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Recognizing October 2025 as LGBTQ+ History Month in the City of Philadelphia and honoring the movement for LGBTQ+ rights, providing visibility for an often-erased history, and raising awareness for the ongoing fight for civil rights and equality.
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WHEREAS, In 1994, LGBTQ+ History Month was established by Rodney Wilson, a high school history teacher who wanted to celebrate the history and achievements of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. LGBTQ+ History Month is observed in October to align with National Coming Out Day on October 11th and the anniversary of the 1979 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia’s early movement for gay rights was led in part by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans youth amidst targeted brutality and harassment toward the LGBTQ+ community by the Philadelphia Police Department; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia is home to one of the earliest annual demonstrations for LGBTQ+ rights, the Annual Reminders, led by Frank Kameny, Clark Polak, Barbara Gittings, and Kay Lahusen outside Independence Hall on July 4th from 1965 to 1969. Participants included Ernestine Eckstein, Kiyoshi Kuromiya, and Ada Bello, and have been credited with laying the groundwork for the June 1969 Stonewall protests; and
WHEREAS, During Philadelphia’s first Gay Pride March in June 1972, the Philadelphia Gay Pride Committee wrote that “until gay lovers can walk proudly hand in hand on the street without evoking hostile comments and harassment, we will continue to march and fight for our freedom and the freedom of our frightened brothers and sisters who are unhappily satisfied with the status quo”; and
WHEREAS, In the five decades since, Philadelphia has been and continues to be at the vanguard of pathbreaking advances in LGBTQ+ civil rights. Philadelphia activists were at the forefront of the successful campaign to declassify homosexuality as a mental illness in the 1970s, and in 1982 Philadelphia became one of the first cities in the country, and the first in the Commonwealth, to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing, employment, and public accommodations; and
WHEREAS, In 2008, Philadelphia established one of the first municipal Offices of LGBT Affairs and since then, has adopted some of the strongest protections for LGBTQ+ communities in the country, including significant expansions for transgender and gender non-conforming individuals; and
WHEREAS, The need to advocate for of LGBTQ+ lives remains increasingly critical, particularly in light of efforts to erase the history of the fight for civil rights, acceptance and celebration of the LGBTQ+ community; and hateful legislation introduced to restrict healthcare and autonomy from Trans youth and seeks to erase LGBTQ+ experiences from classrooms and curricula; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Hereby recognizes October 2025 as LGBTQ+ History Month in the City of Philadelphia and honors the movement for LGBTQ+ rights, providing visibility for an often-erased history, and raising awareness for the ongoing fight for civil rights and equality.
FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this Resolution will be presented to the John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archive at William way LGBT Community Center as evidence of the sincere sentiments of this legislative body.
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