Philly Pride is happy to add Sonesta Philadelphia as a corporate sponsor. The Sonesta, located at 1800 Market Street, a short walk from the Gayborhood, has been completely refurbished and is really a gorgeous place to stay if you are attending PrideDay or Outfest and need lodging. The special booking rate for PrideDayis here and the special looking rate for Outfestis here.

First event for Philly Pride will be the 2016 Keystone Pride Conference, Sunday, March 20, 2016, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  Details on our Keystone Pride events page.  We expect every Pennsylvania gay pride group to attend as well as several out-of-state attendees.  We continue to separate ourselves from our fellow Pride groups because of the anti-trans provisions in Interpride’s bylaws which reserve presidential positions and 4 vice presidential positions to those self-identified as “male” or “female.”  We therefore don’t participate in other conferences.  The Keystone Conference is unique in that it is free to participate in, and, being only a day, hotel costs can be avoided as well.  Most Pride groups lack sufficient financial resources to attend conferences,  and therefore those needing the most help are often the ones prevented from getting it.  We learn from each other — our successes as well as our failures.  We will have several pertinent and helpful workshops.

Philly Pride invites everyone to OutFest, our 25th anniversary celebration of National Coming Out Day.  Philadelphia was one of the first major cities to organize a N.C.O.D. event, and our event is the largest N.C.O.D. event in the world.  Over 150 partners will have booths.  Every business in the gayborhood will be doing something special.  Fun.  Games.  Food.  Drink.  Carnival attractions.  45,000 + in attendance.  All day entertainment.  Youth dance area.  Sports area.  Adopt a pet.  The dedication of the Gloria Casarez mural.  The first public unveiling of Mark Segal’s new book.  OMG . . . . . . you have got to be there!   Noon to 6 p.m..  The heart of the Gayborhood.

Honorable Michael Nutter, Mayor of Philadelphia, will be on hand to receive OutFest’s 2015 “OutProud Friend” award.  He has been a stalwart supporter of LGBT rights since his time as City Councilman and has continued his support of our community wile mayor.  You can read more about him under Honorees.

Phila. Freedom Band will be awarded the 2015 “OutProud” Award.  The Phila. Freedom Band was formed in the 1980’s, was dormant for about a decade, and has revived and grew into the ensemble that performs today.  Their core group is a concert band which performs concerts twice a year.  The group’s marching band  has performed in the Philly Pride Parade for 6 years as well as other parades in the greater Philadelphia area.  The Phila. Freedom Band plays at as many events as their members’ schedules allow, playing to grow the visibility and pride through music.  They are a registered 501(c)(3) organization and belong to the National Lesbian & Gay Band Association.  They are supported, in part, by the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.

Mark Segal, the publisher of Phila. Gay News, will have the first public unveiling of his memoir, “And Then I Danced” at OutFest.  Mark has been a good friend of Phila. Pride since its inception and we are happy and honored that he will be at OutFest to show his book for the first time.

One of the very special events at OutFest this year will be the unveiling of the Gloria Casarez mural on the wall of 12th Street gym.  Gloria was a good friend to Philly Pride, its executive director, and its senior advisor (as well as to the entire LGBT community).

We are thrilled to receive the 2014 “Best of Gay Philly- Best LGBT Event”  award for OutFest 2014 from Philadelphia Gay News.  We only hope that we can improve on our performance to make our 25th Anniversary National Coming Out Day event, OutFest 2015, our best yet!

Keystone Pride 2015 was so successful, we are holding another conference in March 2016.  If your group wants to attend, please email us at KeystoneLGBT@aol.com.  Some areas of interest will be trans rights, grassroots vs. commercial, how to make your event more inclusive.  We already have a group wanting to lead the discussion on trans rights.  There are no fees to attend; therefore there is no financial impediment to smaller pride groups, and, lets face it, the growth of pride groups will be smaller groups in suburban and more rural areas — those least likely to afford travel, registration, hotel fees, etc.  Keystone Pride 2016 will be in Harrisburg this year.  And you can check our webpage under “Keystone Events” for updates.

This is a perfect opportunity for us to network with each other.

The application for OutFest 2015, Sunday, October 11, 2015, is now available by clicking the purple link on our home page.  It will bring you to a page where you can download and print out our application which you will have to mail in with the check or call our office with credit card information.  Don’t miss out on the biggest LGBT event of the year!