Official plans will be announced Thursday, Nov. 6, for the 50th anniversary celebration of the start of the organized LGBT civil rights movement, Windy City Times has learned.
A press conference will be held at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, with the city's mayor, Michael Nutter, and others present, to discuss the East Coast activists who picketed for equality each July 4 during 1965-69.
The official 50th-anniversary celebration will be held next July 4 and the Independence National Historical Park has issued a permit for the event, which will feature a large stage in front of Independence Hall.
"The 50th anniversary will commemorate a seminal moment in LGBT civil rights, when the Gay Pioneers with picket signs for equality launched the movement on July 4, 1965, and [it] will celebrate the remarkable progress of the past 50 years," said Malcolm Lazin, chair, 50th Anniversary and the executive director for the Equality Forum. "It is a coup to receive a permit from Independence National Historical Park. We are soliciting community input as the organizing committee plans this historic celebration."
In addition to the 50th anniversary next July, the festivities at Independence Mall also will include a national politics panel at Congress Hall and a national legal panel at the National Museum of American Jewish History July 2, as well as events July 3.
There will be parties each evening in addition to LGBT history exhibits at the National Constitution Center, National Museum of American Jewish History and Independence Visitor Center. The exhibits include The Legacy Wall Traveling Exhibit of Chicago's Legacy Project.
"The LGBT community is the only minority worldwide that is not taught its history at home, public school or by religious institutions," Lazin said. When the gay pioneers stepped forward, 49 states criminalized same-sex intimacy between consenting adults; the American Psychiatric Association classified being gay as a mental illness; most states made it a crime or liquor code violation for more than one homosexual to be in a bar; and by presidential executive order, gays and lesbians were prohibited from being employed in any capacity by our federal government.
"The picketing for gay equality each July 4 were [known as] Annual Reminders, [and they] were the first time activists were open about being gay and demonstrated for equality. The Annual Reminders from 1965 to 1969 laid the groundwork for Stonewall in 1969. When 40 activists picketed in front of Independence Hall and Liberty Bell on July 4, 1965, it was the largest demonstration for gay equality up to that time in world history. When Stonewall occurred, the Gay Pioneers recognized that it was like the Boston Tea Party. They abandoned the 1970 Annual Reminder and put all their efforts into holding a march from Greenwich Village to Central Park in June, 1970, to mark the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. That march is remembered as the first New York City Pride Parade."
Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings were among the principal organizers of the Annual Reminders, Lazin said. "Frank and Barbara are the father and mother of the LGBT civil-rights movement. While both are deceased, the Frank Kameny collection is in the Library of Congress and Smithsonian Institution and his home is on the register of historic places. The Barbara Gittings collection is in the New York Public Library and there is a Barbara Gittings Way in Philadelphia. Frank Kameny is responsible for the federal government removing its ban on gay and lesbian employment. Barbara is responsible for American libraries including works about gays and lesbians in our nation's card catalogues.
"Together, Barbara and Frank are responsible for the American Psychiatric Association eliminating being homosexual as a mental illness."
Equality Forum is based in Philadelphia, and is helping to organize the 50th anniversary, a national celebration to highlight important LGBT leaders, organizations and allies, Lazin said: "We are receiving and incorporating excellent suggestions from leaders, organizations, and allies from across the nation."
In addition to Nutter, the press conference also will feature Independence National Historical Park Superintendent Cynthia MacLeod and others, plus a performance by subsets of the Los Angeles and Philadelphia Gay Men's choruses.
For more information, go to www.LGBT50th.org or www.gaypioneers.com .
