Indianapolis, IN
Thousands gather at Indy Pride Festival, celebrating LGBTQ community and allies
INDIANAPOLIS (WRTV) — Thousands of people ventured to Military Park in Indianapolis Saturday for the 2026 Indy Pride Festival, including members of the LGBTQ community and their allies.
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John-Michael Riggs, of Tennessee, travels to several pride festivals across the country each year. He said they are important because “it gives people the confidence to be who they are, to show you can go out in public and still not be hated upon.”
Erika Holland-Lesch, who came to the festival with her wife, said, “Pride means everything. It literally feels like Christmas for our community… You feel supported, you feel accepted.”
Chris Bultman said it’s the sixth time he’s attended the Indy Pride Fest.
“It’s really important for me that my friends, my family, feel really valued in this city,” he said. “We show up for pride because pride matters to our city.”
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For Rikki Wydra, it was her fifth Indy Pride Fest. She said this year’s festival seems bigger to her than in previous years, and she takes that as a sign that support for the LGBTQ community is growing in Indiana.
“You’ll never get any free expression like this any other time of the year in Indiana,” she said. “The vibe is the best.”
The festival came as Indiana Governor Mike Braun proclaimed June as Nuclear Family Month, defining the family as a husband, a wife, and children, causing backlash in Indiana’s LGBTQ community.
“That is absolutely ridiculous,” said Stefonya Shirhall. “This month is fully for the gay community as a whole. We have went through so much to get here and it is amazing to celebrate it.”
WRTV
Festival attendees proudly sported creative costumes, wore rainbow clothing, held rainbow flags, and even cooled down with rainbow fans, keeping vendors busy, like Freddy Reed, who has a business selling pride-themed merchandise.
“I do Pride every weekend in a different city,” Reed said. “It’s amazing. Every town we go to, the people are so happy, they have fun. There’s never fights. Everyone’s nice.”
The positive, festive energy at Indy Pride Fest worked in tandem with the seriousness of the cause of standing up for LGBTQ rights.
“It’s important for people, if part of the LGBTQ community, to attend these because of visibility,” Riggs said. “We need to be seen, we need to be recognized and we need to be celebrated. it’s also important for our allies to attend these events to… uphold and uplift the community and to make us feel like a community at large”
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indiana Fever are now tied for the longest winning streak of the season after Saturday night’s win against the Connecticut Sun.
Indiana took down the Sun, 85-75, to mark the Fever’s third straight win.
Caitlin Clark had an impressive night on the offensive end. Clark had 25 points and knocked down five three-pointers in Indiana’s double-digit win.
Fever center Aliyah Boston also had a productive showing. The fourth-year Fever center recorded a double-double with her 13-point and 11-rebound performance. Saturday marked Boston’s third consecutive game with a double-double, and it’s her fourth this season.
The Fever committed 17 turnovers on Saturday, compared to the Sun’s nine. The difference, though, is that Indiana scored 25 points off turnovers to the Sun’s 14 points.
Indiana improves to 8-5 on the season and looks ahead to a home matchup against the Toronto Tempo at 7:00 p.m. this Tuesday, June 16th.
Wide receiver Stefon Diggs might have some football fans who aren’t quite sure of him after he’s had several off-field accusations, but Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard said this offseason that he was a guy who liked to give second chances. Ballard could prove that by signing Diggs.
Ballard made his comment when asked by the media about choosing running back Seth McGowan in the seventh round of the 2026 NFL Draft. McGowan had been booted by the University of Oklahoma early in his college career for a crime that involved a break-in. Since then, McGowan has stayed free of trouble.
In Diggs’ case, he had been accused by a former personal chef of assault and battery charges, but was found innocent in criminal court. On Friday, the NFL ruled there was insufficient evidence to suspend the receiver from the charges. In other words, a team can sign Diggs and have him available for the full season.
Indianapolis Colts now have the option of signing Stefon Diggs with no pending repercussions
That team could be the Colts, who need to find more weapons for quarterback Daniel Jones, if Ballard is true to his word. Indy has the available cash to sign the 32-year-old free agent, especially as his asking price could be suppressed not because of his off-field issues, but because of his age and injury history.
In 2025, Diggs was good enough to help the New England Patriots reach the Super Bowl, and he produced 85 catches for 1,013 yards and four touchdowns. He played in all 17 games after missing nine the previous season with the Houston Texans due to a torn ACL.
The Colts might be hoping that veteran Ashton Dulin suddenly becomes a high-end producer, too, but he never has been, so the hope is based on nothing. Meanwhile, the team traded the expensive Michael Pittman Jr. this offseason and replaced him with two late-round draft choices.
That means that the re-signed Alec Pierce and veteran Josh Downs will be the key wide receivers, and second-year pro tight end Tyler Warren will need to be even better in 2026. That could be a very good trio, but Pittman will be missed unless Indianapolis finds a player truly capable of picking up some of his production.
That could be Stefon Diggs. As much as some fans might be leery of his personal legal issues, the team has to ask itself whether they would be better with Diggs on the field or not. The likely answer is that the Indianapolis Colts would be.
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Video with this story aired prior to Indianapolis police reporting that the person had died.
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Homicide detectives were investigating after a person died Friday night at a hospital, Indianapolis police said.
Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department went to a report of a person shot just before 10:20 p.m. Friday in the 1600 block of South State Avenue. That’s in a residential area with one convenience store southeast of downtown, just north of East Minnesota Street.
It was not immediately clear from IMPD whether the area was safe, whether a suspect is being sought, or what may have led to the shooting. Also, no information was provided on the person who was fatally shot.
A media notification from Sgt. Christopher Higgins wrote, “An update will be provided at a later time.”
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