Recognizing October 2025 as LGBTQ+ History Month in the City of Philadelphia and honoring the movement for LGBTQ+ rights, providing visibility for an often-erased history, and raising awareness for the ongoing fight for civil rights and equality.

Recognizing October 2025 as LGBTQ+ History Month in the City of Philadelphia and honoring the movement for LGBTQ+ rights, providing visibility for an often-erased history, and raising awareness for the ongoing fight for civil rights and equality. WHEREAS, In 1994, LGBTQ+ History Month was established by Rodney Wilson, a high school history teacher who wanted to celebrate the history and achievements of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. LGBTQ+ History Month is observed in October to align with National Coming Out Day on October 11th and the anniversary of the 1979 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights; and WHEREAS, Philadelphia’s early movement for gay rights was led in part by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans youth amidst targeted brutality and harassment toward the LGBTQ+ community by the Philadelphia Police Department; and WHEREAS, Philadelphia is home to one of the earliest annual demonstrations for LGBTQ+ rights, the Annual Reminders, led by Frank Kameny, Clark Polak, Barbara Gittings, and Kay Lahusen outside Independence Hall on July 4th from 1965 to 1969. Participants included Ernestine Eckstein, Kiyoshi Kuromiya, and Ada Bello, and have been credited with laying the groundwork for the June 1969 Stonewall protests; and WHEREAS, During Philadelphia’s first Gay Pride March in June 1972, the Philadelphia Gay Pride Committee wrote that “until gay lovers can walk proudly hand in hand on the street without evoking hostile comments and harassment…