{"id":218545,"date":"2026-06-13T21:20:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T21:20:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/218545\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T21:20:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T21:20:29","slug":"pride-marches-at-69th-street-and-ends-at-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/218545\/","title":{"rendered":"Pride marches at 69th Street and ends at festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

During Saturday\u2019s festival, vendors were stationed around the Upper Darby township building and down Garrett Road.<\/p>\n

\"VendorVendor Lorraine \u201cDJ Sweet Butterfly,\u201d left, joins Thalia Hernandez and her dad, Ernesto, Saturday at the Delco Pride Festival. (KATHLEEN E. CAREY \u2013 DAILY TIMES)<\/p>\n

Lorraine \u201cDJ Sweet Butterfly\u201d, a lesbian from New York, said she set up her booth Saturday as a \u201crainbow vendor.\u201d<\/p>\n

She shared why she attended such events around the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cLove,\u201d she said. \u201cI 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\u2019t come out or nothing. I live like my glasses and the rainbow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thalia, 11, brought her dad,\u00a0Ernesto Hernandez, to the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m here to support my daughter,\u201d Ernesto said. \u201cLast summer during a swim meet, right before she went up to the starting block, she said she had something to tell me and she\u2019s like, \u2018I like girls.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The dad responded, \u201cOK, that\u2019s going to be fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hernandez said he could immediately see a weight come off the girl\u2019s shoulders.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been a supporter of the LGBTQ community since I was in high school, and I\u2019m 49 now,\u201d he added. \u201cSo, I\u2019m 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thalia spoke about what that means to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really nice,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m surrounded by a good community of friends and family who love me and will support me in anything I do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Protest march<\/p>\n

Before the festival, about a dozen people gathered at the 69th Street pedestrian bridge and marched up Garrett Road.<\/p>\n

Chants included, \u201cPoliticians hear our voice, let trans kids have a choice,\u201d \u201cWe\u2019re not silent, we\u2019re not weak, it\u2019s just health care that we seek\u201d and \u201cYour fear is loud but we are louder, you\u2019ll regret this, you\u2019re a coward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Activist Kyle McIntyre, who has hosted and organized numerous Pride events in Delaware County, spoke when the march reached the township building.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing protests, we\u2019ve been doing marches, we\u2019ve been doing Delco Pride for about four years now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u2018A long way to go\u2019
\n\"TheThe Pride Festival featured a display of historical highlights and icons in the LGBTQ community. (KATHLEEN E. CAREY \u2013 DAILY TIMES)<\/p>\n

Delco Pride began as a one-day festival at Upper Darby High School<\/a>, then grew to include a parade down State Street in Media<\/a>. Now it includes events throughout June.<\/p>\n

McIntyre referenced the situation at a recent Philadelphia Pride event<\/a> in which some accused the police of using excessive force.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeaking up is important at this time,\u201d he said. \u201cSo 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Delco Pride was founded, we have lost more rights nationally every single year,\u201d McIntyre added. According to the Human Relations Commission, more than 75 anti-LGBTQ laws<\/a> have been signed into law this year.<\/p>\n

He spoke about how movements are joining forces<\/p>\n

\u201cFor so long, we\u2019ve been in these fights separately and I think for the first time ever, we are trying our best to build coalitions,\u201d he said, noting last year\u2019s march on Harrisburg, which was the first by LGBTQ advocates in a decade.<\/p>\n

Naiymah Sanchez, who identified as a transgender woman of color, stood on the platform and said:\u00a0\u201cWe have come a long way. But we still have a long way to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Philadelphia resident, she spoke about the Philly Pride incident.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 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\u2019 and ancestors\u2019 experience more than 50 years ago at the Stonewall Inn (in New York) when police turned joy into fear and resistance into necessity.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than a celebration<\/p>\n

Sanchez noted that Pride is more than a celebration.<\/p>\n

\u201cPride is a protest,\u201d she said. \u201cPride 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday I want every person here to know that your existence is important,\u201d Sanchez said. \u201cYour 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

She quoted activist Marsha P. Johnson in saying, \u201cThere can be no Pride for some without liberty for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

A march participant named Wade shared his reason for being there Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy main reason for coming out is that I have the privilege to be able to come out here and speak,\u201d he said, adding that it was equally important to support the LGBTQ and immigrant communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis 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 \u2026 showing up disrupting their businesses, their families, their places of religions, the schools,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Members of the Swarthmore 9<\/a> walked in the march and spoke at the festival.<\/p>\n

Mara Cahill discussed the group\u2019s actions to call on Swarthmore College to divest from Cisco Systems because of its support of Israel in the Gaza war. The group\u2019s protest encampment at the college in 2025 led to arrests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are we talking about this at Pride?\u201d she asked. \u201cFirst, Pride began as an uprising \u2026 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Delco Pride Festival featured many vendors, including those featuring LGBTQ entrepreneurs, along Garrett Road Saturday. (KATHLEEN E. CAREY \u2013 DAILY TIMES)
\n\"TheThe Pride protest marches up Garrett Road on its way to the Delco Pride Festival Saturday. (KATHLEEN E. CAREY \u2013 DAILY TIMES)
\n\"NaiymahNaiymah Sanchez speaks after the Pride protest and before the start of the Pride Festival Saturday. (KATHLEEN E. CAREY \u2013 DAILY TIMES)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pride saw two events Saturday as a protest marched up Garrett Road in Upper Darby and as vendors…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":218546,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[212,182,139,28,210,147,149,148,150],"class_list":["post-218545","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upper-darby","tag-delaware-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-top-stories-dtd","tag-upper-darby","tag-upper-darby-headlines","tag-upper-darby-news","tag-upper-darby-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218545","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=218545"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218545\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}