing marches, we’ve been doing Delco Pride for about four years now,” he said.
‘A long way to go’
The Pride Festival featured a display of historical highlights and icons in the LGBTQ community. (KATHLEEN E. CAREY – DAILY TIMES)
Delco Pride began as a one-day festival at Upper Darby High School, then grew to include a parade down State Street in Media. Now it includes events throughout June.
McIntyre referenced the situation at a recent Philadelphia Pride event in which some accused the police of using excessive force.
“Speaking up is important at this time,” he said. “So many people have gotten comfortable whether it be our allies, whether it be politicians, whether it be corporations and yet we find ourselves at the end of the stick all the time.
“Since Delco Pride was founded, we have lost more rights nationally every single year,” McIntyre added. According to the Human Relations Commission, more than 75 anti-LGBTQ laws have been signed into law this year.
He spoke about how movements are joining forces
“For so long, we’ve been in these fights separately and I think for the first time ever, we are trying our best to build coalitions,” he said, noting last year’s march on Harrisburg, which was the first by LGBTQ advocates in a decade.
Naiymah Sanchez, who identified as a transgender woman of color, stood on the platform and said: “We have come a long way. But we still have a long way to go.”
A Philadelphia resident, she spoke about the Philly Pride incident.
“For many of us, it was a painful reminder that even in 2026, our communities are still forced to fight for the simple right to exist free. It echoed in the feelings of our friends’ and ancestors’ experience more than 50 years ago at the Stonewall Inn (in New York) when police turned joy into fear and resistance into necessity.”
More than a celebration
Sanchez noted that Pride is more than a celebration.
“Pride is a protest,” she said. “Pride is a declaration that we will not be pushed back into the shadows. Pride is our commitment to one another, to the generation that comes after us and to the people who are here today.
“Today I want every person here to know that your existence is important,” Sanchez said. “Your voice has power. Every time you show up as your authentic self, you challenge the world that too often tells us that we should be invisible.”
She quoted activist Marsha P. Johnson in saying, “There can be no Pride for some without liberty for all.”
A march participant named Wade shared his reason for being there Saturday.
“My main reason for coming out is that I have the privilege to be able to come out here and speak,” he said, adding that it was equally important to support the LGBTQ and immigrant communities.
“This specific event I am very happy that I can take part in because there is a focus on helping our small businesses that are immigrant-run because they have been losing money due to ICE … showing up disrupting their businesses, their families, their places of religions, the schools,” he added.
Members of the Swarthmore 9 walked in the march and spoke at the festival.
Mara Cahill discussed the group’s actions to call on Swarthmore College to divest from Cisco Systems because of its support of Israel in the Gaza war. The group’s protest encampment at the college in 2025 led to arrests.
“Why are we talking about this at Pride?” she asked. “First, Pride began as an uprising … We live in a time when so many seek to turn back the clock, to undue the gains that the masses of gay and trans people have fought for for decades. We cannot let this happen. Pride means fight back.”
She asked the crowds to call on the college and Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse to drop the charges. A hearing on the motion to dismiss the charges filed by the defense will be held June 22. The trial on defiant trespassing charges is scheduled for June 29.
The Delco Pride Festival featured many vendors, including those featuring LGBTQ entrepreneurs, along Garrett Road Saturday. (KATHLEEN E. CAREY – DAILY TIMES)
The Pride protest marches up Garrett Road on its way to the Delco Pride Festival Saturday. (KATHLEEN E. CAREY – DAILY TIMES)
Naiymah Sanchez speaks after the Pride protest and before the start of the Pride Festival Saturday. (KATHLEEN E. CAREY – DAILY TIMES)