Gayborhood - Encyclopedia of Greater Philalphia

Contents:

• 1920S AND 30S: GAY BARS SURFACE
• THE HISTORY OF PHILALPHIA’S GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
• GAYBORHOOD
• GET YOUR HISTORY STRAIGHT AND YOUR NIGHTLIFE GAY®
• PHILLY’S GAY ARCHIVAL RERDS GO OUTSI FOR ‘AND INTO THE STREETS’
• THE ROOTS OF THE GAYBORHOOD, THE EVE OF A MILTONE

1920S AND 30S: GAY BARS SURFACE

A lot of socializg among the cy’s queer rints durg the ’40s and ’50s happened at hoe parti anized by Quaker-affiliated groups, acrdg to thor Marc Ste, who vered the era his book “Cy of Sisterly and Brotherly Lov: Lbian and Gay Philalphia. Enomic growth, betifitn of the area and a cle the crime-rate were propelled by Philalphia’s first LGBT muny center openg 1976 (William Way) and the tablishment of s first publicly-distributed newspaper (Philalphia Gay News), s first gay bs group openg 1977 (Communy Alliance of Philalphia) and s first LGBT health and wellbeg center 1979 (the Mazzoni Center).

THE HISTORY OF PHILALPHIA’S GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT

The GAA also pneered the Gay Swchboard Hotle and the Erom Center to provi mental health servic to dividuals who were LGBTQ+, as well as helped to velop Philalphia’s first gay newspaper, the 1972, GAA worked alongsi the Homophile Actn League to anize Philalphia’s first gay pri march, om Rtenhoe Square to Inpennce Park. After an attack agast two gay men Center Cy took the media by storm 2014, the Cy of Philalphia passed an ordance to regnize attacks based on genr inty or sexual orientatn as hate crim.

GAYBORHOOD

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. 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.

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. 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.

GET YOUR HISTORY STRAIGHT AND YOUR NIGHTLIFE 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.

PHILLY’S GAY ARCHIVAL RERDS GO OUTSI FOR ‘AND INTO THE STREETS’

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! 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.

THE ROOTS OF THE GAYBORHOOD, THE EVE OF A MILTONE

Throughout the summer of 1982 Philalphia activists fought for the passage of a “gay rights law, ” an amendment to the cy’s Fair Practic Ordance to prohib discrimatn hog, employment, and public acmodatns on the basis of sexual preference. It only seems ftg that the Cy of Philalphia has also played key rol over the last fifty-pl years to the LGBTQ (lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, qutng) Civil Rights Movement. Annual public monstratns for gay and lbian equaly were held at Inpennce Hall on each Fourth of July through 1969, and llectively, the are referred to as “Annual Remrs.

To that end, the peaceful Annual Remr protts Philalphia bed wh the vlent Stonewall Rts New York Cy 1969 as well as the natn’s first Gay Pri Para which was held New York Cy 1970 transformed a small natnal mpaign to a civil rights movement. Datg back to World War II, the center of Philalphia’s gay rintial life, culture and merce has centered around what is today known as the Gayborhood, which is loted the heart of Center Cy bound by 11th Street (to the East), Broad Street (to the Wt), Pe Street (to the South) and Chtnut Street (to the North). Fryer’s heartfelt and powerful ttimony persuad the APA to classify homosexualy as a mental disorr 1973, endg treatments such as chemil stratn, electric shock therapy, and lobotomy and pavg the way for advanc LGBT civil rights.