Moorestown Pride will host An Afternoon with Your Angels at the Community House from 3 to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
The event will feature Kym Durham, a second-generation psychic medium who claims a connection with those who’ve crossed over to the spiritual world.
“As a member of the community, I can tell you from my own experience that you need that support, you need that sense of community where you live,” said Moorestown Pride co-founder Kimmie Smith. “This is a very conservative town, and when you even bring something up related to our community, you get the good, but then you also get the bad …
“So just knowing that there are people, that there are allies, that there are people like you in your community and we can support each other, is very important.”
Durham is a Collingswood resident and a member of the LGBTQIA+ community. Her mother, Joan Friel Durham, was a renowned New Jersey psychic medium who worked with law-enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. She has assisted in solving more than 240 murder and missing persons cases in her lifetime, according to her website.
Joan began the family business Psychic Studies & Investigations (PSI) in 1972. It is now in its 50th year, a point of pride for her daughter.
“Visibility is huge; it is so important,” Durham explained. “There are not many openly gay psychic mediums … It takes courage, because people will judge you not only for what you do, but who you are, and so to me, it was really important.”
Durham participated in the 1993 Washington D.C., rally for the right of gays to marry and has been a member of the HRC (Human Rights Campaign) since its inception. She was contacted by Moorestown Pride co-founder Kimberly Knowland.
“I was like, ‘I’m in,’” Durham said.
A portion of the ticket sales will be donated to Moorestown Pride, a nonprofit family and peer-run organization that connects LGBTQIA+ individuals, families and allies in Moorestown and the surrounding areas in a safe, supportive environment.
“It’s just so important that we continue our mission and do what we’re doing,” Smith noted. “The money that we’re raising will help us fund our festival in October. We’re going to have a lot of vendors at our festival, we are going to have music, food trucks and it’s just going to be great.”
The first annual Moorestown Pridefest will be held at Wesley Bishop Park on Friday, Oct. 18, at 5 p.m. The event will also feature a dog-costume contest, drag queens and more. For more on that event, or for more information on An Afternoon with Your Angels, visit www.moorestownpride.com.
“There’s a lot of people in town who don’t want the town to change, but there’s a lot of people who want it to be more inclusive,” said Moorestown Pride co-founder Danielle Zukowski.
“ … If we’re bringing events like yours into the community,” she told Durham, “it just makes everything more visible, so we’re going to keep doing it.”
