Philadelphia’s Queer Community Today

Studying the AIDS crisis in Philadelphia back in the 80s will help me better understand where the black LGBTQ+ in Philadelphia is today, and how the two time periods connect. What did the AIDS crisis do for black queer Philadelphians? What did it not do? What more could have been done? My project connects to themes such as inequality and intersectionality. There are ways racism is still prevalent in the LGBTQ+ community today. Racial profiling at inclusive bars and clubs, people of color not being recognized and/or underpaid for their work in non-profit organizations, and tokenism are all issues the community faces today. Many of these issues were first recognized when the AIDS crisis started to heavily affect people of color in Philadelphia. Before then, AIDS was labeled as a “white gay man’s disease”. So organizations such as the Mazzoni Center were only accustomed to treating white gay men. José de Marco, a Philadelphian ACT UP organizer, says, “All of a sudden you have another set of folks, people of color. A lot of people were living in poverty, a lot of people maybe had incarceration issues, addiction issues. They were so used to dealing with white people that they didn’t know how to deal with people of color.” This comment also brings light to a lot of the systemic issues that black people face such as increased incarceration rates, addiction, and generational poverty. All things that still affect Philadelphia today. I hope that my project will be able to make some connections between intersectionality and inequality. 
Citation: Racism runs deep in Philadelphia Gayborhood