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Baltimore Pride Festivities Promote Diversity Among People Of All Ages

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- This is the last weekend of Pride month and Druid Hill Park played host to Baltimore Pride festivities.

Hundreds of vendors showed off their talents at the festival as people celebrated the spirit of pride.

"I love being out here and celebrating all of the parts of our community," Katherine Joyner said.

"In my opinion, it's been a smashing success," Silas White said.

White said he attended the first Pride festival in Baltimore in 1975.

Now, he's part of the council for ElderPride, a program that supports people who are 50 years old and older.

"I think many of us started to feel left out and it was strange," White said. "We were being left out of something we created, or something we helped to create."

There was a tent at the park where members of ElderPride could meet and feel safe.

"It's fascinating to watch people who came out many many years—decades ago—also mixing with young people who are coming out right now," said Sam McClure, Executive Director of the Center for LGBTQ+ Health Equity at Chase Brexton. 

The clinic says that of the estimated three million LGBTQ+ people aged 55 and older, approximately one in three of them live alone, 40 percent say their support networks have become smaller over time, 40 percent say they have not told their health providers about their sexual orientation or gender identities and as many as 1 in 4 LGBT adults will become informal caregivers.

"They simply age differently," McClure explained earlier this week. "We start at age 50 and we provide a variety of supports and resources to ensure that this population has really good access to informed healthcare." 

Those who live in the area of the festivities said events like Pride bring people together during a time when the country needs it most.

"You can be who you are," Katherine Joyner said. "You can wear what you want and it's great."

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