Whatever your stage may be, whatever vision comes slowly into focus in your mind’s eye, whatever calling stirs quietly in your truest bones, there’s a place for you to be it. Period. So said Leikeli47, the genre-bending RCA artist, who welcomed Pittsburgh Pride weekend with a jam-packed night that brought the house down (just to bring it right back up) this past June. Presented by AIDS Free Pittsburgh and True T Entertainment, the night was a radically joyous, vivid amalgam of vogue battles, activism and community gathering — all in the name of Pride.

“I want you to continue to live proud, to be yourself and I want you and everybody here to know, that the stage is set for you. I don’t know what your stage may be, but your stage is set… Bitch I’m not better than you, I am you. I am you! Period!”  — Leikeli47 at Pittsburgh Pride 2019, next to Ace Hotel Pittsburgh.

The below video is one we’ve watched on repeat ad infinitum. Crying is caring, people. (Credit: Seneca Street Studios and AIDS Free Pittsburgh.)