With equal rights facing an uncertain future under the current US administration, Philadelphia is doubling down on the promise of its nickname – ‘City of Brotherly Love’. Lynn Houghton visits ahead of a certain world-famous public sculpture’s very timely anniversary.
If one of them hadn’t given me a wink, I might not have noticed the two men as I walked by. As is typical in big cities, people are zooming by at a brisk pace, going about their business. Conservative, even understated in dress and demeanour, the pair didn’t stand out – except that one was wearing a rather fetching pair of 1960s-style pointy-toed silver boots. Not that such attire warrants so much as a raised eyebrow here in Washington Square West, Philadelphia’s designated Gayborhood.
Philadelphia is famously the city of ‘brotherly love’ – the name’s literal translation from Greek. Today, many also add ‘sisterly affection’ to the nickname, an addition whose roots can be traced in newspaper references to the 18th century. The city even changed its moniker honorarily to ‘city of sisterly love’ for one year in 2020, in celebration of the centenary of the 19th Amendment, which gave American women the right to vote. And in the Gayborhood, experiences, businesses and people celebrating all combinations of gender and ethnicity shape the environment and its day-to-day life.
My stroll ends at the Tavern on Camac, an elegant, gay-friendly venue comprising a restaurant and piano bar – and upstairs the nightclub Ascend – where I’m meeting Tami Sortman, former president of the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus. Tami fills me in on her favourite historic places on this street. Established in 1897, the Plastic Club was initially created as a space for women artists at a time when the city’s arts clubs were for men only. Open to all since the 1990s, the venerable club today hosts drawing and print-making classes, as well as salons, lectures and performances. The Philadelphia Sketch Club, meanwhile, is the oldest continuously operating artists’ club in the US and continues to be a creative hub. Both have played key roles in bringing diversity to the city’s art scene, providing spaces for artists from all backgrounds to collaborate, exhibit and grow. This mission to nurture and showcase artists from underrepresented communities has found more recent expression too in the Philly Queer Art Club, which meets in various venues around the city.
“The Gayborhood is the heart of Philadelphia’s LGBTQ+ community,” Tami tells me. “A place where history, resilience and pride come together. It’s more than just a neighbourhood. It’s a cultural and social hub that has provided safety, visibility and advocacy for generations. The Gayborhood’s impact extends far beyond its boundaries, contributing to the city’s vibrancy, inclusivity and economic growth.
“In today’s climate, where LGBTQ+ rights and safety are increasingly under threat across the United States, spaces like the Gayborhood are more important than ever. It serves as a sanctuary, where our community can gather, express themselves freely and find support without fear.”
Leaving the tavern, Tami and I walk through the historic neighbourhood’s narrow streets laid with brick and wood to the nearby Sofi Corner Café. Here, we meet chef Soufiane Boutliliss who, though busy with dinner covers, still finds time to say ‘hello’ and introduce his cute, wisteria-bedecked premises. The café, which Moroccan-born Soufiane runs with his French husband Christophe Mathon, is a popular hangout and well known for its menus, which draw on both owners’ heritages.
“Christophe and I have truly felt welcomed in this neighbourhood,” says Sofi. “It’s an authentic and diverse part of the city, and what makes it unique is the strong concentration of LGBTQ+ bars and restaurants. That’s become quite rare in big cities. In London or Paris, neighbourhoods like this have either disappeared or become much more diluted. There’s also a distinct charm here, it’s incredibly friendly and welcoming, with almost a ‘provincial’ feel, while still part of a major metropolitan area. The spirit of brotherhood and community among Philadelphians has been a real support for our business.”
Another thriving LGTBQ+-owned business I discover on my visit – and warmly recommend – is the wonderful Darling Jack’s Tavern, purveyor of elevated comfort food and owned by wife-and-wife business partnership Marcie Turney and Valerie Safran. This entrepreneurial pair have been instrumental in the Gayborhood’s transformation over the past 25 years from slightly sketchy red-light district into the thriving leisure and retail hub it is today, and have opened an impressive six restaurants and two stores.
Just a block north of the Gayborhood stands the imposing City Hall, built in the ornate French Second Empire style, where courtroom scenes were filmed for Jonathan Demme’s 1993 movie Philadelphia, a landmark in HIV awareness and an indictment of the prejudices of the day. Crowning the building’s 167m (550ft) central tower, the 10m (33ft) bronze statue of Philadelphia’s founder William Penn, a Quaker and staunch believer in equal rights, features often in the film and remains a commanding sight.
The rude health of the city’s LGBTQ+ community today would surely have heartened this pioneer of parity, and is a welcome reminder of how far things have come since Philadelphia was first screened. In a show of support for the LGBTQ+ community in 2007, rainbow street signs were installed on 36 thoroughfares, and the intersection of 13th and Locust was given rainbow pedestrian crossings in 2015, coincidentally a day before civil-rights activist James Obergefell’s Supreme Court victory that overturned individual US states’ refusal to allow same-sex marriage. These crossings were updated in 2023, as was the city’s official Pride flag in 2017, to include colours representing trans people and people of colour. The spot is shouting distance from many popular gay establishments, including Franky Bradley’s – known for its drag shows – and Woody’s (formerly ICandy).
Designated the Gayborhood by the Philadelphia Historical Commission in 2024, the area is also home to the William Way LGBT Community Centre, which holds the archives for the city’s gay citizens. Another Gayborhood landmark is Giovanni’s Room bookstore, named after James Baldwin’s sublime and boundary-smashing 1956 novella. Founded in 1973, it’s the US’s oldest gay purveyor of alternative literature. Located on the corner of 12th and Pine, it was a refuge when it opened, providing resources for those seeking legal rights for LGBTQ+ citizens. It also carries cannily curated vintage clothing.
Diverse culture has long been welcomed into the city’s mainstream institutions too. During my visit, the Barnes Foundation art collection on Benjamin Franklin Parkway was premiering an exhibition by queer painter and videographer Mickalene Thomas called All About Love, in which Mickalene’s lovers, muses and family members are captured in regal, empowered repose. “We have been delighted to present the work and voice of this important woman and LGBTQ artist,” says Deirdre Maher, director of communications for the Barnes. “The Barnes’ commitment to accessible education and to diversity, inclusion and social justice is central to our mission.”
City-wide, Philadelphia is a vibrant, culture-rich place with no qualms about ‘tooting its own horn’. Founded in 1682 and considered the birthplace of the US, it is the country’s sixth most populous city, its first UNESCO Heritage City and the place where the Constitution was drafted and signed. The city will soon have extra reason to crow, as next July will mark 250 years since the colonies declared independence here from Britain in 1776. Located in the Old City, the handsome, red-brick Georgian Independence Hall is where the signatories of the Declaration of Independence met and added their signatures to what was then – and today seems once again – a radical document.
While in many ways less momentous, another Philly anniversary next year has a symbolic resonance whose timing in the country’s current political direction makes it all the more powerful. In 2025, it will be 55 years since pop artist Robert Indiana’s world-famous Love sculpture was permanently erected at John F Kennedy Plaza, at the intersection of 15th Street and Arch Street, in what has become known as Love Park. The sculpture’s iconic design has its roots in a poem the artist wrote in 1955, When the Word is Love, which later inspired a series of drawings. In 1965, New York City’s Museum of Modern Art published a version as its annual Christmas card, which quickly became one of the most popular cards the museum has ever produced, and soon after Indiana began building sculptures based on the design. In 1970 the first on a monumental scale became part of the permanent collection of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (now called Newfields), and Philadelphia was gifted its own 3.6m (12ft) tall version in honour of its bicentennial in 1976.
On the day I went to view the sculpture, I was lucky enough to see the ‘elopement’ (technically a wedding with no formal witnesses present) of two lovely young women in front of the sign. Weddings are frequently celebrated here, and I asked non-denominational officiant Susan Harte from Journeys of the Heart what it’s like being a celebrant during these troubling times.
“I have officiated at the wedding ceremonies of same-sex couples for almost 15 years,” she says, “and have witnessed the ebb and flow of both the legal protections and the obstacles for marriage equality for a long time. After the November election, many of us in the wedding industry offered ceremonies free of charge to same-sex couples who wished to legally marry before the new administration came into power. It’s a precarious time for the LGBTQ+ community in the US, with many couples suffering anxiety about the future of federal protection. Regardless, we continue to be out there, advocating for and celebrating love, no matter what.”
Photography by H. Daluisio, Bob Skiba, Michael Perez, Greg Benson, Kait Privitera, RaeAnn Serra, Karl Moore, R. Rabena, A. Ricketts, M. Fischetti and courtesy of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Barnes Foundation and Sofi Corner Café. Artwork by Mickalene Thomas
