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Calling for the installation of a City Historic Marker in front of the Quaker Meetinghouse at 4th & Arch Streets and for the dedication of this marker to occur during the Democratic National Convention, July 25 to 28, 2016, when over 400 LGBT activists from every state will be in Philadelphia.
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WHEREAS, The LGBT civil rights movement has its roots in Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, The Annual Reminders each July 4th from 1965 to 1969 at Independence Hall helped launch the organized LGBT civil rights movement; and
WHEREAS, The initial Annual Reminder at Independence Hall on July 4, 1965 had 40 activists from New York, Washington and Philadelphia making it the largest-ever demonstration for gay equality; and
WHEREAS, The Annual Reminders laid the groundwork for Stonewall; and
WHEREAS, There is a historic marker across from Independence Hall commemorating the Gay Pioneers and the Annual Reminders; and
WHEREAS, Gay Pioneer Barbara Gittings from Philadelphia is recognized as the Mother of the LGBT civil rights movement and Frank Kameny were the principal organizers of the Annual Reminders; and
WHEREAS, Frank Kameny, Barbara Gittings and others helped organize the June 1970 gay pride march in New York to commemorate the first anniversary of Stonewall; and
WHEREAS, Gay pride parades proliferated in major cities across North America in the 1970s; and
WHEREAS, In the mid-1970s Harvey Milk, among others called for a national march on Washington for gay and lesbian rights; and
WHEREAS, Those efforts were thwarted by those who believed an insufficient number of activists and allies would attend; and
WHEREAS, In November 1978, San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk was working on a plan for a National March on Washington; and
WHEREAS, Supervisor Harvey Milk was assassinated on November 27, 1978, the LGBT community was galvanized to hold a demonstration on the National Mall; and
WHEREAS, In December 1978, San Francisco activists formed a National Outreach Committee which contacted groups throughout the country leading to the Philadelphia Conference; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Conference to organize the March was held February 23-25, 1979; and
WHEREAS, The Quakers uniquely and courageously offered the Friends Meetinghouse Conference Center, 4th & Arch Streets, for the Philadelphia Conference; and
WHEREAS, Philadelphia’s Jeff Britton and Walt Whitman Democratic Club hosted the conference with Marianna Hernandez and Walter Lear, M.D., Co-Chairs of the Philadelphia Conference; and
WHEREAS, Approximately 300 activists from across the nation gathered for the Philadelphia Conference and laid the framework for a National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights; and
WHEREAS, On October 14, 1979 approximately 100,000 demonstrators assembled on the National Mall; and
WHEREAS, The 1979 National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights helped launch a national civil rights movement for lesbian and gay equality; and
WHEREAS, The National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights led to LGBT marches on the National Mall in 1987, 1993 and 2000; and
WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Convention at the Quaker Meetinghouse Conference was a seminal and historic event for LGBT equality; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That a historic marker be erected in front of the Quaker Meetinghouse at 4th & Arch Streets to commemorate the pioneers of the LGBT movement and the Annual Reminders as one of the first organized LGBT demonstrations for gay equality.
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