Organizers of the “Dyke Pride Dance” are hoping for a big turnout Friday, May 15, at Summit Presbyterian Church in Mt. Airy, one one of the most gay-friendly communities in the United States.

Tickets for the 7 p.m. party may range from $5 to $35, but “No dykes or queers will be turned away for lack of funds,” said Kali Morgan, spokesperson for Sisterspace of the Delaware Valley, a nonprofit that “provides services and events for individuals who identify as women (cis or trans) and nonbinary sisters with a history of girlhood.”

“These phobias and biases [against LGBTQ+ people] continue to exist,” Morgan said, “but one thing about Northwest Philadelphia is that people here are passionate, and there are so many queer folks with an inclusive and expansive view of the LGBTQ+ umbrella in general and of [lesbians] in particular who will show up with their whole heart and soul. The Dyke Pride Dance is for those who want to celebrate sapphic connection and existence in all of its forms.”

Mt. Airy has a higher concentration of lesbian couples than any other neighborhood in the United States, according to a survey conducted by The Advocate, a national LGBTQ+ news and information publication,

The first “Dyke Pride Dance” was Feb. 9, 2024, at Summit Church, which was chosen because “its hall holds up to 150 people, because it is local, affordable and community-minded,” activist Arleen Olshan, organizer of the first event, said in an earlier interview. Olshan is a founder of Mt. Airy Art Garage.

Morgan, a resident of West Germantown who studied photography at Community College of Philadelphia, said, “I was always ‘out’ at school but not with my fundamentalist family. Luckily, I had a great counselor at school who was able to get me out of school and away from religious counseling one day a week at Voyage House,” the predecessor to The Attic Youth Center.

Sharon Yates, another organizer of the May 15 event, studied medical laboratory technology at Camden County Community College and currently lives in Berlin, New Jersey.

“I came out to my mother when I was 12 years old, but she did not believe me,” Yates told the Local last week. “I officially came out when I was 20. … At this point, we are only in the beginning stages of publicity for the dance, but the responses we have gotten are very good. I would love for us to have this as an annual dance.”

Although conditions for the LGBTQ+ community have undoubtedly improved over the years in Philadelphia, Yates insists there still needs to be more progress.

“Just like in the rest of the United States,” she said, “there are pockets and communities of folks who are incapable of seeing us as people who are the same as them. I have always made it a point to share my story with people I meet who haven’t had interactions with gay people. I try to let them see that I am just like them and hope that they can pass on that knowledge.”

Merri Rich, another organizer of the May 15 event, is a New York native who now lives in this area. She attended a specialized nursing school and completed three years of college.

“Nursing was a practical and meaningful path for me,” she said last week. “It allowed me to provide for my son while he was growing up. Later in life, with the encouragement and support of my wife, Jenny; my sister, Linda; and a strong circle of friends and family, I was able to return to my creative work and focus more fully on my art practice. … I never really had a formal ‘coming out.’ I’ve always experienced myself as fluid. It was never something I felt I had to explain or hide. It was simply who I was.”

When asked if there are still issues involving bias even in the generally progressive communities of Northwest Philadelphia, Rich replied, “Yes, absolutely. Even in places that feel progressive, there are still underlying issues, whether it’s lack of representation, subtle bias or unequal access to opportunities and resources.

“In the art world specifically, there are still barriers around who gets visibility and support. More broadly, there are still spaces, both public and private, where people don’t feel fully safe or accepted. That’s part of why building our own spaces is so important. It’s not just about inclusion; it’s about ownership, visibility and creating environments where people don’t have to shrink themselves.”

The dance begins at 7 p.m. Summit Presbyterian Church is at 6757 Greene St. For more information, visit sisterspace.org. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.