Pride Weekend 2022

I haven’t posted much on social media; just a few images and a story on Instagram.

Ace as gluten free cake. 

I never dreamed that I would ever find my person. And a person that mostly brings out the real me. Thank you for celebrating Pride with me. I love you. 

I’m being careful about what I post, I’m finding e-mails and letters to be much more personal.  I’m finding social media isn’t what it used to be either.

After a three year hiatus, Pride was back and reimagined. The Philadelphia Pride Collective wanted to make it less commercial and wanted to get back to its roots. Sounded interesting and well, I can’t pass up the opportunity to celebrate with my tribes.

This was Tommy’s first time at Pride. We made a weekend of it and stayed with a friend.

On Saturday night, we ventured into the Gayborhood for a drag show. We were going to go to an earlier show, but when we arrived at Topps Tomato Pizza, we found out that the promoter messed up the address and the performance was actually on South Street. Tommy and I didn’t feel like walking down to South Street and wanted to stay in the Gayborhood; we decided to see the 10pm show at Tabu on 12th and Walnut instead.

I’m glad we did because we avoided that shooting. Where the earlier show would have been, would have been in that area on South Street. I like to say it was divine intervention. We didn’t even know until both of our parents called us on Sunday morning and told us. 

After dinner and playing dodgeball, wall ball, and wiffle ball at the playground, we made our way to Tabu. I’m glad we arrived early; we sat with another couple after I asked if we could sit with them. “Of course, especially since you asked so nicely!” They were fun to chat with for a bit. I also met MX, a performer from Massachusetts, and also Bev, the drag host. Tommy and I enjoyed Bev’s Bitchfest, and the club was jammed packed. We left at intermission, while we loved the show and performers, Tommy and I were tired and Sunday was going to not only be an early morning, but a busy day with the parade/march.

As I mentioned earlier, Pride was very different than in years’ past. They didn’t want to commercialize it and the Philadelphia Pride Collective did a wonderful job. We marched at four distinct locations that had significance in the Black community, the Native American community, the AAPI community, and of course the LGBTQIA community; the march began at Independence Mall and ended in the Gayborhood.

Tommy suggested we walk in the march. I was shocked that he suggested it because he’s usually shy, doesn’t like to bring attention to himself. I took his lead and we marched from the African American History Museum all the way to the Gayborhood with everyone else. We chanted, we waved our flags, and had a lot of fun. As we marched, Tommy said, “Happy Pride, babe. Love you.” Awwww. I love him. We held hands at one point.

The march ended around 1pm. We sat in the park near Jefferson university and rested until we went back to his house. Tommy and I were both exhausted, and it felt great to relax while playing video games. It was a lovely weekend and Pride Weekend 2022 is one we will never forget.