State College has never had an LGBTQ pride parade. That will change this summer
State College will have its first LGBTQ Pride parade and festival this summer.
State College Borough Council unanimously approved a request from Centre LGBTQA Support Network to close several streets downtown from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on June 13 for a Pride parade and use Sidney Friedman Parklet and Welch Plaza from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the Pride festival.
The parade route will likely include Fraser Street, Fairmount Avenue and Allen Street in a loop around the block, starting and ending at Sidney Friedman Parklet. With “Summers On Allen” approved, resulting in an 8-week closure of South Allen Street this summer, the parade route might extend to include that area.
Susan Marshall, co-chair of the Centre LGBTQA Support Network, said the organization is very excited to plan State College’s first-ever LGBTQ Pride parade and festival, calling it “the biggest thing we’ve taken on.”
“I’m a member of the queer community and so this is huge for us,” she said. “We watched Altoona do (a Pride parade) this past year and they had a tremendous amount of success, so we hope to recreate the success that they had.”
Though the organization is in the early stages of planning, they are lining up a full weekend of events that include Drag Bingo at Webster’s Bookstore Cafe, the parade on Saturday, a party or Pride night downtown Saturday night and LGBT brunch on Sunday morning.
During the festival Saturday, Marshall said they hope to have music, organizations tabling, family-friendly events like face painting, food and more. There will also be an opportunity for members of the LGBTQ community to give speeches before the parade and share personal stories, she said.
“This is a chance to give some visibility to a population that doesn’t always feel safe to be visible,” she said. “And also just a voice to remind people that (while) people that are cisgender and straight out themselves every day by living their lives authentically, that’s not always the case for anyone who is genderqueer or their sexual orientation is different ... this is a chance for them to be able to celebrate that, to be authentic and have a community around them that’s supporting them.”
State College received a 100 out of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s Municipal Equality Index last year. The borough has been lauded for displaying LGBTQ Pride flags and having rainbow crosswalks downtown, voting to ban conversion therapy for minors, implementing gender-neutral bathrooms in borough buildings and putting in an all-inclusive workplace policy with protections for domestic partnerships. And although Penn State hosts a Pride march and rally every year, State College has never had one.
While the parade and festival intend to celebrate the LGBTQ community, Marshall said, all people are welcome at the event and are encouraged to educate themselves about the the community. Often, she said, the LGBTQ community gets asked why Pride parades and events are necessary, or even why there isn’t a “straight Pride parade.”
“It’s because cisgender and straight people celebrate that part of them every day, when they’re talking about themselves and talking about their families,” she said. Members of the LGBTQ community often have to hide or avoid talking about their sexual orientations or gender identities.
And in a state like Pennsylvania, where the legislature has not passed discrimination protection for LGBTQ individuals, she said, it’s important to offer a space “for people to come and be able to be themselves in a community that supports them.”
Centre LGBTQA Support Network, which is working with the borough and the Penn State Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, will put out a call for volunteers soon and share more details about activities as the date for the parade and festival draws closer. For more information on the LGBTQA community in Centre County and support networks, visit centrelgbtqa.squarespace.com.
This story was originally published February 4, 2020 at 12:33 PM.
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