The William Way LGBT Community Center is making its annual Pride weekend Homecoming a brunch for the first time instead of an afternoon garden party.
“A lot of people who went to the Dyke March couldn’t come because the events overlapped,” explained R. Eric Thomas, program director at William Way. “Now you can go from brunch at the center and then take the streets for the Dyke March.”
The brunch is 11 a.m.-2 p.m. June 11 at William Way, 1315 Spruce St. It costs $35-$60, depending on membership status and if the guest would like alcohol. The Philadelphia Dyke March starts at 3 p.m. at Kahn Park, 11th and Pine streets.
It’s the fifth year for Homecoming, which raises money to support building maintenance at the center.
“No matter how far-flung the LGBT community is in Philadelphia, they always have a place to call home,” Thomas said of the event’s significance.
He envisions the brunch as “the best of all Gayborhood brunches.” It will feature “jazz, cabaret, fabulous food options, burlesque and witty repartee.”
John Jarboe, a founder of the Bearded Ladies Cabaret, and Lascivious Jane, a burlesque artist, will perform in William Way’s lobby. V. Shayne Frederick will play the piano and sing in the ballroom during brunch, catered by Joshua’s Catering.
Guests can also visit the LGBT center’s art galleries to see two new exhibits: “Treasures Revealed” in the main gallery, which features items from the permanent collection with a Pride theme; and “Shocking and Revealing” in the archives gallery, which includes lesbian and gay pulp fiction from postwar America.
“The idea of home is a special concern of mine for our community,” Thomas said, “making sure we have a physical home and also an emotional and spiritual home. I think the center can be all those things.”
For more information on Homecoming or to purchase tickets, visit www.waygay40.org.