For over 45 years, Mazzoni Center has unwaveringly provided health and wellness services to the greater Philadelphia LGBTQ+ community. Our organization was founded in response to a shameful reality: the LGBTQ+ community was being refused healthcare and other life-saving services, effectively denying their dignity, their quality of life, and at the core, their existence. Central to our mission is an understanding that all members of our community – regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, race, ethnicity, religion, financial status, and more – are entitled to live as their full selves, with the same opportunities for quality of life provided to others.

While it should not seem a bold statement in 2025, we want to exclaim today, in the strongest and most uncertain terms: LGBTQ+ individuals, including transgender people of all ages, exist and are entitled to the care and opportunities that others take for granted to live lives recognized as their full selves.

Any attempt to reject, refute, or erase the existence of our community recalls a disgraceful time in history, one that we fear will be repeated – a time when an entire group of human beings was not recognized as full persons. As a country, we must be better than that. Here at Mazzoni Center, we will continue to offer high quality competent integrated, whole-person care to the communities we serve in line with our vital and ever-more critical mission. Should you be in need of care, please know that we are here for you.