Philadelphia Gayborhood: Past and Future

Visibility and the capacity to claim public space have been central to the movement for queer civil rights in cities across the country. Philadelphia’s history of queer activism, creative expression, and community can be read in numerous areas across the city. The Gayborhood in the heart of downtown is a relatively recent focal point, but a significant one as it became openly recognized in the era of growing queer rights and understanding that began in the 1970s.

Track the development of the Gayborhood as a distinctive Philadelphia cultural district through its most important sites. These include the William Way Center, with its archives and multi-generational programming; locales important to queer BIPOC Philadelphians; the John C. Anderson Senior Apartments; and everyday and celebratory spaces serving the multitude of queer communities across the region.

Queer and queer-allied planners and designers — whose work and lives connect to this neighborhood and its programming initiatives — offer insights into past and planned policies and projects that shape neighborhoods. Learn how queer communities in Philadelphia have transformed public space that enables queer belonging and community-building while maintaining public-realm requirements.