Chris Bartlett, the executive director of William Way LGBT Community Center, will be leaving the role this summer after almost 15 years in the position.
“My mission in life has been to support, build, and facilitate LGBTQ communities in the Delaware Valley,” said Bartlett, who was raised in Philadelphia. “I have a great love for the city.”
The HIV/AIDS epidemic turned Bartlett into an activist. After returning from Oxford University — where he received his master’s degree, he joined ACT UP and developed an intersectional approach to advocacy.
“I was really blessed — both in ACT UP Philadelphia and more broadly in Philadelphia — to have this group of older queer people who showed me a path for a life of doing work in our communities,” he said.
As a young person, there weren’t many “gay jobs.” He found opportunities as an advocate, supporting the work of HIV/AIDS activists who were his mentors then served as the director of SafeGuards Gay Men’s Health Project — an HIV prevention organization that later became the AIDS Information Network — from 1991 to 2001.
“At the time, I thought, ‘Oh my god, they’re going to pay me to do this thing that I love to do so much!” Bartlett said about that first big role.
He helped broaden the scope of the organization’s approach to LGBTQ+ health and wellness, retooling programs to focus additionally on nutrition, recovery and sobriety, aging and more.
Bartlett then became a consultant working for the City of Philadelphia and co-created the Gay Men’s Health Leadership Academy.
“I really think investing in leaders is key, and that’s in part because I had so many people invest in me,” he said. “I knew the difference it made.”
One of his favorite accomplishments during his tenure at William Way LGBT Community Center has been launching a biweekly group for the executive directors of local LGBTQ+ and HIV/AIDS focused organizations to develop relationships and learn from each other.
Through a partnership with the Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs, Bartlett more recently established the LGBTQ+ Leadership Pipeline, a recruitment and enrichment initiative focused on increasing the number of people of color, trans people, youth and elders serving on the boards of queer-centered organizations in the city.
Bartlett has also valued what he calls “two-way street” relationships with other leaders — where all people involved grow from knowing each other. He intentionally pays close attention to emerging leaders to offer support and empower them during their difficulties and successes.
“It’s his passion for caring about people in the community and wanting the center to deliver for the community,” said David Huting, co-chair of William Way’s board of directors, on what he appreciates about Bartlett, noting that he cares deeply for people as individuals.
“One of the things I admire most about Chris is his passionate public speaking ability,” Huting continued, underlining that Bartlett has motivated others to learn about equity, fairness and how to fight for LGBTQ+ rights.
At William Way, Bartlett expanded the way the center approaches the arts — supporting the art gallery, which has been in place since the organization’s inception, and developing the first LGBTQ+ jazz festival. He also helped to launch the Trans Resource Center and has been heavily involved in work with queer elders.
Bartlett, who was previously honored as PGN’s 2020 Person of the Year, serves on Pennsylvania’s Governor’s Advisory Commission on LGBTQ Affairs and a similar commission for the City of Philadelphia.
“I’ve always viewed myself as believing in a philosophy of emergence — and by that, I mean not imposing frameworks for what the queer community center should look like but providing spaces for the queer community to say, ‘Here’s what we want from our queer community center,’” he said.
Huting said the center “has done well” under Bartlett’s leadership and that the departure comes without any hard feelings. The organization is planning to honor Bartlett with a celebration in the fall.
“I’m grateful for all of that leadership that’s worked alongside me,” said Bartlett, “because my success has really relied upon the success of board staff and community people who’ve believed in the center and still do.”
Bartlett will depart the role on June 30, and Darius McLean — who currently serves as the center’s Chief Operating Officer and heads up the Trans Resource Center — will step into the role as an interim leader.
Josh Miller-Myers, William Way’s new Chief Development Officer, started less than a month ago. The center is currently working to disentangle his responsibilities from the job of the executive director through a slight reorganization that will help the pair work together most effectively.
Huting said this is a natural progression — underlining that as the center has grown, roles and responsibilities have needed to change.
Over the next few months, Bartlett will help prepare those who will lead William Way in his absence. The center is also making plans for its future. Huting noted the organization’s leaders are beginning to discuss next steps for their much-anticipated building project.
The project was initially announced in 2022 with the Build the Way capital campaign, raising money to not only renovate the center’s aging building but to expand with a 10-story addition. Huting previously told PGN that the cost of the original plan might be prohibitive — and the board is now starting a process to examine new options for a path forward. Members hope to stay in the building but must address crucial repairs and accessibility issues and make the space more functional.
“We’d like to stay in the building, but we don’t want more surprises,” Huting said about the planning that needs to take place. Older buildings have issues that are expensive to fix, he explained.
Huting noted that he’s worried about the impact of the Trump administration on LGBTQ+ people and allies — which could result in less time and resources for the center to do what it does for the community. But he’s also confident that many of their donors — including major funders and corporate partners — are “very solidly in our corner” and will continue to support the organization and LGBTQ+ movements.
“I’m so upset by the current government’s attempt to erase our history. I feel like I have to be working full time to both create new history and protect the history that we already have,” added Bartlett. “The center is likely going to be under attack for those things. And we have to be making sure that we give the archives and the seniors and the trans programs and the arts and culture programs all the resources they need.”
“And I’m really confident from my own experience in 14 years of reaching out to all our stakeholders,” he continued, “that the community steps up — particularly when we’re in a crisis.”
Bartlett, who was a student of the Classics, said that the resilience of ancient communities to persevere and survive through extreme hardships gives him a sense of comfort and hope in the chaos of modern times.
In 2009, he began to collect the stories of gay Philadelphians lost to HIV/AIDS — launching a website that shares their narratives and obituaries. The experience was restorative. That project led him to co-found the Gay History Wiki and later participate in Remembrance — both of which have that same focus.
Bartlett, who has always had an interest in work that preserves the stories of the queer community, has contributed to other archival projects over the years and will now be pursuing a degree in library and information science at the City University of New York.
“When we look at the attempts of our political opponents to erase us, what do we do strategically and technologically to make sure that that’s impossible?” Bartlett said about his specific area of interest. “I have this commitment to Philadelphia. Period. I have commitments to its queer communities. Period. And now it feels like history and archives is the place where I can have the most impact.”
Despite studying in a new city, Bartlett will remain firmly planted in this city he loves so much.
“I don’t invest 14 years in something and then disappear,” he said. “I love the community center passionately — and I don’t want to get in anyone’s hair, but to the extent I’m invited and wanted, I’m going to be participating.”