Honoring and congratulating Earl D. Fowlkes, Jr. during the week of Philadelphia Black Pride for his incredible and visionary leadership and dedicated service to the Black LGBTQ+ movement.

Honoring and congratulating Earl D. Fowlkes, Jr. during the week of Philadelphia Black Pride for his incredible and visionary leadership and dedicated service to the Black LGBTQ+ movement. WHEREAS, Earl D. Fowlkes, Jr. is a distinguished national leader in the Black LGBTQ+ movement, whose decades of service have been instrumental in advancing equity, visibility, and community infrastructure for Black queer people across the United States. He currently serves in a leadership capacity with the Center for Black Equity, the premier national organization dedicated to supporting Black Pride initiatives and strengthening Black LGBTQ+ communities globally; and WHEREAS, Mr. Fowlkes has played a foundational role in the development and expansion of the Black Pride movement. He previously served as President of DC Black Pride, one of the nation’s earliest and most influential Black Pride celebrations and was an incorporator of the International Federation of Black Prides. His efforts served to lay the foundation upon which Michael Hinson and others founded Philly Black Gay Pride in 1999. Mr. Fowlkes helped establish a national and international framework that has supported the growth and sustainability of Black Pride events in cities across the country and abroad; and WHEREAS, In addition to his leadership in Pride organizing, Mr. Fowlkes has been a committed advocate in the fight against HIV/AIDS, with a particular focus on prevention, education, and resources for Black communities dis…