Independence Hall
Do you ever watch the Jay Leno segment where he goes around asking people who our first President was, or what animal beef comes from, and the person looks more bewildered and confused than a supermodel at a sumo match? Well, most people, when asked anything about gay history, would not fare much better. Hardly anybody knows that Philadelphia was home to the first gay rights protests in 1965, and worse yet, hardly anybody knows that those protests took place in front of Independence Hall, the symbol of American “freedom.” Luckily, a group of students from the University of Wisconsin are doing everything they can to educate themselves (and those around them) about GLBT history, starting with, you guessed it, the Independence Hall Protests. It was interesting watching them all, with signs containing the original 1965 slogans, walk around the front of Independence Hall, with spectators staring, taking photographs, and wondering what the heck was going on. It was quite the spectacle, and I hope that Philly continues to be home to the quirkiest, most fascinating, and most compelling people and events in the country.
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