Apparently, at least in liberal-speak, if you are a member of an Accredited Victim Group™, you do not have to do anything really radical like obey the law or behave like a civilized human being.
The City of Brotherly Love — a pretty appropriate nickname right now — has gone all out on the homosexual “Pride” month, something our nation’s third oldest continuously published daily newspaper has been very eagerly covering, and as you might have guessed, the party atmosphere has not led to orderly behavior.
15 arrested as police response to Gayborhood Pride festival spurs criticism from some in LGBTQ+ community
Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said officers had responded “to a growing number of public safety concerns.”
by Jesse Bunch | Monday, June 8, 2026 | 7:06 PM EDT
Fifteen people were arrested at a Pride celebration in the Gayborhood on Sunday, authorities said, and the response drew criticism from some LGBTQ+ residents over how police handled crowd control at the event.
Images of police officers engaging with attendees in Center City circulated widely across local social media feeds on Monday, featuring criticisms of what some considered to be an outsized and aggressive law enforcement presence.
In one image shared on X, a police officer on a motorcycle appears to push against a woman’s chest, and in another photo, pushes the woman against a garage door while arresting her.
Others videos showed police on horseback dispersing young people from a sidewalk, as well as officers physically struggling with a man outside of the gay bar Woody’s.
Sounds like crowd control to me, efforts by the Philadelphia Police to keep things safe and orderly, among a crowd in which some partygoers might have consumed mood-or-judgement-altering substances.
And in yet another clip, a row of police officers — two of whom were wearing face coverings — formed a line to clear a barricaded Gayborhood street while officers on motorbikes rode along the sidewalks.
Joshua Stokem, a New Jersey resident who regularly attends the city’s Pride celebrations, said he has never seen that large of a police presence during such festivities.
“They were definitely getting more and more aggressive” as the gathering stretched into the early evening, said Stokem, who works as a promoter for LGBTQ+ events at city bars.
Councilmember Rue Landau, herself a member of the LGBTQ+ community, said in a statement Monday that LGBTQ+ constituents had reached out to her office in “outrage” and that she was working to better understand the department’s strategy.
It’s really simple: police officers in those situations are trying to keep things orderly and safe, while ‘revelers’ are not always inclined to behave.
Considering the size of the crowds, at least to judge by the coverage that The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philly television stations have provided, fifteen people being arrested, mostly for disorderly conduct, but at least one person “was arrested for aggravated assault of a police officer.”
Can I blame that on the newspaper’s encouraging attitude when it comes to citizens ‘resisting’ law enforcement when it comes to immigration? To me, those things are related. If someone has no respect for law enforcement in one area, would it be any particular surprise that such a person might have less respect for law enforcement in other areas?
Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said in a statement that the celebration was “by all accounts, a successful event attended and enjoyed by thousands of people.”
Still, “as crowd sizes increased in the Gayborhood, officers responded to a growing number of public safety concerns, including fights, disorderly behavior, blocked roadways, and the challenges associated with safely managing large crowds in a confined area,” Bethel said.
What? Fights? Among our peaceful, leftist communities? I’m shocked, I tell you, shocked!
Let’s face it: Commissioner Bethel, all of the supervisors, and really every police officer in the City of Brotherly Love know that Philly is very supportive of the homosexual community, and they would certainly not be going out of their way just to beat up the revelers; that’s very much a career-limiting move, and with the city’s asinine, far-left, police-hating District Attorney, any cop would know that if he stepped over the line, Larry Krasner would want to throw him in jail. I’m not going to give any credit to the special pleaders for this particular Accredited Victim Group.™