Philadelphia Black Gay Pride wrapped up last month with a sendoff to longtime president Chris Alston.
Alston, who helmed the group for six years, will end his tenure this summer, and Jeremy Taylor will step into the role July 1.
Taylor, 32, started volunteering with PBGP in 2009 and joined the board the following year.
A native of St. Louis, Mo., Taylor moved to Philadelphia about 10 years ago and, in 2006, joined the specialist team at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania as a respiratory practitioner.
He joined PBGP as a means of giving back to his community, which he resisted becoming a part of for a number of years.
“I grew up in the church world and was closeted for a long time. I lived this life where I wasn’t who I wanted to be because I thought God could make me better,” he said, noting that his perspective changed when he embraced his identity at age 22. “When I came out, a lot of my theories about religion and what other things meant began to change, and I started on a path of self-discovery and self-actualization that got me to a place where I wanted to work in the gay community. I wanted to give of my time to this community just as I had done in the church, and there’s no better way to be active in your community than to volunteer.”
When the presidency position opened up, Taylor said it created an opportunity to heighten that commitment.
“I think I’ve always been a natural-born leader,” he said. “Chris has done an amazing job of bringing Philadelphia Black Gay Pride to a place where it wasn’t before. I thought that maybe I could keep adding to that and take the organization even further forward.”
Taylor said one of his primary aims will be to cut the expenses of the organization.
He noted that this year’s PBGP festival included 14 events in a several-day span, which was costly for the group.
“I want to scale back a little in the future,” he said. “Everyone’s suffering financially right now, especially 501(c)(3) organizations, and we have to think about keeping costs down. I think we need to scale back just some to get us to a place where we’re secure financially but can still do all the great things, and even more, that we’re doing now.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].