Secret Philly: When Rtenhoe Square was the cy's Gayborhood

Contents:

• PHILALPHIA GAY NEWS
• RACISM NS EP PHILALPHIA’S GAYBORHOOD
• SECRET PHILLY: WHEN RTENHOE SQUARE WAS THE CY’S GAYBORHOOD
• TWO NEW BARS THE GAYBORHOOD ARE OWNED BY PEOPLE OF LOR, MARKG A MAJOR SHIFT
• GAY PHILALPHIA

PHILALPHIA GAY NEWS

Dpe Philalphia beg one of the most diverse ci the untry, systemic racism has been and ntu to be a major issue which affects all muni, cludg the LGBTQ muny and s Gayborhood. In 2016, Darryl DePiano, former owner of the Gayborhood bar iCandy, was ught on vio tape sayg a racial slur. After news of the cint spread, the Philalphia Commissn on Human Relatns (PCHR) held a hearg for LGBTQ muny members to discs issu of racism Gayborhood nightlife and nonprof anizatns.

Racism and Ain Amerin erasure the Gayborhood has far eper roots than s 40-year history prented this article. Tyrone Smh, a Black gay man and long-time muny activist Philalphia, told PGN that the Gayborhood was built over parts of the Unrground Railroad. In the early 1970s, bs the Gayborhood began openly marketg themselv to the LGBTQ+ muny.

RACISM NS EP PHILALPHIA’S GAYBORHOOD

From there, management required that prospective members be sponsored by an existg member or that they provi membership rds om other gay clubs upon entry. In the mid-1980s, the Coaln on Lbian-Gay Bar Polici (CLGBP) published observatns and surveys on several Philalphia gay bars and clubs an effort to unver stanc and cultur of racism and sexism.

SECRET PHILLY: WHEN RTENHOE SQUARE WAS THE CY’S GAYBORHOOD

The CLGBP was prised of several muny anizatns, cludg Beth Ahava, the Philalphia eratn of Black and Whe Men Together, Digny/Philalphia, the Mayor’s Commissn on Sexual Mori, and the Philalphia Lbian and Gay Task Force. The logo for the Coaln of Lbian-Gay Bar Polici (1986).

The exceptn was the now-closed bar Kurt’s, scribed as Philly’s hottt gay club at the time, which did not require patrons wh out-of-state drivers licens to pay the nightly entrance fee. Roberts wrote lumns about Philly’s Black gay muny, cludg a seri of terviews wh Black gay men.

The men discsed overt and vert stanc of racism, such as whe gay men objectifyg Black gay men bars, whe men only advotg agast racism to further their LGBTQ rights agenda, and a shortage of venu geared specifilly toward Black gay men. In the ‘80s and ‘90s, there was only one bar Philly for Black queer men – BJP’s — and there were no non-alholic spac for Black gay men.

TWO NEW BARS THE GAYBORHOOD ARE OWNED BY PEOPLE OF LOR, MARKG A MAJOR SHIFT

“But word has gotten out that we now have a Black-owned gay bar, that’s the first the history of the cy. While entry polici to Gayborhood bars and clubs has been a source of racism the muny, the performance spac of those venu are also subject to equaly.

“I did have another person of lor gay iend as well, ” they said. “We would go out, and I noticed that the whe gay guys I was wh would get a lot more attentn than the people of lor would.

GAY PHILALPHIA

Gayborhood bars are only one piece of the problem. Racism has prevailed Gayborhood nonprofs and HIV/AIDS anizatns for a long time.

It was largely due to racism the HIV/AIDS muny — wh the disease beg brand as a whe gay man’s disease and the subsequent anizatns terg to whe gay men — that Tyrone Smh -found UNITY, Inc., a grassroots anizatn created by Black gay men, for Black gay men. ’ And I was so damn disgted, bee was tagged the begng as a whe gay boy’s disease.