Philly Black Pride At 20: At A Milestone, Struggles Continue
The annual Philly Black Pride (PBP) weekend is upon us once again in the City of Brotherly Love, and it’s especially significant this year, being as it is the twentieth anniversary of the gathering. It’s an official and symbolic joining together of the LGBTQ community of color in the Delaware Valley and beyond, a reaffirmation for SGL and trans Black and brown people in a spring renaissance filled with unity and camaraderie. Held just before the usual Pride season in the Northeast, PBP is a way for minorities of sexual orientation and gender identity to celebrate their culture and diversity in a city where the quest for understanding and recognition is fraught with difficulty.
On Tuesday, a resplendent symbol of the Black LGBTQ community in Philadelphia was hauled aloft in front of City Hall in a ceremony attended by Mayor Jim Kenney and LGBTQ Affairs Office director Amber Hikes. In many ways, the “Philadelphia Pride flag” is emblematic of the formidable issues facing the city’s SGL POC and trans POC communities. When Ms. Hikes added a black and brown stripe to the traditional rainbow Pride flag in 2017, as part of the More Color, More Pride campaign, the move touched off a firestorm of controversy among white LGBTQ pundits. The attempt at highlighting inclusivity in what should be the most welcoming community of all, instead exposed a divide within.
As debate raged over the redesigned ensign, the issues replayed themselves in microcosm in Philly’s Gayborhood over the past few years, beginning with a racist remark from a local gay bar owner. That gaffe from Darryl DePiano involved his repeated use of the N-word to describe his Black patrons, a scandal that infuriated Philly’s Black gay population (and Hikes herself, who advocated boycotting the establishment). The slurs were recorded on video, and eventually led to the club’s demise; today the space is operated by Tabu, which supports Philly Black Pride.
That 2017 episode was only part of a larger problem, as the city’s minorities within minorities have often found themselves on the periphery of the LGBTQ community. This year, for example, according to PBP President Le Thomas, a longtime gay venue, Woody’s, acquired a block party permit to shut down the section of 13th Street where it is located, dubbing the festival a “Black Pride” event. Thomas, however, wrote in a press release this past Wednesday, that Woody’s had no permission from PBP to use their name, or bill their party as an official function. “[Woody’s] neither consulted us, nor asked our permission before co-opting our event, Thomas stated, nor did “Woody’s have the right to use our [trademarked] name.”
Woody’s claims in rebuttal that its block party was an “annual event”, and the club has made “no misrepresentation” of Black Pride in its promotional efforts for the party. Thomas notes that the Woody’s soiree conflicts with an official PBP gala just around the corner, which is sponsored by Tabu, Tavern On Camac and the U Bar, all Gayborhood fixtures. Although Woody’s had sponsored PBP in earlier times, this year was a bone of contention. Both sides said they tried to reach out to each other but ended at impasse. This intransigent appropriation of Black gay spaces, by businesses that capitalize on the brands and names attached to them (when some isolated club owners aren’t hurling invective at SGL POC) is indicative of a subsurface conflict that only inures to the detriment of Philly’s Black and brown LGBTQ people.
At a time of celebration in reaching an important milestone, the execs at Philly Black Pride may also reflect on the debacles with the Gayborhood’s nightlife places, as a sign of the work that still lies ahead. We’re still divided under our rainbow, and at a time when the political powers that be encourage homo- and transphobia, it’s a rift we can ill afford. That said, the chasm between us will only disappear when SGL and trans people of color — in Philly and everywhere else — can sit at the rainbow table in full accord and equality.
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