With June, better known as Pride Month, almost over, Street conferred with Thomas Calder (C'20) to talk about his reactions to his inaugural pride, even in the Trump era. Thomas Calder is living in Philly this summer and attended some of the city's Pride celebrations the weekend of June 16. Thomas walked us through the all–important process of picking the right events, outfit and entourage for Pride.
Street: Can you just give an overview of your day? Tell us where you went, who you were with and what fun stuff you saw.
Thomas Calder: I spent the whole day with some of my most treasured queer and not queer friends! We started at the festival at Penn's Landing and then went to Woody's, one of the most famous LGBTQ bars in Philly.
Street: What was your favorite part of the experience?
TC: My favorite part of the day was probably the people I willfully spent it with. Even though pride is a highly social event and a great way to meet new people, I feel like it's important and easy to remember who really matters.
Street: Have you been to other pride celebrations before? If so, how did your experience at Philly Pride compare?
TC: I'd never been to pride before! I missed the parade completely which I'd like to see at some point in the future.
Street: Was there any political subtext to the celebrations in light of the Trump administration?
TC: I feel like while some political messages were around most of us didn't really want to think or talk about Trump/related issues (Ed. note: we feel you). The people I was with instead wanted to make the day about pride and ourselves and our loved ones.
Street: Walk us through the process of picking an outfit.
TC: Picking an outfit for Pride is awesome. You have this sense of security in knowing that whatever direction you go in, there's always going to be someone more extreme than you, you know? It's no pressure because everyone looks as outlandish or as casual as they want to—everything is fair game.
Happy Pride! xoxo, Street.
