As debate rages at the national level between supporters of the two major-party presidential candidates, Philadelphia’s LGBT community is seeing its own level of fervent discourse over an issue that hits close to home for many locals.
For years, there have been charges that the LGBT nightlife scene is rife with racism: from dress-code policies to ID regulations to employment practices. Those allegations were thrust to the forefront of the community’s consciousness last week when a video surfaced of a local club owner using racist language.
The response was swift and, thankfully, there seemed to be little debate that the ICandy owner’s remarks were not only offensive but left a shameful stain on a community that outwardly prides itself on its diversity and efforts to advance equality for all.
PGN is among the organizations that took a firm stand on this issue; we ended our advertising relationship with ICandy and will no longer sponsor events held at the venue. We cannot condone the actions of a business owner who displays such overt racism, the carelessness of the language clearly indicating underlying attitudes incompatible with being a leader in the LGBT business community.
Now, the question is where to go from here. For us, the answer is to listen. Most importantly, we need to listen to our community members about other, less-overt instances of racism they have faced — and how that treatment has impacted them. We need to listen to nightlife leaders about obstacles they see in eradicating racism from their establishments. We need to listen to city officials about what they are doing to combat racism. And we need to truly listen, not just hear while we formulate our own defensive reply.
The comments made by ICandy’s owner are, of course, indicative solely of one man’s thoughts, but the ease at which those words fell off his tongue speaks to a larger, more pervasive problem. Addressing systemic, institutional racism is an effort going on in all corners of our country, and it’s time our community takes an active role in this discourse.