POPSTPONED: Open & Proud

We have decided to postpone Thursday‘s Open and Proud Panel Discussion after much deliberation internally, with community members, and with Miller Lite.

Open and Proud is a program of Miller Lite and the Townhall is a Miller Lite initiative. William Way, in this process, is working as a steward to bring necessary stakeholders to the table to begin this discussion. This event is step one, as far as we are concerned.

A panel was curated, by William Way community, that was inclusive of all Black and/or Brown and/or Trans, and/or disabled, and/or fem, and/or women, identified individuals who frequent bars and clubs, including DJs, performers, and bartenders.

50% of the tickets available for the event were held to send out as individual invitations to ensure that the conversation was open to people who don’t follow William Way, people who may have felt like the event was not for them, people who hold identities that are most marginalized in bar spaces (Black, Brown, disabled, trans, fat, fem, elder, etc). Galaei was included as a partner in this process. Smaller collectives of folks who center the above named identities were also contacted to take part in the conversation.

While William Way does believe that the topic of LGBTQIA+ inclusivity and safety in nightlife spaces is an important one, and that the Miller brand approached us with only the best intentions, we understand wholeheartedly why there have been misgivings from the public about this partnership.

We assure you that we are doing all we can as an organization to listen, learn, and grow from the feedback we receive and the mistakes we are bound to make as we navigate through the journey of being a community-based nonprofit that is trying to do big things to make Philly a better place for LGBTQIA+ folks.

We recognize that all companies and corporations in some ways have caused harm to our communities. Our goal always is to work with those who are making a strong effort in changing the path, correcting themselves and making strides that serve us as consumers. As we know this does not happen overnight and we expect that it will continue to take a lot of thoughtfulness to get it right. We want you all to know that it is always our goal to support our communities’ voices in this process while ensuring that the entities that exist hear those voices.

Moving forward we are taking some steps to make sure this panel discussion is not only fruitful but does not incite additional harm toward our communities.

We will start by collecting feedback from the public about whether, and/or how to move forward with this event. We would like to hear from as many people as possible so please share this opportunity with your communities and networks.