Philadelphia opens new LGBTQ+ visitor center, one of few in country
Located at 1130 Locust, the center offers visitor services, including itinerary planning and travel information with a focus on LGBTQ+-affirming destinations.
It is a simple, sleek storefront in the Gayborhood. And it is now a welcoming spot.
On Wednesday, Gov. Josh Shapiro, city tourism and marketing leaders, and LGBTQ+ advocates officially opened the Philadelphia Pride Visitor Center, one of the country’s first LGBTQ+ visitor centers.
“We need happy things in the world,” Shapiro said, during a ribbon cutting at the center. “And we need places like this that bring people together. That is the Pennsylvania way.”
The Philly Pride Center is now just one of a handful of LGBTQ+-dedicated visitor centers in America, including ones in New York and Miami. Opening ahead of Philadelphia’s big summer celebrations for the 250th anniversary of America in 2026, also known as the Semiquincentennial, officials described the center as a symbol that Philadelphia, the city of the nation’s birth, welcomes all.
“At a time when other states are walking away from their LGBTQ+ community, we are walking toward it,” Shapiro said. “At a time when other states are saying ‘no’ to pride-based tourism, we are embracing it.”
Located near 12th and Locust Streets, in a storefront connected to Knock Restaurant and Bar, the center offers visitor services, including itinerary planning, attraction ticketing, and travel information, with a focus on LGBTQ+-affirming destinations, businesses, and cultural institutions. Souvenirs made by LGBTQ+-owned businesses and artists are on sale.
“The Philly Pride Center reflects something we believe with all of our hearts,” said Kathryn Ott Lovell, president and CEO of Philadelphia Visitor Center Corp., which will run the new center. “That every visitor should feel like they are welcome and that they belong. We want the Philly pride visitor center to be both a very practical resource and a very visible statement about who we are as a city.”
More than a year in the making — and now open Thursday through Monday, noon to 6 p.m., at 1130 Locust Street — the site will represent Philly’s fifth visitor center, including ones at Independence Mall, City Hall, Love Park, and the Parkway Visitor Center & Rocky Shop.
“Philadelphia’s LGBTQ+ history helped shape this country’s story, and the Philly Pride Center brings that legacy forward in a powerful and visible way,” said Angel Val, president and CEO of Visit Philadelphia, which helped found the center, along with Mark Segal, founder and publisher of Philadelphia Gay News. Segal, an activist and author, who was part of the seminal riots at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in 1969, curated the historical information exhibited at the center, telling of Philly’s long and powerful LGBTQ+ legacy.
It is a point of pride, Segal said, that the Philly Pride Visitor Center comes at a time when many scholars and activists believe the Trump administration is attempting to sanitize American history.
“At this time in history, there are many people who are trying to erase us and erase our history,” Segal said. “But today, by opening a new Pride Center, which yells and screams ‘visibility and take pride in who you are,’ we’re saying, ‘No, we’re not going to allow anyone to put us back in the closet ever again.’”