Queer spaces to check out in Philadelphia
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IANSlife ( IANS) |
Published on
Thu, Jan 21 2021 13:12 IST |
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New Delhi, Jan 21 : In 1965, four years before the Stonewall Riots in New York ignited the worldwide modern gay rights movement, a group of protesters began an annual July 4th pride march in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia.
These annual reminders were demonstrations designed to remind the American people that many American citizens were denied the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness promised in the Declaration of Independence. What started at Independence Hall evolved into a civil rights movement and since then, Philadelphia has been a seat of progress and activism for the LGBTQ community.
Celena Morrison is a voice of hope in turbulent times
The city s head of LGBT Affairs comes up on her one-year anniversary on the job in March. She s tackled everything from the pandemic to transgender murders.
Nothing could have prepared Celena Morrison for her first month on the job.
In late-March, rumors were spreading across Philadelphia of impending furloughs and business closures. Despite the panic, Morrison was just getting familiar with her new office City Hall. Her boss? Mayor Jim Kenney.
That only lasted a little over a week. The office part, that is.
For the past nine months, Philadelphia’s newly-appointed executive director of LGBT Affairs has been calling the shots entirely from home, serving as the top link between Philly’s LGBTQ+ community and the Kenney administration. City Hall has remained shuttered throughout the pandemic, weathering a turbulent period of lockdowns, reopenings and more lockdowns.