WWCC 2016 June Newsletter

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THE LITTLE BLUE

JUNE 2016

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A Note From The Editor

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Jason Peno, Development Associate

I am very excited to present the first edition of The Center’s new Quarterly Review, The Little Blue. Paying homage to the Center’s earlier existence as Penguin Place, the quarterly review takes on the name of the world’s smallest penguin, the little blue, also known as the fairy penguin. The Little Blue presents us with an opportunity to recognize and celebrate the good work that the Center is creating every day of the year. The William Way LGBT Community Center offers a safe and life-affirming space for Philadelphia’s LGBTQI+ communities and our hope is that this periodical will serve as a voice for both the Center and the people who call it home. If you, or anyone you know, is interested in writing for The Little Blue, or contributing other artistic elements, please do contact me with your ideas. We look forward to providing you with insights into life at the Center and supporting our community’s many wonderful and varied voices. Enjoy, Jason PS: The Artwork for the cover of our first edition was designed by Linus Curci. You can find his artwork here: linuscurci.com, and the new layout and design for The Little Blue was done by Tolani Lawrence-Lightfoot.

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Greetings From The Executive Director Chris Bartlett Greetings, friends, and welcome to Pride month at the Center. We are living in transformative times for our LGBTQI+ communities. Last year brought marriage equality nationwide, and Philadelphia has pioneered efforts to better serve and keep safe its LGBTQI+ citizens. Still, we face a nasty backlash in places like North Carolina and Mississippi. In spite of that, our trajectory is towards justice. It is when we strengthen and celebrate our communities that our fellow citizens take note of the huge contributions of LGBTQI+ people to our nation. In doing so, we’ll win over many more hearts. In that spirit, I was pleased to travel to Harrisburg in April with seven other executive directors of Pennsylvania L GBTQI+Centers. I spent the day advocating to state legislators and officials and along with my colleagues from across PA, we strategized ways to bring more resources to LGBTQI+ centers statewide. With the support of

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our friends in Harrisburg and the advocacy of Adrian Shanker, we have received a grant to research tobacco use among LGBTQI+ people. Speaking of Adrian Shanker, I want to congratulate him and his colleagues at the BradburySullivan LGBT Community Center in Allentown for successfully inaugurating their new building. Even as we gain civil rights and our communities evolve, the need for safe space for LGBTQI+ youth, adults and elders remains.

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New centers like theirs, as well as ours with our four decades of proud history, are vital to the social and cultural fabric of our communities. We do so with the generous support and contributions of our members. I extend my sincere thanks to all who contributed to our Spring campaign. If you have not made your gift yet, or if you would like to make an additional gift, you can give online at http://waygay40.org/ membership/.

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It was also a pleasure to attend the 40th Anniversary celebration of the Philadelphia Gay News earlier this Spring. The PGN was the first gay paper I ever read and as a teen, it was the first place I learned about our communities’ history, its arts and culture, and the diversity of programs and services being created by burgeoning LGBT organizations. At the onset of the AIDS epidemic, it was the place I went to read about HIV prevention, treatments, and ways to get involved. When I began working professionally on LGBT issues, the PGN was where I went to find out what people were thinking and and how they took action. I read many inspiring writers who helped me see all the possibilities for building a powerful LGBT community in Philadelphia.

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I’m proud to say that our John J. Wilcox Archives at the Center has a nearly complete collection of PGN’s run. (If you have a collection at home that may be able to help us complete ours, please email [email protected] and let us know!) More than that, our archives are also the home to the photography of the PGN’s first photographer, Harry Eberlin. It’s always an incredible joy to see people make an appointment to visit our archives. Whether they are graduate students writing a research paper or a former Philadelphian back for a visit and looking to reconnect with the newspapers, t-shirts, event posters, rally placards, and bar signs that defined their life in the Gayborhood, it is deeply satisfying to see people connect with the rich history of LGBT Philadelphia that lives here at the Center.

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Whether it is visiting our archives, perusing our art gallery, taking a book out of our library, or joining us for a program, I hope to see you at the Center soon. If you are looking for a great way to kick off your Pride weekend, please join us for Homecoming, at the Center on Saturday, June 11th from 11AM to 2PM. We will be enjoying brunch and live entertainment, as well as showing off improvements and updates we have made at the Center. With appreciation, Chris Bartlett Executive Director

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Do We Need The Center? “Do we still need LGBT community centers?” Whenever I speak to college classes on behalf of the Center I always start off with the same question. “I’m not being rhetorical,” I say. “I want you to really ask yourself. After all of this advancement, in a city with its own Gayborhood, have we really moved beyond LGBTQI+ community centers?” Most students are on to my game and rarely offer arguments against the Center. Nevertheless, after asking the question I always spend the next hour (or two) making the case for this building, this organization, and my job. I argue both points, not as a rhetorical exercise or a self-conscious defense, but as a way of creating. More often than not, the students I’m talking to haven’t ever asked themselves those questions. Why would they? I’ve found, however, that I learn the most about the Center—our past, our future—by justifying our existence. Do we still need LGBT community centers? Of course. But why?

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The Making of a Queer Space R. Eric Thomas Director of Programs

In January, I received an email from Aidan, a doctoral student, who wanted to spend a prolonged amount of time observing and taking notes on the Center and the ways that people interact with it. Originally, he was going to limit his observation to the Library, but after a conversation we decided that the lobby might be a more fruitful space. As his notes would be confidential, anonymous and not part of a larger study, I also felt that this wouldn’t be a violation of the implicit privacy Center constituents can enjoy. Over the last four months, I’ve really enjoyed checking in with Aidan, hearing about how he perceives our space and what goes on in it and finding new answers to the question “Do we

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still need centers?” In March, he e-mailed to ask if we could have a formal interview, so that he could also record my thoughts and theories about the space. “I have been in total awe during my observations,” he wrote. “The sheer amount of programs, services, support offered by the WWCC is amazing.” He wanted to get a sense of the organizational priorities and the vision for the future. I am always interested in giving my opinion on anything, so naturally I said yes. We ended up spending over an hour in the Living Room on the first floor, talking about where I’d like to see the Cen-

ter go, where we’ve come from and all the different ways that people experience the organization. More than anything, however, we talked about the environment. We both shared a fascination with the building itself, the position in the city ecosystem and the transformative nature of this space. I suggested that the Center is a queer space. Even though we have a marked lack of disco balls and confetti cannons, this is a space where being LGBTQ or an active ally is the default, the norm. It’s a space where I can kiss my fiancé and not think twice, where when I hear someone talking about a date

Opening for Linus

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they went on the night before, I automatically assume that said date was not heteronormative. There’s very few spaces like that. Most spaces are actually straight spaces. Your average bar is definably straight—not just in what goes on there but in the way the space functions in the world. Straight is the norm. “Do you think that a space like a supermarket is a neutral space or a straight space,” I asked Aidan, rhetorically. (Perhaps all my questions are rhetorical? What do you think?) We both agreed that we’d categorize most markets as straight spaces. Not, necessarily, because one assumes that Uncle Ben is married to an aunt but because our world defaults to straight. So unless the supermarket makes a concerted effort to queer the norm, it will always be straight, overtly or subtly, in large ways or small. Perhaps one day we will achieve a world where there are neutral spaces. Maybe you have access to some in your life. If you do, I’d love to hear about them. Send me an e-mail; I find this topic endlessly fascinating. But, until we escape the binary, we will have to continue to construct our own spaces that are objectively queer. And

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that’s the answer that I give to my own question when I speak to colleges. I ask them to look around their classroom, to be passive observers. “If you didn’t know anything about this room or the people in it, would you think it was straight or queer?” By that time they’ve wised up to my game. “Straight,” they answer. “Very good,” I reply. We spend a few minutes talking about why this classroom, with its whiteboard and nondescript desks could be considered straight. Sometimes they argue; I like that. In the end, I always invite them to do two things— and I invite you to do the same: I invite them to ask themselves to define the nature of the spaces they find themselves in, as an observational exercise, and then I invite them to come into the Center to find out what a queer space feels like. “I warn you,” I say. “It is not like the set of that Liberace movie. It’s an old building with a lot of old furniture. But it’s also a place where LGBTQ selfexpression is not only accepted, but encouraged. It’s the norm. And that’s important. You may not feel it explicitly; it may not hit you over the head. But it’s in every wall, every floorboard, every minute of every program. We will always need that.”

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Owner of Spirited Tattooing Coalition One of the first questions I ask people is: “What do you want?” Obviously this isn’t literally the first thing because that would be weird, but usually following the “Hey, how are yous?” and all of the introductory business it’s,”How can I help you?” “What are you wanting to get done?” Essentially, “What do you want?” And whether that person knows it or not, they’re not just describing their tattoo goals, they’re telling me how they want to be represented in the world. A cool thing about tattoos is that they can help bridge that gap between one’s internal dialogue and their external identity- you can show your emotions or display messages

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Jasmine Morell,

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and mementos. You can get in touch with yourself in a way that cannot compare to most or any other experience, and the experience of this process is just as large as the keepsake. People walk away with the experience of what’s being done to them above all, and for some it’s more important than the work itself; it’s important to have people you trust or share common ground with permanently embellish you. I myself need this as a queer trans person of color, a person who feels that their body doesn’t fully belong to myself at times and is up for public idea or trend. Who feels that their body is up for scrutiny. The constant notion that everyone is entitled to your body’s story, from what’s exposed to what’s under your clothes. I’ve had people ask me about my tattoos then try to take my name away from me. This in fact happened just the other day, as I was at the cell phone store- I was trying to replace my broken phone and after the person that worked there and I had gotten past the first set of niceties,

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she began questioning me about my tattoos and wanted to further inspect. I politely accepted her comments but brushed off the idea of revealing more skin. Once that was over she then told me I’d have to come back because obviously I wasn’t Jasmine and could therefore not handle anything on the account personally. “Nope, that’s me. I am Jasmine.

Right here.” Of course an amplified wave of awkwardness crashed over me and her well-meaning intentions only got blurrier once she then had to ask to see my governmentissued identification. It’s standard procedure to do this when dealing with phone accounts, but the timing really didn’t help the situation. I am who I say I am and

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“Nope, that’s me. I am Jasmine. Right here.”

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I would hope no one can take that away from me. The thing is, similar to revealing parts of your identity, you don’t ever have to answer or respond to people when they “ask” or seemingly demand to see more of your body. More of your tattoos. And you shouldn’t feel guilty about it. Claiming your body is for you and you alone and it’s one of the most freeing acts. You can send a message out into the world that you never have to talk about if you don’t want to. This is for you. Conversely, there is freedom in getting tattooed and the tattoo doesn’t have to have a deep meaning. Adorning yourself with whatever the hell you want is fully and actively taking control of your body which in itself is a message. Which in itself is a political statement. It’s social justice, it’s women’s rights, it’s fighting against anti-black and brown racism. It’s body positive and negative ableism. It’s trans rights. Feeling respected and empowered is done through the vessel that carries you throughout life. So, what do you want?

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Your Works are Wonderful Ricky Cintron I was born and raised as a Roman Catholic, and I loved Jesus. Still do. I was really into church when I was younger. I memorized all the prayers during Mass and would recite them under my breath while the priest was saying them. I’m Puerto Rican, so you know I learned all of that in English and Spanish. I was educated in Catholic schools for most of my life, so I had to go through abstinence-only sex education, and let me tell you, that worked out really well for me. Abstinence-only sex ed was a trip. I remember the instructor telling my class that our bodies are like pieces of ‘beautiful white fabric’, and if we had sex before marriage, it would be like tearing a hole in that fabric. And then he told us, “Now who wants something with holes in it?” This left quite the impression on me. Every time I had a sexual or even romantic thought, I felt unclean. As you can imagine, realizing that I liked dudes didn’t help.

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Now, I personally felt like Jesus didn’t really care that I was gay, but everyone else around me certainly did. My pastor, my teachers, my classmates all went out of their way to tell me about the “proper use” of sexuality and evidently me being gay was not “proper.” Some time later I decided to look for another spiritual path that I felt would affirm who I was, because I’ve always felt that God can’t be encapsulated by one religion. After a lot of searching I eventually converted to Hinduism, and I was a practicing Hindu for 8 years of my life. During that time I became a priest and started a community for queer Hindus. But I also struggled a lot with some of the theology. There was a lot of negativity around sex, like I had encountered with my Catholic upbringing. There was also this belief that we’re not these bodies. Many of the Hindu scriptures state that our true identity is the soul, not the body or the other aspects of ourselves that go with it, like

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our sexuality, ethnicity, gender, and so on. This teaching is supposed to be liberating – because if we’re all made of the same spiritual essence, then it means everyone is equal, right? But this teaching also gets misused. Because when I would try to talk about queerness, or race, or gender with folks in my religious community, a lot of times I would get shut down. People would tell me, “You shouldn’t talk about these body things so much. It’s divisive.” As a queer person of color, being told that sharing your experiences is ‘divisive’ is hurtful and frustrating. This teaching that was meant to liberate is used as a tool to silence and oppress. So as you can see, I was still being confronted with this tension, this division between the body and spirit. And it really sucked, because with both of these religious traditions I was in, I was being told to affirm my spirit at the expense of my body. Recently I had a bit of a crisis of faith, and if you haven’t had one before, they’re a lot of fun, I assure you. I actually ended up opening the New Testament again for the first time in years. I found myself being drawn to Jesus Christ again. I’ve been going to Mass at LG-

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BTQI+ affirming Churches, praying the rosary, and reading a lot of theological works by queer-identified as well as affirming Christians about the body and sexuality. They’ve been really helpful in helping me to reclaim my faith. One of the most healing things for me during this time has been remembering and meditating on the fact that Jesus had a body just like ours. A favorite writer of mine, Father James Martin, wrote an article reminding people that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine, even if we don’t always emphasize the human part as much. He wrote: “Jesus had a human body. Like you and me. That means he ate like us, drank like us and slept like us. He went through puberty. As a human being, he would have experienced sexual longings and urges. We know he was unmarried and celibate, but he would have, as a human being, felt the normal sexual attractions. Those are not sinful, after all. Far from it.” Let me tell you, reading those words – especially that part about sexual desires – and realizing they were coming from a Catholic priest blew my mind. I thought to myself, you know, if Jesus did it, maybe this whole having a body thing isn’t so bad after all. So how do we begin to heal this

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division between body and spirit? I don’t have an easy answer for that. But I think for those of us who are religious or spiritual, we need to go deeper with our theologies. We need to really sit with and question how our teachings can be misused and become harmful. We really need to stop seeing the body and spirit as irreconcilable. The body is the vehicle through which the spirit operates. We need the body. We need to honor and love the body.

For my own part, I’ve started to realize that my body and my sexuality are not these dirty, sinful things. The different parts of my identity are not inconsequential, rather they are holy. God made them and imbued them with purpose and potential. I’ve definitely grown beyond seeing myself as a flimsy piece of fabric. I am so much more than that. We are all so much more than that. And we need to seek out and lift up theologies that embrace everything that we are.

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I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes from scripture, from Psalm 139.

If you’re ever feeling ashamed of your body, for any reason, think of these words:

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For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well (Psalm 139:13-14) wwcc june 2016.indd 15

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Lust and Love in a Bleak World Scott A. Drake

A Review of What Belongs to You, Garth Greenwell

Garth Greenwell has crafted an award-worthy tale that embraces those conflicts of passion and reason that every person encounters during life’s journeys. Sometimes reason wins, sometimes we suppress it, believing that eventually love will be returned, and, sometimes, life is about compromise. The compromise being that we understand things will never be the way we wish, but we remain content to surrender to the struggle between mind and heart.

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In one of the most enthralling pieces of writing I’ve encountered in recent years, Greenwall manages to write the second chapter of this modern day Greek tragedy as a single paragraph, moving between our protagonist’s travels through Bulgaria, toward a dying and estranged father, and flashbacks to rural America, and conflicts of the past.

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In the end, the process comes to an understandable result: He terminates his travels without seeing his father and returns to his day-to-day living. Mitko, his singular obsession, is the young hustler who disappears for long periods of time only to return to covertly seek money for various needs, some practical, others contrived. Mitko declares at one point that they are friends—a point not missed by one who desires more than a friend with benefits— and perhaps that is one of the more poignant moments in the story. The otherwise unlikely social pairing of the two men is punctuated by the long-established pattern of support and comfort that binds them together.

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As a debut novel, Greenwell has struck literary gold. He has taken familiar tales—Part Romeo and Juliet, part Beauty and the Beast—and passionately and compassionately brought two destitute souls into a relationship of longing and resolve that will never flourish in the sun, and they both know it. What Belongs to You will belong to you for a long time after you have read the last paragraph and closed the book. And that is what good reading and great writing are supposed to do.

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3rd Annual SAGEWorks Career Fair Ed Miller, Senior Services Coordinator

Our SAGEWorks Community Partners came together making this our most successful careerfocused event to date. The Center’s Mark Segal Ballroom was transformed into a hub of activity throughout the day with terrific allies and LGBT recruiters and company representatives greeting job seekers.

Fargo. Also of note, SAGEWorks is generously funded by the Walmart Foundation.

We know that one-in-four LGBT older adults are looking for a job and many individuals lose jobs that they have held for years. People are unemployed, and finding themselves without the skills they need to compete in today’s job market. During This year’s SAGEWorks Career the career fair we provided skills Fair partners included: AARP, building workshops where job Campbell Soup, City of Philaseekers joined Wells Fargo for delphia, Comcast, Indepena LinkedIn presentation where dence Blue Cross, Jefferson University Hospital, PECO, Phil- they learned; how to create adelphia Police Department, TD standout profiles, how to exBank, University of Pennsylvania, pand their network connections, Vanguard, Walgreens and Wells and why many recruiters use

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LinkedIn to find candidates. Further, Job seekers filled the Comcast Career Chat workshop where the Director of Diversity and Human Resources representatives discussed the company culture and made tangible suggestions to move towards that face-to-face interview. A meditation and relaxation workshop offered participants calming techniques to use before a job interview and tips to focus their thoughts during the interview.

and encouragement through the difficult process of finding employment while our participants and volunteers make the program vibrant and unique. We are always looking to engage volunteers to help with critiquing resumes, provide practice interviews, informational interviews or to participate in an employer panel discussion.

The program and the Center provides a welcoming space

If you are interested in becoming a community partner please email [email protected]. If you are a job seeker 40 + and would like to register for this free program, use the following link and click on the Basic Registration Form. http://sage.business-access.com/sage

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IT Came from the Archives! History would never be the same! A Bicentennial Without Gay Oppression John Anderies, John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives, Archivist In each issue of the newsletter, archivist John Anderies will highlight a different document or object from the Center’s John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives.

The promotional flyer included in this article, comes from the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) files in the papers of Philadelphia activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca. Living and organizing in San Francisco now, Tommi’s vast collection helped form the basis of today’s John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives. The flyer takes the form of an American flag of 13 red (or is that magenta?) and white stripes, with a clenched fist inside conjoining double male and female signs in the field traditionally reserved for the fifty stars. It proclaims that a demonstration on July 4th, 1976—the nation’s Bicentennial—will take place for “jobs,” “equality,” and “indepen-

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dence,” and against “200 years of gay oppression.” The meeting place for a march is listed as 8th and Columbia Street, today’s Cecil B. Moore Avenue. Organizers of this event, which was also called the “Bicentennial Without Gay Oppression,” were part of a much larger demonstration of over 130 radical, left-wing, pacifist, and civil rights groups assembled in Philadelphia during Independence Day weekend under the auspices of the July 4th Coalition. The Coalition’s aim was to “reinvigorate 200 years of struggle by Americans against the very forms of racism, sexism, and exploitation of working people that are trying to use the Bicentennial to celebrate

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and perpetuate the status quo.” Among the groups represented were the American Indian Movement, Philadelphia Friends Peace Committee, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the Puerto Rican Socialists Party, and the Black Panthers. For its part, the Philadelphia GAA distributed another righteously indignant leaflet that stated:

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On July 4th, [President] Ford and [Mayor] Rizzo and their friends are going to tell us about 200 years of people like Ford and Rizzo being in power. They are going to celebrate their brand of freedom. Meanwhile... back in the real world, the Post [Bar] and [Club] Baths and other gay bars were raided and people arrested this year in Philadelphia, Lesbians were beaten up and arrested in City Hall, transvestites and transsexuals are openly discriminated against in employment and housing and routinely harassed in the streets by police, Lesbian mothers still lose child custody and sodomy is still illegal in this and most states.

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Should we celebrate 200 years of that? Months before the demonstration it came out that the July 4th Coalition was being investigated by the FBI at the request of the Department of Justice. Philadelphia Mayor Rizzo went so far as to request 15,000 Federal troops, claiming the city would be a “target for attempts at disruption and violence by a substantial coalition of leftists and radicals.” His request was denied. Organizers from the July 4th Coalition had hoped to host their march and rally close to the official Bicentennial celebrations, which included a parade down Market Street and a speech by President Gerald Ford

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at Independence Mall. But their request for permits so close to the official action was denied and they were forced to hold their events in North Philadelphia.

Brian

Still, the counter action proved to be a success, perhaps more so than the official Bicentennial events. While the city had hoped for 20 to 45 million visitors in 1976, the dire predictions of overwhelming crowds and an expectation of violence and even terrorism caused many Americans to stay away. The New York Times reported that only two million tourists turned out for the official festivities while over 30,000 attended the counterprotest and the event was peaceful and orderly.

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Be w does What we ar ing o self is that depre many deny derst anoth beca all pe

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Your Body, Your Mind Brian Swope is a Philadelphia-based sex and relationship therapist in private practice as well a certified yoga instructor.

We live in a world of mixed messages for those of us in the LGBTQI+ community and anything really that is outside of what is considered dominant cultural perspective. Be who you are, but only if it doesn’t affect my view of you. What do we take from that? That we aren’t good enough; that being ourselves is wrong? If our true self is not lovable, is it any wonder that self esteem takes a hit or that depression and anxiety lead so many people into drug use and denying themselves a deeper understanding just to be accepted by another? It becomes a vicious cycle because we cannot be all things to all people all the time.

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Your body’s a temple, and yet we are not taught the details of our body, so that we can take care of it. The mystery of it is retained for fear that knowing ourselves better will lead us to promiscuity, a vague term that denies us our sexuality and our own ability to choose. If the message is that sex (and our body, in general) is not to be enjoyed too much, then we settle for less than we are capable of, and for some people, abuse and misuse. Is it any wonder that sexual dysfunction so often relates to a basic misunderstanding of our bodies? Rather than shaming our “temple,” we should be honoring and celebrating it and free to explore it. From tattoos and piercings to

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gender bending to gender affirmation surgery, a message of acceptance over conforming frees us from shame and provides space for the histories that have led each person to the place they are today. And what better way to honor the temple than to have it reflect our true selves? Even though we are told we are sexual, sex in health class is at the whim of politics, where “healthy sex” is rarely explained or portrayed, and is lacking almost completely when it pertains to those of us outside the heteronormative perspective.

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A basic misunderstanding – whether lack of knowledge or outright falsehoods – makes sex an anxious and unpleasant experience for people. And words such as “healthy,” “normal,” and “love” that are part of the discussion become concepts that create outsiders, a more insidious concept that pushes too many people down the path to suicide or facing hate crimes. Each of these points is riddled with shame for so many people, a particularly nasty and difficult feeling because it prefers isolation, it needs isolation to exist. Community is just one strong antidote to shame; it is about finding acceptance and support. We have gayborhoods around the world and the web brings them to places where such havens are not safe. Shaming from within our own community can be even more dan-

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yoga

gerous and being vigilant against it a role we all need to play. Body image can change one of two ways – you can find acceptance or you can make changes – but both of these options require us to be in the right state of mind to be successful. And they require a good support group of friends. Another

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method of finding acceptance with ourselves while also making changes includes yoga and mindfulness. Study after study has shown the benefits of these practices on the mind as well as building self esteem and a positive body image. It is a personal practice, but one that is done in a community of likeminded people.

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Gay Pride in Philadelphia 1972 - 2016 Bob Skiba, Curator, John J. Wilcox Jr. LGBT Archives wwcc june 2016.indd 26

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In 1970 and 1971, Philadelphia activists were much too involved with the first New York Christopher Street Liberation Day Parades that commemorated the Stonewall Riots to produce their own local parade. In 1972, however, several Philadelphia political activist organizations including the Gay Activists Alliance, the Homophile Action League, Radicalesbians and groups from Penn State and Temple University came together to produce their own event. Philadelphia’s first Gay Pride Parade assembled at Rittenhouse Square on June 11, 1972, with rousing speeches by community leaders Barbara Gittings and

Jerry Curtis. Participants marched east up Chestnut Street and ended at Independence Mall with an open air dance and celebration. In 1973, the parade began with the rally in Rittenhouse Square, then headed down Chestnut Street, wound around City Hall, headed up the Parkway and ended with a fair at Eakins Oval in front of the Art Museum. For the next few years, the city’s gay pride parades assembled each June at Rittenhouse Square and marched to Independence Mall, until the last one in 1976, which only circled down Locust Street as far as 13th Street and then back to Rittenhouse Square via Spruce. On June 17, 1978, the last large Pride event of the decade would only include a Gay Pride picnic at the Belmont Plateau. For most of the 1980s, Philadelphia’s LGBT community celebrated each year with programs, talks and community events, but no parades.

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1973 Pride Float

1973 Pride

The Philadelphia Lesbian and Gay Pride parade was revived on June 18th, 1989, to honor the twentieth anniversary of Stonewall. Organized with the Lesbian and Gay Task Force, the crowd of about 1,000 began at 10th and Spruce Streets and proceeded west to end in a rally at JFK Plaza. City Councilmen Francis W. Rafferty and W. Thatcher Longstreth expressed disapproval, wondering what those “fairies” had to be proud of. PLGTF Director Rita Adessa took the podium to exclaim “Only we can affirm our beings.

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We are here to show them what we have to be proud of. And it’s us.” Later that year, encouraged by the success of the event, community members formed Lesbian and Gay Pride of the Delaware Valley. In 1990, they’d produce the first Outfest in the Gayborhood to celebrate National Coming Out Day. Through most of the 90s, the parade marched all the way from Rittenhouse Square to Penn’s Landing.

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By 19 ened in the endin it tak

Float

By 1999, the parade route was shortened, beginning at 13th and Locust in the heart of the Gayborhood and ending at Penn’s Landing, the route it takes today.

Lesbian and Gay Pride of the Delaware Valley continues today as Philly Pride Presents, led by amazing Executive Director Franny Price and organizes both Pride Day in June and Outfest in October.

1994 Pride Day at Penn’s Landing

1972 Pride

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the y Gay

Outbrate

aRitding.

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Peer Counseling: We’re Here Nicholas Chuva Plagge, WWCC Volunteer

Peer Counseling honors the confidentiality of those who come to the Center to receive a kind and open ear. For that reason, we have removed the names from the two referenced stories.

There are a lot of reasons someone in need decides to take the important step of reaching out for help. At the Center’s Peer Counseling program, our dedicated and caring counselors help people almost every day of the week. We like to say “We’re Here” – and we are, assisting clients with issues ranging all the way from how to get more involved in the community to more delicate concerns about suicide and domestic abuse. For many Peer Counseling clients, our hotline or office at The Center is the first call or visit they make on their journey toward seeking help. We’re proud as counselors to be

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the touchstone for clients who, for either themselves or often for people they care about, come to a peer counselor to take that sometimes difficult first step. No issue or concern is too big or too small. Some clients just need a sympathetic ear, like Client S, who called to speak to a counselor about what they thought to be fraying relationships with their friends. Client S talked through, with their counselor, some ways to help mend those relationships, and was given by their counselor helpful resources in Philadelphia that might help Client S develop some new friendships with like-minded people sharing activities and interests.

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g:

nter mes

Other clients have a friend or loved one who prompts a call. Client A is the mother of a 16-year old son who she recently found out was struggling with their gender identity. As a loving parent, Client A wanted to be sure that she was able, to the best of her ability, to understand what her son was feeling and experiencing. Because Client A called, she learned about resources for both her son and herself, like PFLAG, and she was given names of specialized therapists that are known to the Center to be LGBTQI+ friendly. Incidentally, many of our peer

counselor volunteers have studied transgender issues extensively, and counselors have seen a sharp increase in calls relating to gender identity thanks to increasingly more visible trans* activists and role models. Sometimes, a client wants to share good news, or an upswing in their initial situations. For calls or visits like these, Peer Counseling’s volunteers are here to provide support, encouragement, and a real, caring voice on the other end of the line. Though different, each call or visit to Peer Counseling, like those

above, have at least one thing in common. Each client finally decided to trust another person to move closer to solving a problem in their lives. And each time, our peer counselors have been there to make sure that the initial spark of motivation for a client to get the help they need isn’t easily extinguished.

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A

If you or someone you know might have an issue that they’re struggling with, don’t let them or yourself struggle alone. At the Peer Counseling program, we’re here. Help us spread the word and continue to help as many people as possible.

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Peer Counseling Services:

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MONDAY-FRIDAY EVENINGS 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM

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BY PHONE, WALK-IN OR APPOINTMENT 215/732.8255 [email protected] http://waygay40.org/peer-counseling/

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A SOLID

FOUNDATION FOR A SOLID

FUTURE Candice

Thompson

COO

I visited Copenhagen this past April with my partner who was presenting at a seminar about the care and conservation of manuscripts. She is infinitely smarter than I am and fortunately bends my ear about her work - she coordinates digitization projects of rare books and manuscripts. She is in the business of duplicating materials and in many cases, making them open and available online to researchers, students, scholars, artists, and the like. She works at an institution that has a budget much larger than the WWCC, but still, when I hear her speak about the work that she does and the questions that come up about the care and vision for their collections, I can’t help but reflect upon how far the Center’s own archival collection of rare and precious materials has come this past year and a half. We’ve laid a strong collections management foundation, are creating a new and improved physical repository, and will begin work on a vision and strategy that will help guide the collection for years to come. In the Fall of 2014 with funding support from the William Penn Foundation, the Center welcomed two new staff members, John Anderies, archivist, and Bob Skiba, curator, to be the

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archives shelves

first paid staff members overseeing the John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives. The impact they have had since that time is tremendous. From re-housing the materials in the collection to better preserving them, to creating a new Center program called Archives in the Classroom which visits local schools to talk about LGBTQI+ rights from the 1960s on, welcoming in new collections such as the graphics collection from the AIDS Library in Philadelphia, and so much more. I cannot say it enough, we are so

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very fortunate to have such dedicated, creative, and knowledgeable staff overseeing the collections and taking them to the next level of care and accessibility. This past year also welcomed another much needed addition to the Center’s roster of thought partners: the formation of a professional advisory committee, which makes recommendations to the Archives staff on policy, management, visioning, grants prospecting, and so much more. Members of that committee bring expertise in the areas of

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collections management and care, digitization, policy creation and archival standards, art collection, etc. Since they have been meeting, the Center has adopted a Collections Management Policy, an Access Policy, a Collections Development Policy, and an Exhibition Policy all of which create a truly strong foundation to continue to protect and grow the collection and provide open access. None of this work could have happened without the Center’s primary partner for the William Penn Foundation grant, The Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts. They are one of the largest and most prominent non-profit conservation centers in the country and they have been working handin-hand with the Center providing much needed advisement and conservation treatment for the collections.

The foundation of the collections aren’t strictly about the management of the collection but also about the physical condition of the Center’s repository. Big changes are coming to the Center’s third floor! We are doubling the size of the archives space and demolition has already begun. In April we welcomed volunteers from PECO who tirelessly hauled so much of the demolition material, that we filled a 30 yard dumpster. Currently I am forming a team which includes architects, designers, and archives professionals to begin phase two. The collections will live in a more environmentally stable room, we will expand research and processing space, and we will create a space specifically designed to house the Center’s large permanent art collection. It will be a truly exciting and long overdue renovation highlighting how much of a

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priority the collections are to the Center and its mission. With these accomplishments and goals in place, we are beginning the exciting work of imaging both short-term and long-term strategies to guide the collection into the future and ensure we have the resources to continue to grow. We will install an archival management system that will help keep better intellectual control of the collections, continue to create policies and procedures for the collection, build upon the dynamic programming opportunities to interpret the collections in creative ways, and this Spring, the archives staff will

work with The Conservation Center to survey the collections and develop a digitization plan. We end the William Penn grant work in the Fall of 2017, about a year and a half from now. With all that has been accomplished so far, you can imagine the year to come will be a busy one and exponentially exciting. Questions or feedback about this project can be made to Candice Thompson, Chief Operating Officer at [email protected].

Mem when to pa mem

If you emai

archives demo

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Than disco You m

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Our Community Partners Thank you to all of the Philadelphia organizations that offer generous discounts to members of the William Way LGBT Community Center. You make the work of the Center possible 365 days a year. Members of the Center receive discounts at the following venues when they present a valid WWCC membership card. If you would like to partner with the Center as a member, visit http://waygay40.org/ membership/ or call the Center at 215/732.2220. If you would like to become a community partner of the Center, please email [email protected] or call the Center.

12th Street Gym www.12streetgym.com 204 S. 12th St Philadelphia, PA 19107 215/985.4092 1 Year Gym Membership for $349 with No Initiation Fee (normally $99) and 1 week Free Trial

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Almeida’s Floral Designs www.almeidasdesigns.com/ 1200 Spruce Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 215/545.5555 15% off total purcahse.

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Baum’s Dancewear www.baumsdancewear.com/ 1805 E. Passyunk Ave Philadelphia, PA 19148 215/923.2244 10% total purchase. Excludes previously discounted items. Big Gay Ice Cream www.biggayicecream.com 1351 South Street Philadelphia, PA 19147 267/721.2245 10%off purchase. Only Valid for one purchase a day. CultureWorks Greater Philadelphia Co-working Space www.cultureworksphila.org/ The Philadelphia Buidling 1315 Walnut Street Suite 320 Philadelphia, PA 19107 267/597.3808 10% off Flex, Light and Full Coworking membership for up to three months. Months do not need to be consecutive. WWCC members receive another 3 months when they renew their WWCC membership each year.

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Danny’s Midnight Confessions 133 S. 13th Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 215/925.5041 10% off total purcahse. Excludes previously discounted items Eye Candy Vision www.eyecandyvision.com 218 S. 20th Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 215/568.3937 30% off eye exam and purchase. Not combinable with insurance or other discounts Fat Jack’s Comicrypt www.comicrypt.com 2006 Sansom St Philadelphia, PA 19103 215/963.0788 15% off total purchase. Exludes previously discounted items.

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ons

udes

ase. nce

des

Fuel www.fuelrechargeyourself.com

Jack Barry Group Keller Williams www.kw.com/kw/agent/jackbarry

1225 Walnut St Philadelphia, PA 19107 215/922.3835

1619 Walnut St, 5th Floor Philadelphia, PA 19103 267/238.5772

10% off total purchase. Cannot not be combined with other discounts, including Groupon and gfitcards. Cannot be used for catering orders.

Up to $1,000 commission rebate for each closed transaction. Rebate can be donated to the William Way Center, fully or in part, in an amount of the member’s choosing. Contact Jack Barry for details; Certain exclusions apply.

H.H. Tapper Associates, Inc. www.hhtapper.com/ 118 S. 21st Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 215/990.2851 10% off of an interior design consultation. Happily Ever After www.happily.com 1010 Pine Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 215/627.5790 15% off total purcahse. Can not be used on consignment works or gift certificates. Cannot be combined with other sales or specials.

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Jake’s Sandwich Board www.jakessandwichboard.com 122 South 12th Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 215/922.0102 20% Total purchase and, $5 BuildYour-Own Pork Mondays Keller Williams, Center City, Bryan Byers Group www.kwphilly.com 1619 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 215/627.3500 WWCC Members will see their broker service fee donated to the Center, courtesy of Brian K. Byers. Contact Brian for details.off purchase. Only Valid for one purchase a day.

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Lion’s Mane Salon http://bit.ly/1SqfUjm 1113 Pine Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 215/925.0366 10% for all cosmetology services. Not good for products, cannot be combined with gift certificates. M Restaurant and the Morris House Hotel www.mrestaurantphilly.com 231 S 8th Street Philadelphia, PA 19106 215/625.6666 10% off total purchase when presenting a valid WWCC membership card Metro Men’s Clothing www.metromensclothing.com/ 1600 E. Passyunk Ave Philadelphia, PA 19148 267/324.5172 15% off total purchase

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Millésimé & Ligne Roset Old City Philadelphia www.millesime.us 33 North 2nd Street Phila PA 19106 Philadelphia, PA 19106 267/455.0374 15% discount on purchases over $500.00 Purchase Optimal Gym www.optimalgym.com/ 325 Bainbridge St Philadelphia, PA 19147 215/627.4900 No enrollment fee. Receive a complete fitness assessment and 4 weeks of unlimited group personal training Optimal Sport Health Club www.optimalsporthealthclubs. com/ 1315 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 215/735.1114 No enrollment fee. Receive a complete fitness assessment and 4 weeks of unlimited group personal training

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Square One Coffee www.squareonecoffee.com

Pure Fare www.purefare.com/ 119 S. 21st Street Philadelphia, PA 19103 267/318.7441

249 S. 13th Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 267/758.6352 10% of total purchase. Valid for one discount per visit, 7 days a week.off purchase. Only Valid for one purchase a day.

10% off total purchase.

Tabu Lounge and Sports Bar www.tabuphilly.com/

Smokin’ Betty’s www.smokinbettys.com/

200 S. 12th St Philadelphia, PA 19107 215/564.9675

116 S. 11th Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 215/922.6500 10% off purcahse. Cannont be combined with other specials. Snapdragon Flowers www.snapdragonphilly.com 5015 Baltimore Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19143 267/209.6066

10% off food purchase. Not good for any alcohol. The Velvet Lily www.thevelvetlily.com/ 1040 N. 2nd Street Philadelphia, PA 19123 267/687.7973 1.7 oz hypo-allergenic lube with a $50 purchase.

5% of total purchase, and 10% off Wedding and Event arrangements, excluding major holidays and the November - February slow season.

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Toast www.toastphilly.com 1201 Spruce Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 215/821.1080 10% of total purchase. Valid Monday through Friday for Lunch and Dinner, Saturday and Sunday for Dinner. Limit one per visit. Can not be combined with other coupons or discounts. West Philly Community Acupuncture www.westphillycommunityacupuncture.com 4636 Woodland Ave Philadelphia, PA 19143 215/222.2303 $10 treatments for WWCC Members with a valid WWCC membership card

Woody’s www.woodysbar.com 202 s. 13th Street Philadelphia, PA 19107 215/735.5772 $5.00 off door cover, excluding special events. Must show a valid WWCC membership card to receive discount. Yards Brewing Company www.yardsbrewing.com/ 901 N. Delaware Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19123 215/634.2600 20% off total purchase.

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Staff Chris Bartlett Executive Director Candice Thompson Chief Operating Officer Avis Abaladejo Director of Facilities R. Eric Thomas Director of Programs Will Jordan Bookkeeper John Anderies Archivist Eric Bunting Facilities Assistant Jim Crouch Maintenance Technician Ed Miller Senior Programs Coordinator



Board of Directors



Officers Laurien Ward, Co-Chair Paul Steinke, Co-Chair Steve Brando, Secretary Anh Dang, Treasurer Board Members Chad Bundrock Marc Coleman Chris Durr Anna Garrett John Loesch Robert Lenahan Meg Rider Jose Sabalbaro Leona Thomas

Jason Peno Development Associate Steve Serafin Peer Counseling Coordinator Marshall Siegel Front Desk Coordinator Bob Skiba, Curator wwcc june 2016.indd 43

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1315 Spruce Street Philadelphia, PA 19107

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