Lesbian History in
Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA, November 28, 2005 - On July 4,
1965, a group of gays and lesbians led the nation’s first modern
gay rights protest in Philadelphia, continuing the city’s history
of tolerance, a legacy passed down from Quaker roots. A new
historic marker placed across the street from the Liberty
Bell at 6th and Chestnut Streets commemorates the site of
the peaceful demonstrations. In the 1970s, local activist Barbara
Gittings made her mark as she fought to have homosexuality removed
from the American Psychiatric Association’s list of mental
illnesses. Throughout the city’s history, lesbians have played
important roles in shaping art, culture and society.
Sisters
Photo by R. Kennedy for GPTMC
The Early Days
Philadelphia is the home to many firsts in American
history. The city was also home to some of the first out lesbians
on this side of the Atlantic. Moreau de St. Mery, a French lawyer
and politician who lived in the city from 1793 to 1798, often
complained in letters about the number of women “willing to seek
unnatural pleasures with persons of their own sex.” His judgments,
although negative, are the earliest known commentaries about
lesbianism in the United States.
The Philadelphia art scene was among the most renowned in the
world during the mid-19th century and its impresarios were known
far beyond the region. Charlotte Cushman was an actress who
specialized in male roles and served as director of the
Walnut Street Theater in the 1840s. She made no
effort to keep her romantic partnership with female sculptor
Goodhue Hosmer private. Philadelphia society did not balk at her
lifestyle but returned again and again to see her plays. Lesbian
painters also played a prominent role; Philadelphia lesbian Violet
Oakley painted the murals in the Harrisburg state house in
1911.
Bryn Mawr College’s second president, M. Cary
Thomas, helped turn the school into a top-tier institution in the
late 1800s. Thomas lived with another woman throughout her life and
her many letters attest that this was more than just a platonic
partnership. Gertrude Stein later used Thomas’ life as inspiration
for a novel.
Swinging To That Music
Bessie Smith sang the blues lewdly and loudly, with
lyrics full of homosexual references. In Philadelphia in the 1930s,
she recorded with the likes of swing-era artists Benny Goodman and
Chu Berry. Smith was married, but that didn’t stop her from having
an affair with chorus girl Lillian Simpson. Smith’s husband found
out and beat her so severely he almost killed her.
Liberty Sounds In Philadelphia
Following World War II, the crusade for gay rights slowly began to
gain momentum. Philadelphia’s gay rights movement embraced both
gays and lesbians as leaders. The Mattachine Society, an early gay
rights group, was male-dominated throughout most of the nation. The
Philadelphia group selected lesbian Mae Polakoff as its first
president in 1961. During this time, the city’s lesbians also
published the preeminent lesbian news magazine, Ladder. In
the late 1970s, the group Radical Lesbians declared the city
“Fillydykia,” enhancing queer visibility throughout the city.
In the 1970s, after fighting to have the American Psychiatric
Association remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses,
Barbara Gittings worked with the American Library Association to
make gay and lesbian material more accessible to the public. The
gay and lesbian collection at the Free Library of
Philadelphia is even named after her.
Lesbian Social Life
Women have gathered at a rotating array of bars and clubs from the
1960s to the present: from the now defunct Rusty’s and Sneakers to
the ever-popular Sisters. Monthly circuit parties
add to the social possibilities for locals and lesbian travelers to
the city. Today, Philadelphia lesbians are politicians, journalists
and artists, and draw from their rich heritage in what has come to
be known as the city of sisterly affection.
Sources: Nickles, Thom. Gay and Lesbian Philadelphia.
Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2002.
Stein, Marc. City off Sisterly & Brotherly Loves. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2000.
The Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation (GPTMC)
builds the region’s economy and image through destination marketing
to increase the number of visitors, the number of nights they stay
and the number of things they do in the five-county region. For
more information about travel to Philadelphia, visit www.gophila.com or call
the Independence Visitor Center, located in Independence National
Historical Park, at (800) 537-7676.
Note to Editors: For photos of Greater
Philadelphia, visit our Photo
Gallery.
CONTACT:
Jeff Guaracino, GPTMC
(215) 599-2290, jeff@gptmc.com.com