{"id":176237,"date":"2026-04-26T02:49:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T02:49:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/176237\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T02:49:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T02:49:19","slug":"community-helps-paint-gayborhood-mural-honoring-philadelphia-lgbtq-trailblazers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/176237\/","title":{"rendered":"Community helps paint Gayborhood mural honoring Philadelphia LGBTQ+ trailblazers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Community members picked up paintbrushes in Philadelphia&#8217;s Gayborhood inside Voyeur Nightclub on Saturday to help bring a new mural honoring five LGBTQ+ trailblazers to life \u2014 an effort organizers say is rooted in both remembrance and representation.<\/p>\n<p>The public paint day, held during <a href=\"https:\/\/www.phillyblackpride.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Philadelphia Black Pride<\/a>, invited people of all ages to contribute to a mural that will be installed and dedicated in June for Pride Month.<\/p>\n<p>The artwork, designed by Santiago Galeas, honors Gloria Casarez, Michael Hinson Jr., Tyrone Smith, Nizah Morris and Dawn Munro \u2014 all of whom played significant roles in advancing LGBTQ+ rights and visibility in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n<p>At several tables set up inside the club, participants worked on different sections of the mural, filling in color over pre-drawn designs \u2014 each section representing one of the five honorees.<\/p>\n<p>Galeas said he took time to understand each person&#8217;s legacy while developing the design.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;When I do portraits, I like to make sure I&#8217;m talking to the subjects,&#8221; Galeas said. &#8220;Obviously, there&#8217;s not a way to do that with this mural, so I made a point of talking to their loved ones, really diving into the work and legacy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>For the families of those depicted, that approach carried deep meaning.<\/p>\n<p>Tricia Dressel, the surviving spouse of Gloria Casarez \u2014 Philly&#8217;s first director of LGBTQ affairs \u2014 said the mural is a powerful tribute.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;To be in a mural with members of the community, people she considered friends \u2026 like Michael and Dawn and Tyrone and Nizah \u2014 I think this is the best honor for Gloria,&#8221; Dressel said.<\/p>\n<p>The timing of the event also adds another layer of significance. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/philadelphia\/news\/gayborhood-philadelphia-michael-hinson-way-juneteenth-pride\/\" data-invalid-url-rewritten-http=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Hinson Jr.<\/a>, one of the five honorees, was a co-founder of Philadelphia Black Pride \u2014 a legacy that continues to resonate during the annual celebration.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;He fought tirelessly and courageously and endlessly for Black and Brown LGBTQ+ rights,&#8221; said Tara Webb, a close friend of Hinson.<\/p>\n<p>City Councilmember Rue Landau, the city&#8217;s first openly LGBTQ councilmember, said the mural ensures those contributions are not forgotten.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The stories of all five of these people are so important,&#8221; Landau said. &#8220;Whether it was housing, healthcare \u2014 they made significant change.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>For younger participants, the experience also served as a moment of learning.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It makes the people of that community feel more accepted,&#8221; said 10-year-old Alma Alfarano, who helped paint part of the mural.<\/p>\n<p>Organizers say once additional layers are completed, the mural will be installed in the Gayborhood and formally dedicated in June.<\/p>\n<p class=\"content__tags__label\">In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Community members picked up paintbrushes in Philadelphia&#8217;s Gayborhood inside Voyeur Nightclub on Saturday to help bring a new&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1157,524,8987,7136,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-176237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-center-city","tag-community","tag-lgbtq","tag-mural","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}