Philadelphia Conference and the National March for Lesbian and Gay Rights (1979) Historical Marker

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

In 1979, 300 gay rights activists gathered at the Arch Street Friends Meeting House, located near this historical marker, to plan the National March for Lesbian and Gay Rights. The march took place later that year in Washington, DC, with over 100,000 people demonstrating for human rights. The City of Philadelphia erected this historical marker several decades later to commemorate the watershed event.

Images

Philadelphia Conference marker by Bill Coughlin on HMDB.org (reproduced under Fair Use)

Black sign with yellow lettering describing the Philadelphia Conference

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Three hundred activists from over 200 gay and lesbian organizations from across the country gathered at the Arch Street Friends Meeting House from February 23 to 25, 1979 to plan the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, which was to take place October 14 of that year. The march took place ten years after the Stonewall Riots and was partially motivated by the assassination of openly gay politician Harvey Milk. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom was an inspiration for the 1979 march.

Organizers of the march had several specific goals: an end to discrimination against gays and lesbians in the military and federal jobs; inclusion of sexual orientation in the Civil Rights Act of 1954; the repeal of anti-gay legislation; legal protections for families with same-sex couples. Later planning took place in New York City, and the organizers formed subcommittees to address media, travel and logistics, fundraising, and transportation.

At least 100,000 and perhaps as many as 200,000 people participated in the march in the nation's capital eight months after this planning meeting.

Sources

Coughlin, Bill. Philadelphia Conference, Historical Marker Database. March 11th 2020. Accessed March 16th 2021. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=106212.

LGBT Community Center National History Archive. Records of the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights Finding Aid, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center. Accessed March 16th 2021. https://gaycenter.org/archive_item/records-of-the-national-march-on-washington-for-lesbian-and-gay-rights/.

Woulfe, Hannah. LGBT History: The National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights, National LGBT Chamber of Commerce. October 23rd 2017. Accessed March 16th 2021. https://www.nglcc.org/blog/lgbt-history-national-march-washington-lesbian-and-gay-rights.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=106212