With its many great museums, restaurants, art, theater, history, and other attractions, Richmond is a wonderful travel destination for everyone, and we know that LGBT travelers will find it to be a welcoming and enjoyable place to visit. Our city has a thriving Gay Community Center, an annual Virginia Pride celebration held downtown, and numerous LGBT-friendly houses of worship. Richmond's Convention and Visitor's Bureau has an active LGBT Tourism Advisory Committee and their travel web site features a welcome and information section for LGBT travelers. The Richmond Triangle Players, a nationally recognized gay theater, is located within close walking distance to Maury Place.
 Maury Place at Monument Innkeepers Jeff and Mac were just featured in the September 20, 2011 issue of Richmond's Stye Weekly Magazine in "Letting Go", an article about coming-out stories. Mac and Jeff were featured on the cover of the magazine, Richmond's largest weekly publication.
Richmond is home to The Rainbow Minute, a radio series about lesbian and gay heroes, history, and culture. The series of one minute episodes present true stories of the lives and contributions of extraordinary LGBT persons, past and present, produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns. The episodes are produced using volunteer readers, including past reading by Maury Place at Monument innkeepers Jeff and Mac.
LGBT persons have played a significant role in Richmond's history, as in the contributions of Gilded Age businessman and philanthropist Lewis Ginter and his life partner John Pope. Ginter and Pope owned large tracts of land in what is now Richmond's North Side, including the Ginter Park neighborhood. Lewis Ginter is credited with persuading Union Presbyterian Seminary to relocate to Richmond in 1898 with a gift of land, and his heirs donated to the city of Richmond the land for Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens, a top Richmond attraction. A new biography of Lewis Ginter and John Pope, written by Rainbow Minute co-producer Brian Burns, will be released in August 2011.
We are extremely pleased that our church, 2nd Presbyterian Church in dowtown Richmond, has recently affirmed its position that gay persons are unconditionally welcomed and affirmed in the church. The governing body voted unanimously to say that "We welcome all whom God calls into the life, worship, work, and leadership of this church without regard to cultural heritage, skin color, socio-economic status, circumstances, or sexual orientation", a statement that now appears on the home page of the 2nd Presbyterian Church website.
In it's March 1, 2011 article, Passport Magazine writes:
"Richmond, Virginia is wonderful. Okay, its probably not the first place you've dreamt of visiting. In fact, I'm not sure it's on your radar at all, but it's somewhere you should think about: cultured, with tons of history, an active and friendly GLBT community, and a slew of great restaurants. It's a low-key, lovely city filled with row houses of brick and wood, with a green, gracious air to it. This small city (about 200,000) definitely has a laid-back Southern atmosphere, but there's a vibrant contemporary scene developing against the background of 400 years of history."
Maury Place Innkeepers Mac and Jeff are actively involved in the local community. Jeff currently serves on the board of directors of the Richmond Triangle Players, and Jeff and Mac actively support the following organizations:
Jeff and Mac just celebrated the 10th anniversary of their ceremony by getting married last December in Boston.
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