Title
Commending the Please Touch Museum for its Launch of Pride Family Weekend.
Body
WHEREAS, Founded in 1976, the Please Touch Museum has been dedicated to the cultivation of young minds through play. The Please Touch Museum was the first in the City to specialize in exhibits for families with children younger than seven years. Currently, the Please Touch Museum includes permanent exhibits, temporary exhibits, collections, as well as programs open to the public; and
WHEREAS, Growing Young Minds, a report by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, stresses the importance of museums and libraries in the development of children. The report commends establishments such as the Please Touch Museum for being an excellent facilitator of creating bright and inquisitive minds of the future; and
WHEREAS, In 2018 the Please Touch Museum elected to participate in a celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and sexual diversity by hosting a Pride Family Festival. According to the Please Touch Museum, the Pride Family Festival was meant to "celebrate the many ways families come together and everything that makes people unique", and proved to do so by exhibiting events and performances such as Drag Queen Storytime and Self-Empowerment and Acceptance; and
WHEREAS, The Please Touch Museum experienced negative backlash in response to its efforts to initiate the Pride Family Festival. Comments on Facebook and other forms of social media deemed the Pride Family Festival events as "inappropriate to subject children of these ages to things like this"; and
WHEREAS, The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) formally states: "Respect and tolerance are liberating acts, whereby the differences of others are recognized as the same as our own..." UNESCO further emphasizes fighting intolerance through law, education, access to information, individual awareness, and local solutions; and
WHEREAS, The City of Philade...
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