Photo: Jan van der Wolf \/ Pexels<\/p>\n
Philadelphia\u2019s Pride Visitor Center, one of the few LGBTQ+ visitor centers in the country, is looking for long-term funding after drawing thousands of visitors to Locust Street in the Gayborhood over the past six months.<\/p>\n
The center has only received funding for one year. Councilmember Rue Landau and the center\u2019s operators say they are optimistic about finding money to keep the doors open into the fall, the new year and beyond.<\/p>\n
Vow renewals on Locust Street<\/p>\n
The center held a \u201cRomance Revival\u201d event last weekend as part of its \u201cOut and About on Friday\u201d series, offering a vow renewal ceremony to mark National Romance Awareness Day.<\/p>\n
Landau, the city\u2019s first openly LGBTQ+ councilmember, gave opening remarks. \u201cIt is really a reminder for us what it means to play a part in queer history, even a small part,\u201d Landau said. She noted how rare it is for a city to have a resource where people can feel safe and celebrate. \u201cThis is unique, traveling from other places it is not always safe to just be in our relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dave Jack and Arturo Lara were among the couples who renewed their vows. The pair met in Philadelphia on Camac Street in 1996, have lived in the city together since 2001 and have been married for 11 years. \u201cIt is important to show people we are just two people in love,\u201d Lara said. Jack added: \u201cWe couldn\u2019t have chosen a finer city to be in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Local businesses Knock Restaurant and Bar and Cake Life provided treats for the celebration.<\/p>\n
Building partnerships across the city<\/p>\n
Laura Burkhardt, the center\u2019s partnership consultant, has been connecting the center with organizations ranging from student groups to gay-straight alliances within Philadelphia businesses. \u201cI\u2019m confident people will be excited and want us to be here,\u201d Burkhardt said.<\/p>\n
Those partnerships have helped the center gain exposure and deepen ties across the community.<\/p>\n
A \u2018midpoint\u2019 for Philly\u2019s queer community<\/p>\n
The center doubles as a small history lesson. Its walls display information about Philadelphia\u2019s role in the fight for gender equality, including the nation\u2019s first LGBTQ+ sit-in in 1963 and the 1965 \u201cAnnual Reminder\u201d protest in front of Independence Hall.<\/p>\n
Kristopher Lawrence, the center\u2019s supervisor, called the space an important midpoint for Philadelphia\u2019s queer community, allies and visitors. \u201cWe create history every day in Philadelphia. I am going to say it is a part of the city\u2019s fabric and blood at this point,\u201d Lawrence told Billy Penn<\/a>.<\/p>\n Lawrence said he is focused on creating opportunities for people to come together, build community and expand the center\u2019s mission. \u201cPeople are really appreciative of something where they know they are welcome. Not everyone is comfortable putting themselves out there,\u201d he said. \u201cBut they know when they see the words \u2018visitor center\u2019 that this is a place they\u2019re welcome at throughout all stages of their journey.\u201d<\/p>\n No timeline has been announced for a funding decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo: Jan van der Wolf \/ Pexels Philadelphia\u2019s Pride Visitor Center, one of the few LGBTQ+ visitor centers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268524,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70],"class_list":["post-268523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268523","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=268523"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268523\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}