"Not just during Pride, but all year long"

What happened in Philadelphia’s Gayborhood after Pride this past June should never have happened.

As LGBTQ+ Philadelphians celebrated, an aggressive police response left members of our community frightened, angry, and demanding answers. At a City Council hearing convened earlier this month by Councilmember Rue Landau, community members described excessive force, homophobic remarks and officers threatening people with tasers.

Our community members deserved accountability and an apology. They still do.

Following that hearing, Mayor Cherelle Parker made a commitment to Philadelphia’s LGBTQ+ community:

My Administration remains committed to working alongside the LGBTQ+ community and Pride organizers to support inclusive events not just during Pride, but all year long.

We agree, Mayor Parker. And we’re asking you to make good on that commitment.

LGBTQ+ inclusion cannot begin and end with Pride.

It means making sure queer and trans Philadelphians are safe gathering in our neighborhoods.

It means listening when our community tells City leaders that something is wrong. It means examining policies and practices that treat LGBTQ+ people differently... and then changing them.

And it means making sure the events the City itself operates lives up to that same promise of inclusion.

That includes the Philadelphia Marathon.

Queer Run and Lez Run published an open letter calling on Philadelphia Marathon Weekend and the City of Philadelphia to establish an elite nonbinary division with equal prize money, opportunity and recognition.

903 members and supporters of Philadelphia’s running and LGBTQ+ communities have added their names to that call.

So, Mayor Parker, it’s now time to act.

The issue: ensuring the city “provides economic opportunity for everyone”

The Philadelphia Marathon recognizes male, female, and nonbinary athletes in its Open Division and offers equal prize money across all three: $4,000 for first place, $2,000 for second, and $1,000 for third.

But at the highest level of competition, that equality disappears.

The Marathon’s Professional Division recognizes men and women only. First place pays $10,000. Second pays $7,500. Third pays $5,000. Fourth pays $2,500. Fifth pays $1,500. There is no Professional Division for nonbinary runners.

That means a nonbinary runner can win the Open Division and receive $4,000, while a man or woman can win the Professional Division of that same race and receive $10,000.

But the inequity doesn’t stop with the check at the finish line.

Professional and elite fields are designed to support high-performing athletes in ways the general race field does not. Elite athletes may receive support and accommodations such as complimentary race entry, travel or lodging assistance, dedicated race-day logistics, preferred starting position and other resources that allow them to compete at the highest level.

Without a Professional Division, top-performing nonbinary runners are excluded from those opportunities entirely.

Before becoming mayor, Parker wrote in the Philadelphia Gay News about the progress Philadelphia had made toward LGBTQ+ equality and the work that’s still ahead.

“We are not done,” she wrote, specifically acknowledging aggression toward LGBTQ+ people and “trans women in their fight for recognition.” She went on to say that every Philadelphian deserves to live in a city that “provides economic opportunity for everyone.”

We agree with this statement from Mayor Parker, too.

But right now, her administration oversees a race where an elite nonbinary athlete does not have access to equal economic opportunity. That means that race isn’t an inclusive event.

Philadelphia already knows how to do better. In 2021, the Philadelphia Distance Run became the first major U.S. road race to establish a nonbinary division with equal prize money.

Other races have followed in the five years since. Nonbinary elite competition is no longer a hypothetical.

A city of first

Philadelphia has an opportunity to lead on LGBTQ+ inclusion in running. We should be building on that leadership, not asking nonbinary runners to accept less at our city’s largest and most visible race.

For years, LGBTQ+ runners and advocates have asked Philadelphia Marathon Weekend and City leadership to fix this inequity. We’ve met with City officials, explained the problem and offered solutions.

You’ve committed your administration to supporting inclusive events “not just during Pride, but all year long.”

We’re asking you to make the Philadelphia Marathon one of them.

To everyone who has already signed our open letter: help us make sure the Mayor hears you. Share this blog post and the open letter, tag Mayor Parker and the City of Philadelphia (@phillymayor and @cityofphiladelphia), and ask them to act.

And if you haven’t signed yet, add your name to the open letter.

Philadelphia has an opportunity to lead for LGBTQ+ athletes.

Mayor Parker, will you?