The City of Philadelphia and Mayor John F. Street dedicated 36 new street signs on Apr 18 to symbolize their commitment to diversity, inclusiveness and invitation. The signs are permanently affixed with the rainbow flag to designate the city’s “Gayborhood,” defined as Chestnut to Pine Streets between 11th and Broad Streets.
Two years in the planning, the effort to replace existing street signs with the new gay-friendly ones was championed by the members of the Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus with support from the City of Philadelphia, Washington Square Civic Association and Philadelphia City Councilman Frank DiCicco. Philadelphia joins a short-list of other North American cities that have erected permanent rainbow installations in gay-friendly districts including San Francisco, Chicago, Montreal, and Toronto.