William Way LGBT Community Center
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The William Way LGBT Community Center is a
nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
serving the
lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
,
gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...
,
bisexual Bisexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females. It may also be defined as the attraction to more than one gender, to people of both the same and different gender, or the attraction t ...
and
transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...
population of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
and nearby communities, located at 1315 Spruce Street in Philadelphia in the Gayborhood. Chris Bartlett has been the center's executive director since 2010.


History

This community center was founded in 1975 as the Gay Community Center of Philadelphia. Organizers purchased its current building at 1315 Spruce Street in 1997; the center has owned it since local businessman Mel Heifetz paid off its mortgage in 2005.


Art and notable architectural features

The western wall of the community center features Ann Northrup's block-long mural, "Pride and Progress", with images of LGBT citizens who have contributed to Philadelphia's cultural and intellectual life throughout history.


Programs and services

The center's programs include an extensive library, and programs in peer counseling, senior services, education, and arts and culture. The center also offers numerous twelve-step meetings throughout the day and night, and opened the Arcila-Adams Trans Resource Center in 2019 to centralize resources for trans people in Philadelphia. In 2021, the center collaborated with HIV/AIDS healthcare provider
Philadelphia FIGHT The Philadelphia Fight are a semi professional rugby league team based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. They currently compete in the USA Rugby League, having formerly competed in the now defunct AMNRL. They play their home games at A. ...
to provide
COVID-19 vaccines A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Knowledge about the structure and func ...
to LGBTQ people in Philadelphia. The center houses the John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives, which collects and preserves local and regional LGBT documents and artifacts. The archive is one of the most important collections of LGBTQ documents and artifacts in the United States. Along with researchers from the ONE Archives in
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, archivists from the John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives have been searching for unidentified men photographed at a gay wedding held in 1957. The search, which began in 2013 and is still ongoing, was covered in both LGBT and mainstream press.


See also

*
List of LGBT community centers Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) related organizations and conferences range from social and support groups to organizations that are political in nature. Some groups are independent, while others are officially recognized a ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:William Way LGBT Community Center 1975 establishments in Pennsylvania Buildings and structures in Philadelphia LGBTQ community centers in the United States LGBTQ culture in Philadelphia Non-profit organizations based in Philadelphia