On Saturday, July 15, the Keystone Alliance Gaylife Newsletter had its Johnstown LGBTQIA Pride Event Johnstown to celebrate diversity in the area. A crowd of hundreds came out to enjoy the day. There were twenty plus groups with tables at the event. I got interviews with each of them in the video below. In the video below, I misidentified Alexis Zinovenko as male rather than female. I wasn’t thinking and I apologize for the error.
There was a heckler at the event who gave his name as “Bible Believer.” The police came to talk to him. He continued to preach but eventually he left. You can see him in the video below.
The event was organized by John DeBartola, Philip Bayush and Alex Ciotti (who was interviewed for this site last fall). At the end I took this video of a little bird who fell out of its nest.
The Johnstown LGBTQIA pride event ended with a torrential downpour. Mr. Bible Believer probably believed that the storm was God’s wrath rather than just natural processes. It was a festive event. It’s hard to imagine an event like this happening in Johnstown 30 years ago. Somerset County will have its pride event on July 30. Johnstown Mayor Frank Janakovic (who opposed the Bill 5 ordinance that would have banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation), Governor Shapiro, and Senators Fetterman and Casey sent proclamations of support for the event.