January 20, 2015
Courtesy: Philly Black Pride/for PhillyVoice
A Philly Black Pride participant, the late Gloria Casarez and Philly Black Pride President Le Thomas at 2014's proclamation event.
Philadelphia Black Pride (previously Philly Black Gay Pride) took the first steps this week toward rolling out its events lineup for Black Pride Weekend, this year titled "#PhillyBlackPride2k15" and taking place in April.
On the agenda: Mazzoni-sponsored monologue readings from LGBT youth of color, a proclamation from Mayor Nutter at Miss Tootsies RBL, a "gentleman's brunch" at Smokin' Betty's and a closing day party at the Kimmel Center -- among other events.
Stepping back to look at the big picture and digest this a bit, though, Philadelphia Black Pride is -- simply explained -- a hybrid of what mainstream Pride used to be -- that is, a vehicle for social change -- and the sponsor- and drink-heavy nature of what mainstream Pride is perceived as being today.Philadelphia Black Pride Vice President and Director of Philly Black Pride Weekend D'Ontace Keyes explained to PhillyVoice.com:
"This year, we invested a lot into changing our brand, and drawing on a new vision, which is to transform the social environment of LGBTQ people within Philadelphia, while also creating multicultural opportunities through brunches, social mixers and light entertainment," he said. "This Pride, I did a lot of thinking around how we could infuse a model where we encourage new leadership while celebrating new attributes in community development."
I know, I know: That sounds fabulous, but what does that all mean?
Here's the down and dirty: It's less a festival for rainbow flags, and more a means for LGBT people of color to network with each other during one time, at one place, all together, to address what's facing the community while also redefining it through recreational social experiences. The thought, is that there's a certain reclaiming that comes with that.
"The initial model of Pride was to mobilize for our needs -- marriage, need for education, health care, it was a movement to be heard," Keyes said. "Now, Pride in general, it's a visibility model -- creating visibility for the community once or twice a year in its own city, giving aesthetic of a city, and a large part of it promotes celebrities and parties and alcohol. We want to communicate in a way that creates opportunities while building relationships."
The reality, then, is that Black Pride -- which also occurs in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Washington, D.C. -- isn't so much a party weekend as it is a networking extravaganza .... with cocktails. (Of course.)
Keyes emphasized that that's why many of the weekend's eight events are mixers or located in restaurants.
"The overall significance of this is creating a space for LGBTQ people of color," he said. "Because there's often a feeling that there has to be an area created for us."
As a reaction to that, Keyes intentionally set most of the events in Center City locations, for reasons both symbolic and practical.
Keyes also said the event serves as a means -- especially with the proclamation delivered by Mayor Nutter -- to address the issues that truly matter to LGBT people of color, and may get overlooked in the midst of late-night debauchery in the Gayborhood when June's Penn's Landing-hosted Pride rolls around.
"You don't often find images that look like us or are created by us that are culturally competent [at mainstream Prides]," he said. "I think that, in the spectrum of LGBTQ, and people of color, a lot of things are typically miscommunicated in terms of our needs -- you see a lot of programming HIV, because of the high rate that's in our community, but there are other issues. People need to network for a job opportunity, they want to mobilize around building community."
To highlight a particular need of the community (and, you know, put the organization's money where its mouth is), all ticketed events for this year's Philadelphia Black Pride will see an unspecified percentage of proceeds funnel right into a fund for the organizations annual $1,000 scholarship, awarded each spring to a LGBTQ youth of color.
Philly Black Pride will span a long weekend rather than a full week for its 16th year, will run April 22-26. More nightlife events will be announced in the weeks ahead.
