Funeral Date Set for Gloria Casarez, Campaign Asks Businesses to Bring Out Rainbow Flags For the Occassion
Gloria Casarez, the first director of the Mayor’s Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs who passed away Sunday night at the age of 42, will be laid to rest following a public funeral service on Friday, October 24th, at 10:30 a.m. It will take place at the Arch Street United Methodist Church at 55 North Broad Street.
The community has been celebrating Gloria’s legacy all week long—from the flag-lowering at City Hall on Monday to an outpouring of personal stories shared on Facebook. In another attempt to honor the civil rights leader friends, like Philadelphia Gay Tourism Caucus’s Tami Sortman, have started a campaign to all but drape the city in rainbows during her funeral. The “Show Your True Colors for Gloria” initiative calls on folks in the community and businesses to “display rainbow flags in windows of stores, bars, restaurants, offices, shops and homes,” says Sortman. “We want Philly to look like the rainbow for Gloria’s funeral.”
She recommends putting out your flags on the evening of October 23rd so they’ll be ready and waving the following morning as mourners make their way to Arch Street United Methodist Church.
In lieu of flowers, the family is asking well-wishers to donate to the WCU Foundation in support of the Gloria Casarez Leadership Scholarship. You can make checks payable to WCU Foundation with a memo stating “In Memory of Gloria Casarez.” Donations can be sent to P.O. Box 541, West Chester, PA 19381
More Reading
- PHOTOS: Mayor Nutter Honors Gloria Casarez at Flag-Lowering Ceremomy
- LGBT Philadelphia Remembers Gloria Casarez
