• by Danielle Oster , Yesterday

Visitors to the Cherry Street Pier in Philadelphia will find a new sculpture on display this month, intended as a display of the city’s welcome to a population under political attack. 

Standing 10 feet tall and weighing in at around 250 pounds, the “In Plain Sight” installation spells out “TQ+” and was created to celebrate transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual members of the LGBTQ+ community. The sculpture incorporates color schemes from various Pride flags, including a blue “T” with pink and white stripes for the Trans Pride Flag, and elements of the traditional Rainbow Pride Flag (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet) for “Q”; the “+”incorporates yellow and purple from the Intersex Pride Flag.

Visit Philadelphia created the campaign in collaboration with local agency A&G (Allen & Gerritsen), consulting with local artists and creatives on its design, with the final piece fabricated by local family-owned 3D design and manufacturing studio Outshaped.

“Everyone in the community has the right to feel safe and welcome in the birthplace of America,” Visit Philadelphia CMO Neil Frauenglass told Marketing Daily, adding that given the “cultural shift pushing back against those members of the community,” the campaign “wanted to reiterate that here in Philadelphia, they are welcome…lifting up the TQ+ community will lift up the entire community.”

“In Plain Sight” arrives amidst a barrage of attacks on the civil rights of LGBTQ+ people—and trans and intersex people in particular—from the Trump administration. So there’s real significance to celebrating the “TQ+” portion of the community in particular right now—particularly as many brands are withdrawing from, pulling back, or less vocally supporting, initiatives honoring Pride Month, continuing a trend from last year.

“In Plain Sight” is the latest in a series of atypical Pride Month campaigns for Visit Philadelphia.

Last year, Visit Philadelphia and A&G’s Pride campaign involved sponsoring “Philadelphia Gay News” in their successful effort to set a record for the largest drag storytime audience.

Frauenglass said Visit Philadelphia asked how they could top last year’s effort, and consulted with the local LGTBQ+ community for ideas, who stressed the “particularly painful challenges” faced by more marginalized members of the TQ+ community. Further feedback from the community, he said, amounted to, “If you’re nervous, you’re doing it right.”

“[Visit Philadelphia] never does typical Pride Month campaigns,” A&G CCO Jennifer Putnam told Marketing Daily. “It's not just art, it's advocacy.”

The city has strong connections to LGBTQ+ history. Visit Philadelphia says its 2004 “Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay” campaign was the first LGBTQ+-specific tourism TV ad.

Cherry Street Pier will host the installation throughout the month of June. The campaign includes a call to find a location for the sculpture at the conclusion of Pride Month, inviting its audience to apply to give it a permanent home.

The campaign is part of a wider “In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union” campaign from Visit Philadelphia focused on promoting the city as inclusive and welcoming. Another recent installation in the series for Black History Month saw Visit Philadelphia install free little libraries across the city full of books by Black authors commonly targeted by book bans.