Four years before the June 1969 Stonewall Uprising lit up the night in New York City’s Greenwich Village, gay rights activists in Philadelphia demonstrated peacefully on July 4, 1965, outside historic Independence Hall. Demanding equality and citizen protections for gay Americans, Philadelphia activists staged July 4 demonstrations for the next three years at the place where our nation began.

Today, Stonewall is often cited as the beginning of the LGBTQ+ Pride movement, but Philadelphia’s yearly gay civil rights demonstrations, then called Annual Reminders, played a significant role in what we now call Pride.

A lot has changed since the Annual Reminders and Stonewall. While there’s still much work to be done, LGBTQ+ Pride has made great strides since its beginnings in the mid- to late-1960s. This year, people from across the country and around the world celebrated LGBTQ+ Pride Month in June with parades, festivals, seminars, concerts, and parties. In Philadelphia, approximately 150,000 people took to our city streets on Sunday, June 7, for Pride is Power, Philadelphia’s 2026 Pride March and Festival. Proudly, as in years past, the Health Department was right there with them.

Lead by Health Commissioner Palak Raval-Nelson, volunteers and staff from the Health Department marched from 13th and Locust Streets in Philadelphia’s Gayborhood to 21st Street and the Benjamen Franklin Parkway, where this year’s festival got underway. There, alongside numerous vendors, and stages with live musical performances, the Health Department provided important information on a variety of health-related topics, including tobacco cessation, heat safety, viral hepatitis, measles, party drugs, PrEP and HIV testing. A spin-the-wheel trivia game focused on topics related to sexual wellness and substance use, and volunteers and staff handed out free gifts that included insect repellant, tobacco cessation kits, COVID test kits and supplies, and safer sex kits containing condoms, lubricant, and drug testing strips.

Thank you to everyone who came out for Pride is Power. Thanks also to Health Department volunteers and staff for participating, including those from the Health Commissioner’s Office and these Divisions:

  • HIV Health (DHH)
  • Disease Control (DDC)
  • Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention (CDIP)
  • Substance Use Prevention and Harm Reduction (SUPHR)
  • Reproductive, Adolescent, and Child Health (ReACH)

Until next year, stay Proud, Philly!