News Briefing

Swarthmore gays, allies to march in parade

The annual Independence Day parade in Swarthmore this year will have an LGBT presence.

The parade, which kicks off at 9:45 a.m. July 4 at Park and Dartmouth avenues, will feature participation from the Swarthmore LGBT/Straight Network, which formed after an incident last summer in which a local gay man was taunted for his sexuality. The group’s awareness-raising mission took on even more importance after a possible antigay hate crime on the Swarthmore College campus this spring.

“We want to bring awareness to the community that there are many LGBT people among us and that we need to be sensitive and inclusive to everyone,” said group member Deb Dunbar.

Dunbar said many of the group’s 20 members are straight allies, and one of the group’s founders, Alan Irving, conceived of participating in the parade to further promote the organization’s mission.

“We need to bring these issues to light and make sure people know that this is a concern in our community, and that there are people working to ensure our community is inclusive of everyone,” she said.

For more information on the group, e-mail Dunbar at [email protected].

NJ team to host gay community

The Camden Riversharks will host its second annual Out at Campbell’s Field night for the LGBT community at its July 5 game.

The minor-league baseball team will go against the Long Island Ducks in the 7:05 p.m. game, with the gates opening at 6:05 p.m.

Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at www.riversharks.com. Enter promo code “OUT” in the group code box.

Haddonfield welcomes LGBTs

More than 30 businesses along a main thoroughfare in Haddonfield, N.J., will open their doors to the LGBT community for a business crawl 5:30-7:30 p.m. July 19.

Many of the merchants located on or near the Kings Highway corridor will be serving refreshments during the crawl, which will provide ample networking opportunities for LGBT communities from the Philadelphia and South Jersey areas.

Haddonfield is a 10-minute ride from both the Ben Franklin and Walt Whitman bridges and is easily accessible by the PATCO speedline.

For more information, visit www.duross-andlangel.com/retail/cms.php?id_cms=8.

— Jen Colletta

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