A local LGBT agency is celebrating a decade of paving the way for Philadelphia to emerge as a leader in the LGBT tourism market. The Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus will celebrate its 10th anniversary next month. The organization got its start in 2002 thanks to John Cochie, innkeeper of the Alexander Inn. While attending an event with the International Gay and Lesbian Tourism Association in Key West, Fla., Cochie learned about the small but growing number of hotels that were reaching out to the LGBT community — and saw an area where Philadelphia could capitalize. “We have the arts, great dining, nice shopping, we have sports, we have a vibrant nightlife for the gay community compared to other cities,” he said. Following his return to Philadelphia, Cochie brought together members of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corporation and state tourism officials. “What was amazing to me was the mission was never in question,” Cochie said. “We weren’t quite sure what we were going to do or where we were going to go, but everyone decided that this was worth discussion.” With the backing of CEO Meryl Levitz, GPTMC provided the fledgling group a three-year, $1.3-million grant to start PGTC. “It started with an idea in one person’s brain,” said PGTC vice president and former president Tami Sortman. That idea blossomed into an effort that has brought together LGBT-owned businesses from throughout the area to take an active role in branding the city as a welcoming place for LGBT visitors and businesses, which has resulted in the city rapidly climbing a number of lists designating top LGBT destinations. According to Sortman, at the very beginning, the caucus was not member-based but just a group of people informally meeting around a table. Two years into its founding, Sortman was voted in as its first president The caucus has nearly 100 members. One of the agency’s most worthwile accomplishments has been its installation of rainbow signage throughout the Gayborhood. It took Sortman and her crew two years to get the signage approved; she had to work with the LGBT Affairs Office, the Streets Department and other city agencies to secure approval. “It was a crazy amount of work, people and red tape to go through,” she said. When the signs went up, there was one challenge organizers didn’t foresee. “I never thought in a million years that the LGBT community would be against it,” Sortman said. “When the signs went up, we received death threats, angry letters — people felt like the signs were marking them with pink triangles. They felt targeted.” Now, however, the signs have become well-accepted and are a natural pairing with the GPTMC’s “Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay” advertising campaign, on which PGTC partnered. The campaign began in 2003 and has since undergone several evolutions. After the original ads began airing, Sortman received hate mail from churches and right-wing activists. “People were even threatening to move out of the city,” she said. That campaign was something the LGBT community embraced immediately. “We had people coming from all over. We had international travelers using Philadelphia as their destination when it was always originally New York,” she said. “It was an embracing situation. We went from being a city in the top 20 to the top 10 in LGBT destinations.” PGTC’s Gay Sensitivity Training, in which caucus members offer LGBT diversity lessons to hospitality officials throughout the region, also made the organization stand out in the business world. Most recently, the organization’s decade of accomplishments was honored with the 2012 Gilbert Baker OutProud Award at OutFest. “It was the most exhilarating feeling ever,” Sortman said. The past 10 years of work will be hailed at an anniversary event later this month, during which PGTC will present its Absolutely Fabulous award to Jeff Guaracino, PGTC founding member and former GPTMC staffer. Sortman said she hopes to see PGTC help Philadelphia break into the top-five list of LGBT destinations, which can further the city’s reputation among LGBT and mainstream organizations from around the world. “I want Philadelphia to get bigger and better groups of people to come and hold big events, meetings and conventions,” she said. “It’s something we are really striving for.”