Philadelphia Honors LGBT Movement With New Plaque

Philadelphia is known as the birthplace of America, a city bursting with the history of how a nation was founded on the principles of liberty and justice for all. Through the centuries and decades, Philadelphia has remained a hub of progress, a leader for the U.S. in terms of fair treatment to everyone. This includes the LGBT community. Now, a new plaque has been installed in the City of Brotherly Love to commemorate the progress made in LGBT rights in Philadelphia, and to honor the people behind it.

The marker was installed at the Arch Street Meeting House.

Speaking at the marker’s dedication was screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who is known for the 2008 Harvey Milk biopic Milk. Black shared his personal story, of how when he first came to Philadelphia decades ago as a “closeted student,” and how Philadelphia didn’t feel like a place for people “like [him].” Now, he says, things are completely different. “History is about course correction…where we find power,” he said in his remarks yesterday morning. “[History] shall never be robbed from us again.”

The marker was installed at the Arch Street Meeting House in the Old City section of Philadelphia, where those gathered commemorated the gathering of some 300 LGBT advocates that took place 37 years ago. At the Meeting House, they organized a march on Washington that eventually drew 100,000 supporters and launched national awareness of the LGBT rights movement. Philadelphia City Councilman Mark Squilla calls that meeting at the Meeting House “the Seneca Falls of the LGBT civil rights movement,” referring to the first women’s rights convention, back in 1848.

The timing of the dedication during the Democratic National Convention this week was not accidental, says Malcolm Lazin, founder and executive director of The Equality Forum, the country’s premier LGBT civil rights summit. He called Philadelphia a city “where love trumps hate.”