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In the 1970s, Pittsburgh Pride marches highlighted LGBTQ job discriminations, police harassment, and city legislations, according to the Pitt News.
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Pride celebrations in Pittsburgh started off relatively small. PFLAG Pittsburgh marches in a Pittsburgh Pridefest parade in 1998 Sheppard, along with former Delta treasurer Jeff Freedman, have charged that illicit financial dealings are behind this. He believes that Healey is trying to merge Delta and Persad as a way to take over Pride and other large LGBTQ events. Jim Sheppard is a former board member of Delta and served as interim president shortly before the board voted to dissolve. The trademark filing even led to a protest against the Persad Center, a local LGBTQ service organization currently run by Marty Healey, who is also the head of the board at Delta. These two former board members, who now run a local LGBTQ-focused publication, have decided to challenge Delta’s trademark request, and are encouraging others in the community to do the same. They are alleging financial impropriety against the Delta Foundation, including the organization’s strange ties to a jet ski rental company, and a financial audit that the accounting firm listed says it never completed. Now, two former Delta board members are crying foul, believing Delta’s current president and board chair - who replaced a former, and controversial, leader - is orchestrating a transfer of power to another LGBTQ organization. In its 23-year history, PBP has offered everything from dance and musical concerts, to health fairs, to BBQs, parties, and happy hours to aid Black LGBTQIA individuals in Southwest PA in leading healthier, more socially connected lives.The news confused many in Pittsburgh’s LGBTQ community and led some to ask: Why would a dissolved organization seek to make this move? The founding members of PBP sought to create an environment where Black LGBTQIA people in Southwest PA are less vulnerable to negative health and social experiences such as lack of access to proper healthcare, HIV and sexually transmitted infections, poverty, incarceration, and social isolation.Īs one of the oldest Black Pride celebrations in the United States, PBP has continually provided a platform where community members can forge new social networks and gain awareness of the important local, regional and national issues that impact all members of the LGBTQIA community and those specific to the Black community.
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PBP began in response to the lack of safe and affirming spaces in the greater Pittsburgh area for Black LGBTQIA people, especially youth and their families. Since 1995, the Pittsburgh Black Pride (PBP) Association has provided entertainment, social information, and health education to Black LGBTQIA individuals and families in the City of Pittsburgh and across Southwest Pennsylvania.