06/29/2026
Dormont Pride 2026 was a success! Thank you to all of the supporters, allies, performers. We couldn't have dont it without you.
Every year in June, we gather to paint our streets in technicolor. We dance, we laugh, and we celebrate. But as we look out at this beautiful sea of color, it is vital to remember that this joy was paid for. Pride is a celebration, yes, but it is rooted in rebellion. It is rooted in the radical, dangerous, and beautiful act of choosing to be exactly who you are in a world that demands you compromise.
To understand the full spectrum of our history, we only have to look at three visionaries who radically redefined what it means to be seen: Marsha P. Johnson, Andy Warhol, and David Bowie. Three entirely different souls, from different walks of life, who each left an undeniable blueprint for q***r liberation.
We must always begin with the bricks that built our foundation. Think back to Greenwich Village, June 1969. When the world tried to sweep the most marginalized among us under the rug, Marsha P. Johnson stood up. A Black transgender woman, a drag queen, an activist, and a survivor, Marsha didn't wait for permission to exist.
She famously said, 'No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.'
With a crown of fresh flowers in her hair and fierce determination in her stride, Marsha reminded the world that our rights are not negotiated in polite whispers—they are demanded in loud, unapologetic voices. She taught us that Pride is an act of revolution.
While Marsha was fighting on the streets, Andy Warhol was quietly dismantling the mainstream from the inside out. In his silver-walled Factory in New York, Andy created a sanctuary. He took the people society labeled as outcasts, misfits, and 'eccentrics'—the drag queens, the trans icons, the q***r artists—and he put them under a spotlight. He turned them into art.
Andy showed us that q***r culture isn't a subculture; it is the culture. He taught us the power of the gaze—that when we document our lives, our faces, and our love, we make ourselves permanent. We refuse to be erased.
And then, there are those who taught us to look to the stars. David Bowie wasn't just a rock star; he was a cosmic permission slip. Dropping down to Earth as Ziggy Stardust, Bowie broke the binary long before the world had the vocabulary to understand it. He defied gravity, gender, and genre.
Bowie showed a generation of isolated kids that being a 'misfit' wasn't a curse—it was a superpower. He proved that identity isn't a cage; it is a canvas. You can change, you can evolve, and you can reinvent yourself as many times as you need to find your truth.
Look at the tapestry they wove together: Marsha gave us our courage. Andy gave us our spotlight. Bowie gave us our sky.
They remind us that Pride is not a monolith. It is the drag queen fighting for survival, the artist redefining culture, and the alien rock star shattering expectations.
Today, we carry their fire. We march for the spaces Marsha fought for. We create with the boldness Andy championed. We live with the fluid, fearless authenticity Bowie embodied.
Let us celebrate how far we have come, let us fight for the work that still remains, and above all, let us be spectacularly, unapologetically ourselves.
Thank you, and Happy Pride!"
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