Philadelphia City Hall to fly transgender pride flag
Philadelphia City Hall will fly a transgender pride flag alongside the US flag next week – to mark the beginning of Pride month.
The city will make the bold gesture to display the flag next month, for the duration of the Philadelphia Trans-Health Conference.
Nellie Fitzpatrick, the city’s director of LGBT affairs, told EPGN: “Far too often the ‘T’ is left behind or out of sight when we talk about LGBT issues, and it’s important to visibly make a commitment to the work that we know needs to be done.
“I can’t think of anything more visible than putting the trans flag right next to the American flag at City Hall.”
Fitzpatrick added that the transgender community only gets prominence around murders, suicides and the Trans Day of Remembrance – and never at more positive events.
She continued: “We have far too many times where the trans community is mourning, from Trans Day of Remembrance to every time we lose somebody.
“But instead we should take a moment and revel in the empowerment of where the community is going because that’s incredibly important to celebrate.”
The city hall already flies the rainbow flag annually in October – and Ms Fitzpatrick hopes that the raising of the trans flag will also become an annual tradition.
Last year, Philadelphia City Council unanimously passed a hate crime law, protecting sexuality and gender identity for the first time after a hate crime exposed the lack of legislation protecting LGBT rights in the city.
