Last Sunday, Philly Pride Presents celebrated its 25th anniversary — and the following day, a local couple marked their own silver celebration.
John Schultz and Gary Hill, of Atlantic City, met June 10, 1988 and have spent the last 25 years working hand in hand on a sea of business and nonprofit ventures in the region.
Schultz, 71, and Hill, 55, met at Studio Six, the Atlantic City club that Schultz owned. At the time, Hill was a teacher in Reading and spending a few days at the Jersey Shore with some friends.
They struck up a conversation while Schultz was sweeping the floor at the bar, leading Hill to believe he was the club’s janitor.
After his Jersey trip, Hill had to spend a few weeks in California but quickly returned to see Schultz.
“As soon as he got back, he came to my house,” Schultz said. “He didn’t know I owned the bar so I think he was surprised that I had a stretch limo waiting for him.”
The pair dined at a local restaurant and, two days later, took off for a week in Provincetown, where they returned each year for a decade.
“After our first date, we really weren’t separated much,” Hill said. “I taught in Reading for about another year-and-a-half and I would drive from Atlantic City to Pennsylvania a couple days a week, but I eventually gave up the job there and moved into the business world in Atlantic City.”
Schultz, an Atlantic City councilman for more than a decade, at one time owned nine bars in the area, and Hill led marketing and PR efforts at those venues and others.
In 1991, they started the Miss’D America Pageant, a drag competition modeled after the mainstream contest, with proceeds going to local charities. They also led the development of the Atlantic City Metropolitan Business & Citizen’s Association, and both still serve in the leadership.
Together they founded the Schultz-Hill Foundation in 2002 to support arts, history and education initiatives in South Jersey.
While they have undertaken myriad professional ventures together, Schultz said that hasn’t put a strain on their personal lives.
“I don’t know how we get along so well but we do,” he said. “We work together all day and all night, and it’s just amazing how perfectly our personalities go together. We’re intelligent enough to know not to argue; it’s just not worth it.”
Even though they’re retired from the business world, they remain very active in the nonprofit sector: Hill currently sits on the boards of 10 nonprofits, and Schultz on four.
When they can find free time, the two are avid travelers. They recently returned from Africa and have a trip planned to India this fall.
Schultz noted that it is through the sea of connections they’ve made in their travels and through their charity work that the couple is hoping to make inroads for LGBT acceptance.
“Charity is a great thing, and I know that Gary and I have changed so many people’s opinions on gay rights and gay marriage with the work we’ve done,” he said. “As gay people, I think we have a duty not to fight for our rights but to make people change their minds. Get to know people and have them say, ‘Oh, these guys are great,’ and realize that being gay makes us no different from anyone else.”
That notion was espoused when the two were joined in a civil union in 2007, shortly after New Jersey’s civil-union law went into effect.
The ceremony was presided over by the mayor of Egg Harbor Township, and despite their prominence in the Atlantic City community, the couple chose to have just their witnesses join them for the ceremony.
Likewise, they took some time away from their community engagement Monday night for a quiet dinner together at The Palm to celebrate their anniversary.
Hill said two aspects have kept their relationship strong over the past 25 years: love and respect.
“You have to respect and appreciate one another’s work ethics, outside interests and even each other’s flaws. That’s how you grow in life and experience things,” he said. “Everything’s not always perfect; we’ve of course had problems too but you have to experience both the good and the bad to grow.”
Schultz added he feels fortunate that Hill happened to walk into Studio Six 25 years ago.
“We’re lucky,” he said. “Some people find true love but they’re not content, and we are. You have to be kind to each other forever to make it work. You’re really lucky when you can find someone to spend your life with, and Gary is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”