City Politics: Community Organizer And Activist Is Leading The Way For LGBT Affairs
Amber Hikes started her career in Philadelphia in social work, and became a well-known community organizer and an advocate for LGBT youth through her work at The Attic Youth Center, William Way Community Center and other youth-focused organizations. Following a move to California, she returned to serve as executive director of the Office of LGBT Affairs […]
LGBTQ: The Value of Drag
Philadelphia has a thriving drag community, with drag shows all over the city and an ever-growing population of performers. On any given night, a drag show is likely going on somewhere in town. Throughout history, drag has employed very rigid rules for its queens, often in relation to physique and size. However, with the growth […]
LGBTQ: Community Impacted by Issues of Body Image
Body image, or the way that one views his or her own body, is something that impacts people of all shapes, sizes, colors and sexualities. However, there are unique ways that individuals in the LGBTQ community experience and confront issues of body image. “The LGBTQ community does have special situations that other people don’t have,” […]
Gayborhood: Bearlesque Performance Group Promotes Body Positivity
Bearlesque is a body-positive, gender-inclusive burlesque performance group featuring people of all sexualities. The organization was created in 2014 by Josh Schonewolf and Connor Michalchuk as a one-off show for ‘bears,’ a slang term in the LGBTQ community for larger, hairier, more masculine gay men. The more Michalchuk and Schonewolf discussed their ideas, the more […]
Activism: Five Historical Activism Locations In Philadelphia
As the birthplace of the U.S., Philadelphia holds the history of William Penn, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and many others. These people stood on the front lines of making a change, not necessarily in battle, but in their activism, standing up for what they felt was right and to change what was wrong. Throughout the years, […]
LGBTQ: Toasted Walnut Brings the ‘L’ Back to LGBTQ
When Sisters Nightclub closed in 2013 after serving the lesbian community for 17 years, Philadelphia lacked a gathering space catered to LGBT women. However, with the opening of Toasted Walnut Bar & Kitchen, that need has been filled. Denise Cohen, who was a general manager at Sisters for its entire run, opened Toasted Walnut right before […]
South Philadelphia: Inclusive Rugby Team Strives to Defy Stereotypes while Staying Competitive
In the summer of 2003, Joe Cruz showed up to rugby practice for the newly-formed Philadelphia Gryphons. The University of Pennsylvania grad was one of seven people at practice. The Gryphons started as an idea, a new team that was attempting to be assembled by members of New York City’s Gotham Knights and the Washington […]
LGBTQ: Shedding Light on City, State Hate Crime Laws
The brutal 1998 murder of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard put LGBT issues in the national spotlight. Here in Philadelphia, the 2014 beating of a gay couple brought the issues closer to home — and served as a wake-up call to many city residents. “I had one student attacked while having a homophobic slur carved into his […]
LGBTQ: Philadelphia Helps Lead Anti-Discrimination Effort, But Will Rest of State Follow?
Philadelphia sits among 32 municipalities and two counties that have legislation in place to protect the rights of its LGBT residents from discrimination in the workplace. But in a state where there are 67 counties and more than 2,500 municipalities, there is still a lot of work to be done. “We have protections like this in Philadelphia for […]
Crossroads: What it Means to be Transgendered
The transgendered community is one that has traditionally been overlooked, living in the shadows of mainstream society, and sometimes maligned. Despite the publicity arising from the public transitions of people like Caitlyn Jenner, there remains the question of what it means to live as a transgendered person. The transitioning process can begin with with an individual dressing […]