While rainbows are a ubiquitous staple at Pride every summer, there will be one new, significant rainbow addition to next month’s festival.
Pride organizers have arranged for the Benjamin Franklin Bridge to be alight with rainbow colors June 12 and 13 as a very visible tribute to the city’s LGBT community and its many visiting LGBT guests that weekend.
Philly Pride Presents president Franny Price said the agency’s senior advisor, Chuck Volz, was driving by the bridge and noticed it lit up, which gave him the idea for the rainbow display.
“Chuck tracked down the number, called and asked and then they were just going back and forth making sure nothing was scheduled for those days, and then they confirmed last week that the lights will be up,” Price said. “I think it’s going to look incredible.”
The lights will be flashing on the bridge and also on the stage when this year’s headliner, Jennifer Coolidge, takes the mic.
Price said the comedian, who’s often recognized for her role as “Stifler’s mom” in the “American Pie” films and as the lesbian Sherri Ann in “Best in Show,” where she played opposite out actor Jane Lynch, is a perfect fit for Pride.
“Our Pride audience is great and every entertainer loves them, and we usually try to have a comedian headline because the crowd loves to be entertained. People in Philly like to laugh,” said Price. “Unless you get a singer like Cher or someone in her league, people might walk around and not stay at the stage if a singer is doing their own songs, but with a comic up there, people don’t want to leave because they’re afraid of missing something.”
Coolidge has a large gay following and has performed at other LGBT venues, but Price said she’s unique enough of an entertainer to keep the Philly Pride audience on its toes.
“We try to be original, and Jennifer Coolidge is definitely original,” she said. “We get e-mails from people who maybe had one or two hit songs that people know, then we find out that they’re doing 14 or 15 other Pride events. We want people to come to ours because we’re different and we’re offering something different.”
Price said one of the finalists from the most recent season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” will also grace the stage, although that plan is not yet finalized.
While Pride emphasizes entertainment, Price noted it’s also a time to recognize the work of the local LGBT community.
This year’s Pride grand marshals will be Robert Winn, medical director at Mazzoni Center’s Community Health Center, and Dr. Marla Gold, dean of Drexel University’s School of Public Health. District Attorney Seth Williams will serve as this year’s Friend of Pride.
“When we were talking about the grand marshals at our board meeting, one of the first names that came up was Dr. Winn, and everybody knew him. Usually, there are some people who haven’t ever worked with the person, but every single person knew who he was and everything he’s done both at Mazzoni Center and for our entire community,” Price said. “And the same thing happened with Dr. Gold. She’s the first openly gay dean in the entire country [of a school of public health], but everybody in our community knows who she is and all the good she’s done.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].