On June 3, as a result of days of protests against police brutality against Black people throughout Philadelphia, the 2,000 pound, 10-foot tall bronze statue of the former mayor was removed from Paine Plaza across from City Hall during the night by city workers under the aegis of Mayor Jim Kenney. That legacy of abuse continued throughout his tenure as mayor, from 1972 to 1980 and beyond. He rounded up gay people late at night from the clubs and streets of the Gayborhood and along the Merry-Go-Round in Rittenhouse Square. In Philadelphia in the 1960s, Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo had a policy of anti-gay harassment. Ever since, June has been celebrated as Pride Month.īut police harassment and brutality against LGBT people was endemic across the U.S. Years of harassment and attacks on queer and trans people culminated in what was called the Days of Rage in Greenwich Village in June 1969. The Stonewall uprising is America’s premier example of police brutality against LGBT people. LGBT ArchivesĬontent warning: This article features accounts of police brutality and first-hand accounts of sexual assault. Philadelphia’s first Gay Pride Parade in June 1972.
