What to expect at Pride PH event on Saturday

The LGBTQIA+ community enjoy the “Lovelaban” evening program concert and entertainment at the Quezon Memorial Circle grounds during the Pride celebrations in Quezon City on June 24, 2023. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA -- The much-awaited Pride march in Quezon City, entitled "Love Laban 2 Everyone," is expected to draw a crowd of 150,000 to 200,000 attendees this year, exceeding last year's turnout of 110,000.

Last year, 50 celebrity guests and performers attended the Pride celebration. More than 100 partners and booths are expected  at the Pride Expo.

PRIDE MARCH AND PRIDE EXPO

There will be two pride marches: the LOVE march and the LABAN march. The Love March will kick off in Tomas Morato, then will pass by Timog going to Quezon Avenue, to end in QC Circle. Members and representatives of the Quezon City local government will be joining this parade, floats, VIPs, embassies, workplaces, businesses etc.

The Laban March will jumpstart at Matalino Street, will then take East Avenue and will end and merge with the Love March at the QC Circle.

Both marches will start at 3PM and expected to run for two hours.

Pride Expo will feature booths and sellers - LGBT owned small and medium enterprises (SME’s) and ally SME’s.

PRIDE NIGHT

Vice Ganda, Ben&Ben, BINI, Juan Karlos, Marina Summers and Gloc-9 are just some of the biggest names in entertainment that will grace the Pride night and will perform in front of the LGBTQIA+ community. The schedule of their performances will not be disclosed for security reasons.

Fans of these celebrities are expected to arrive early at QC Circle but according to organizers, gates will be opened to public as early as 9:30 a.m. There will be security control gates to check bags of attendees to make sure that all prohibited items won’t make it inside the venue. More than 2,000 police personnel will be deployed in the event.

There will be physical barriers, security and police assistance desk to manage crowd control to avoid the same incident during the Independence Day celebration where the crowd control got out of hand.

TRAFFIC, PARKING AND OTHERS 

Tomas Morato to Scout Albano will be closed during the Love March. Matalino Street will be closed during the Laban March. Expect heavy traffic and slow moving traffic along Quezon Avenue from 3PM to 5PM during the march.

Parking will be allowed in certain streets/roads and the QC LGU assured there will be no clamping of vehicles. But they emphasized that certain areas are still off-limits to parking such as fire hydrant areas, pedestrian lanes, etc. QC Facebook page will be posting the designated parking areas for those bringing their vehicles.

Attendees are discouraged to bring their pets since the march will be crowded and pets might get agitated and could cause stress with the parents.

RAINBOW GRADUATION RIGHTS

Aside from the march and the main event at the QC Circle, there will be a special commencement exercises happening in the morning of June 22 at the Risen Garden of the Quezon City Hall. It’s called the ‘Rainbow Graduation Rights’.

QC Mayor Belmonte said: “The first of its kind in the whole country, we decided to do this after hearing from multiple members of the communtiy na hindi sila pinayagan to graduate as they are. Feeling namin, kasama sa adbokasiya namin na makapag-graduate lahat as they are.”

Trans woman anchor and actress Jervi Li or known as Kaladkaren will be the guest speaker for the event.