{"id":207536,"date":"2026-06-01T16:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/207536\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T16:13:07","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:13:07","slug":"a-new-lgbtq-group-is-bringing-pride-to-the-south-hills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/207536\/","title":{"rendered":"A New LGBTQ+ Group is Bringing Pride to the South Hills"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Brookline<\/a><\/p>\n

PHOTO COURTESY OF ALICIA ROMANO\/BROOKLINE PRIDE<\/p>\n

Quite a few of Pittsburgh\u2019s neighborhoods host their own festive jubilees for Pride Month, celebrating the city\u2019s LGBTQ+ communities while also supporting local businesses, artists and performers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, plans are in the works for one more neighborhood to join in the fun.<\/p>\n

Brookline Pride, one of Pittsburgh\u2019s newest LGBTQ+ organizations based in the South Hills, will host a series of Pride-centered events throughout June, as well as its first major celebration later this year, on Sept. 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNeighborhood-level celebrations like this tend to do something that larger citywide events can\u2019t always accomplish; they bring visibility and acceptance to the places where people actually live their daily lives,\u201d says Alicia Romano, Brookline Pride\u2019s lead organizer. \u201cOur hope is to build a community in Brookline where people aren\u2019t afraid to hang a flag in front of their house or where a business isn\u2019t afraid to put a sign in their window \u2014 a community where a same-sex couple can walk down the street holding hands and not be fearful of ridicule, community where transgender individuals aren\u2019t afraid to walk to the bank or grab a bite to eat.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Romano, who grew up in the South Hills and currently lives in Brookline, adds that for the most part, the area is fairly accepting of queer folks; both Dormont Pride and Lebo Pride in Mt. Lebanon have been hosting pride-related events for years, paving the way for a more inclusive South Hills. Nevertheless, Romano finds that the South Hills is still behind other parts of the city in terms of public LGBTQ+ acceptance and representation \u2014 but it\u2019s on a good trajectory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s room for improvement in Brookline, and I\u2019m heartened by the number of people who have come out of the woodwork in support,\u201d she says. \u201cIt gives me a lot of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an organization, Brookline Pride began in the fall of 2025, when Romano posed a question to an online group: Has Brookline ever celebrated Pride before?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cInclusion and visibility are important to me, so I had some interest in organizing a Pride group if one never existed,\u201d she says. \u201cA few neighbors had shared that there were a few events in the past, but nothing that took off, so we got together and started talking about what Pride could look like in Brookline.\u201d<\/p>\n

What started as a conversation about hosting a potluck in the park quickly developed into something much bigger.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s a testament to the love and support Brookline has for our LGBTQIA+ neighbors, families, and businesses,\u201d Romano says.<\/p>\n

This month, the organization will host a series of events and programming in support of Brookline\u2019s queer community:\u00a0<\/p>\n

Additionally, Brookline Pride will host its first major celebration on Sept. 12.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only did we need more time to plan in order to organize something truly impactful, we also didn\u2019t have the following to compete with other community Prides,\u201d Romano says. \u201cWe wanted to create something that everyone could attend, not only Brookline residents, to see everything Brookline has to offer.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are also quite a few LGBTQ+ observances in September, including Bisexual Health Awareness Month, Bisexual Awareness Week, Bi Visibility Day and National Gay Men\u2019s HIV\/AIDS Awareness Day.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is all leading up to National Coming out Day, which happens on Oct. 11, and we plan to have a meaningful Coming Out pop up on Sept. 12 in preparation for that,\u201d she says. \u201cSo September seemed perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Romano says it\u2019s vital to celebrate queer folks all year, not just during Pride Month. It\u2019s something that is at the core of Brookline Pride\u2019s mission and identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy vision for Brookline Pride was never meant to be just one day a year. Our commitment is to build programming and community throughout all 365 days because visibility and belonging can\u2019t be confined to a single weekend,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019ll keep going until the extraordinary becomes ordinary, until inclusion isn\u2019t something we celebrate because it\u2019s simply just the way things are.\u201d\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOTO COURTESY OF ALICIA ROMANO\/BROOKLINE PRIDE Quite a few of Pittsburgh\u2019s neighborhoods host their own festive jubilees for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":207537,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[16698,91167,8987,73,75,74,74606,15364],"class_list":["post-207536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-brookline","tag-brookline-pride","tag-lgbtq","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-pride-month","tag-south-hills"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207536\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}