Gayborhood - Encyclopedia of Greater Philalphia

Contents:

• GET YOUR HISTORY STRAIGHT AND YOUR NIGHTLIFE GAY®
• GAYBORHOOD
• THE HISTORY OF PHILALPHIA’S GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• 1920S AND 30S: GAY BARS SURFACE
• REMEMBERG 1965 PHILLY MARCH THAT HELPED SPARK GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT [PHOTOS]

GET YOUR HISTORY STRAIGHT AND YOUR NIGHTLIFE GAY®

And today, Philly visors n easily explore s where LGBTQ+ history was ma and where queer life ntu to thrive, pecially the cy’s Gayborhood and durg annual events like Philly Pri 365.

GAYBORHOOD

The center of Philalphia’s gay rintial life and culture sce World War II, the blocks between 11th and Broad streets and Pe and Chtnut streets earned their nickname — the “Gayborhood”— durg an October Outft event 1995. The group’s LGBTQ and Trans History tours reunt the stori of Gay Liberatn Front – Philalphia founr Kiyoshi Kuromiya, explore morn history and current social issu the neighborhood, and stop at important muny s like the Attic Youth Center, which supports LGBTQ+ youth experiencg homelsns.

In 1965, the Universy of Pennsylvania expelled Fryer om his psychiatric rincy program on the basis of his homosexualy, which was then classified as a mental illns by the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn (APA). In 1972, Fryer, a faculty member at the Temple Universy School of Medice, offered an electrifyg anonymo ttimony that rulted the APA’s 1973 classifitn of homosexualy as a mental illns. A pneer the LGBTQ+ rights movement, Gtgs, a Philalphia rint om age 18 and a lifetime activist, eded The Ladr, the natn’s first lbian magaze; -anized the Annual Remrs at Inpennce Hall (see above) and led charg both to promote posive LGBTQ+ lerature public librari and to change the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn’s classifitn of homosexualy as a mental illns.

It’s where radil gay llective Gazoo found Philalphia’s Gay Liberatn Front and where bisexual blu sger Bsie Smh performed at the Royal Theatre, an early 20th-century Black-owned cultural center.

THE HISTORY OF PHILALPHIA’S GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Today, the street’s known for s Magic Garns, cheteak shops and hangouts, cludg dive bar extraordaire Bob & Barbara’s Lounge, home of one of Philly’s bt-loved drag shows; the punk art LGBTQ+ haven Tattooed Mom; and the eclectic, gay-owned boutique shop Workshop Unrground. Standg directly across the street om Inpennce Hall, a historic marker honors the Annual Remrs, the monstratn held at this se led by gay activists on July 4 om 1965 to 1969, the last of which occurred jt days after the history-makg Stonewall Rts.

Philalphia was the first cy the Uned Stat to lnch a major marketg mpaign (“Get Your History Straight and Your Nightlife Gay®”) to wele LGBTQ+ tourism, and reprents a trove of cultural, culary, artistic and ethnic diversy. Don’t miss a vis to the Gayborhood, a Center Cy neighborhood that sets self apart wh rabow street signs as well as rtrants and bars owned by and terg to LGBTQ+-intified clientele. The muny and the geographil spac occupied played a val role the social and polil stggl of LGBT (lbian, gay, bisexual, and transgenr) people lolly and the natn.

Postwar downtown Philalphia, or “Center Cy, ” as was begng to be lled, had the largt ncentratn of apartments and rental rooms the “Cy of Hom, ” providg gay men, lbians, and transgenred people wh the privacy and urban anonymy they sought. So many gay men moved to apartments south of the square that even straight people monly referred to gay men who lived Center Cy by the d term “Spce Street boys. In an era when racism extend even to the LGBT muny, many Ain Amerin gay men and lbians socialized bars or through private parti north of Market Street, North Philalphia, or across the Schuylkill Wt Philalphia.

1920S AND 30S: GAY BARS SURFACE

Dpe s semi-sensatnalist subtle—“Philalphia’s homosexuals lead a strange twilight life outsi the law and outsi of society”— the story steered away om the lurid and foced stead on the problems of gay people Philalphia and the burgeong gay polil scene. A number of factors worked together to turn the few blocks that radiated om Loct and Thirteenth Streets to the neighborhood that beme known as the Gayborhood. As the character of the area changed, a few of the “mil bars” on the hidn, smaller streets like Camac and Quce began attractg a gay clientele and a few venu beme predomantly gay.

The cy bought and molished many buildgs the sectn that enpassed the emergg Gayborhood, but lack of funds left the area pockmarked wh vant lots and no real plan for velopment. Police actns on area strip clubs led by then-Police Commissner Frank Rizzo (1920-1991) ually clud raids on gay bars, lumpg prostut, dg alers, and homosexuals all together as “unsirabl.

In 1972, Philalphians held their first Gay Pri monstratn, wh an timated 10, 000 people marchg om Rtenhoe Square to Inpennce Mall, signalg the end of a “furtive aterny” and the begng of a new, highly visible prence. Participants Philalphia’s first Gay Pri Para June 1972 marched along Chtnut Street towards Inpennce Hall, extravagantly exprsg themselv through signs, mic, and chants as they marched. Center Cy’s gay neighborhood gaed s name 1995 at Outft, a memoratn of Natnal Comg Out Day, when David Warner playfully paraphrased the Mister Rogers children’s song and clared, “It’s a betiful day the Gayborhood!

REMEMBERG 1965 PHILLY MARCH THAT HELPED SPARK GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT [PHOTOS]

By the twenty-first century, the Gayborhood was anchored by the William Way LGBT Communy Center on Spce Street and Gvanni’s Room, the untry’s olst LGBT bookstore, on Pe Street.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the square was known as a place where gay men and lbians g to the cy uld meet others who would troduce them to the extensive urban homosexual "unrground. The Philalphia cy police, unr Commissner Frank Rizzo, regularly patrolled this area at night and arrted dividuals who looked lbian, gay, or transgenr, regardls of the dividuals’ volvement wh the clubs that led this street. Participants Philalphia's first Gay Pri Para June 1972 met Rtenhoe Square and marched to Inpennce Natnal Historil Park, where they held a rally wh mic and speech.