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There was some friction between groups, though. The owner of the Oscar Wilde Bookstore in New York knew what was going on in Philadelphia and bussed 30 activists to Philadelphia to get involved with the Annual Reminders. Windhauser: It was the fifth year for the reminders and it was just a few weeks after the Stonewall Riots in New York City. TN: Why did the Annual Reminders end in 1969? They wore what we would now call conservative dress, but back then it was considered "normal drag." The idea was to wear stereotypically-gendered outfits so men wore slacks and buttons downs, the women wore dresses.
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The group made signs, but remained silent, and there was a strict dress code. It was a dangerous time to be out and advocating like this as the Americans Psychological Association still listed homosexuality as a mental illness. About 40 people showed up, 33 men and seven women. The goal was that in Philadelphia, July 4 is associated with freedom, but there would be a lot of tourists, so more people would see that gay people don’t look like the screaming, loud queen or butch lesbian stereotypes. That’s why the demonstrations or protests were called the Annual Reminders because they wanted to remind everyone of our country’s promise of equal rights and the pursuit of happiness. Two key organizations, Daughters of Bilitis and the Mattachine Society, wanted to do something, and they decided to take action in Philadelphia specifically because they wanted to advocate for equal rights in front of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. By the time we get to the 1960s, more people did not want to accept what was happening, and the Homophile Movement (organizations working together to demand equality and respect, regardless of a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation) wanted to gain traction. If more than one person would be seen together at say, a bar, it would be seen as a gay establishment and be shut down and the patrons would be arrested. Gay people were seen as dangerous, and they weren’t allowed to gather in public. In 1953, President Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450, which made it illegal for gay people to work for the government, and other states had explicit anti-gay laws, too. So, the tail end of the Red Scare became knowns as the Lavender Scare, and hundreds of people were fired from their jobs.
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The thinking was that gay people were more susceptible to manipulation from other countries because of their sexuality. He played into the idea of the fear and paranoia around Communism and eventually turned his attention to gay people, specifically gay people who were working with the federal government. In order to get the real genesis of the Annual Reminders, you’d have to go back to Sen. Windhauser: Those demonstrations are more commonly known as the Annual Reminders. TN: There’s a historical marker at 6th and Chestnut streets commemorating gay rights demonstrations on July 4, 1965–1969. Temple Now talked with Associate Professor of English and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies Brad Windhauser to dig deeper into LGBTQIA+ history in Philadelphia and why the idea of Pride is thought to have started here.
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It’s been a symbol of pride and unity for the LGBTQIA+ community since 1978 (it’s a little different in Philadelphia as of last year-more on that later) and the flag is raised at City Hall every June to celebrate Pride Month. If you’ve visited City Hall, or just passed by it in the last couple weeks, maybe you noticed a colorful neighbor to our nation’s flag-the rainbow flag.