John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives at William Way LGBT Community Center

06/12/2026

• 𝗢𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀: Sisters Nightclub 1996-2013

On June 21, 1996, Sisters women’s nightclub opened on Chancellor St. In Philadelphia in a building that belonged to longtime community member Mel Heifetz.

The business was owned by Jim Ross and managed by Denise Cohen.

As Philadelphia’s only full time le***an bar, Sisters had to appeal to a diverse population, often advertising that it welcomed everything from “sneakers to high heels.” There was a main bar and restaurant on the first floor decorated in an understated 90s gray and neon look, a dance floor on the second level, and pool tables in the basement.

After 17 years, Sisters closed abruptly in August, 2013.

The space is now home to Franky Bradley’s, which is LGBT welcoming, but shies away from using “gay” or “straight” in describing itself.

06/10/2026

Hey look! It's one of our Annual Reminders pamphlets on exhibit at the National Constitution Center!

This handout from 1968 captures the goals of the annual Reminder Day at Independence Hall—one of the earliest LGBTQ demonstrations in the United States. See it in our exhibit, The First Amendment. 🏳️‍🌈

Credit: Joan Fleischmann collection, 1963-1994, Ms.Coll.26. John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives, William Way LGBT Community Center, Philadelphia, Pa.

https://ow.ly/Hj4w50Z77XW

06/10/2026

Did you see our exhibition featured in ?? "This Is (Not) a Celebration" is opening this Thursday, June 11th, 6-9 at Huddle (338 Brown Street). Read about it in this incredible article by TJ Edmund () at the link in our bio, and see you Thursday!

06/08/2026

• 𝗢𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀: 𝗣𝗛𝗜𝗟𝗔𝗗𝗘𝗟𝗣𝗛𝗜𝗔 𝗚𝗔𝗬 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗗𝗘, 𝟭𝟵𝟳𝟯

This photo by Harry Eberlin is from an Archives collection from “The Gay Alternative,” a magazine published by members of Philadelphia’s Gay Activist Alliance from 1972 to 1975.

In 1973, when this photo was taken, Philadelphia’s Gay Pride March began at Rittenhouse Square, headed east on Chestnut St., wound around City Hall, then proceeded west on the Parkway, as you see here.

The event ended in a fair on the Parkway in front of the Art Museum, exactly as it did yesterday, fifty-three years later.

Happy Pride!

06/04/2026

• 𝗢𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀: 𝗝𝗨𝗡𝗘 𝟰, 𝟭𝟵𝟲𝟬 – 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗔𝗜𝗗 𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗘𝗚𝗥𝗢

In the 1950s and 1960s, LGBTQ people in Center City were always at the mercy of the police, who were particularly rough on le***ans and drag queens.

Early in the morning of Saturday, June 4, 1960, just before closing time, Captain Clarence J. Furguson and 25 plain clothes officers burst into the Allegro at 1412 Spruce St. and arrested 77 customers and the two owners, Samuel Gordon and Columbus Pelosi.

The Allegro was Philadelphia’s largest and most popular gay bar of the era with bar and cruising areas at street level and a dance floor above.

An interview in Marc Stein’s “City of Sisterly & Brotherly Loves” describes a raid on the Allegro –

“The first ones that went were the drags…The macho guys were last but [the police] weren’t interested in that because they wanted to stereotype."

The police department had been sending in undercover cops for weeks before, to case the night club, gathering information to justify raiding it as a “disorderly café.’

That night, ten police emergency vehicles hauled the men off to police headquarters at 12th and Pine. All were held overnight for a hearing in the morning.

The owners were released on $500 bail, eight customers were fined $10 for disorderly conduct, two, whose names were published in the Inquirer, were booked on morals charges. A single woman was charged with drug violations and the remaining 66 were discharged with a warning.

The Allegro closed in 1980, a victim of competition from larger glitzier discos in Center City.

Raids on Philadelphia gay bars were common until the early 1980s, when community engagement and political action ended those practices.

06/01/2026

• 𝗢𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀: 𝗚𝗔𝗬 𝗣𝗥𝗜𝗗𝗘 𝗠𝗢𝗡𝗧𝗛

When a resolution to proclaim June as Gay Pride Month came up in Philadelphia City Council in 1988, all hell broke loose.

Opposition was led by vehemently homophobic Council member Francis Rafferty who called gay Philadelphians “deviates…responsible for the AIDS epidemic.” Rafferty criticized Mayor Goode, who had issued his own proclamation a week before.

When the bill failed by an 11-5 vote, Rafferty declared a victory for “the normal family structure.”

In 1989, Councilman Angel Ortiz, who had introduced the bill the year before, sponsored it again.

This time, Ortiz and gay rights activists, led by Mark Segal, had quietly lobbied enough council members that the proclamation squeaked by with a 9-8 vote.

The city has routinely passed a similar proclamation almost every year since.

This year’s Annual Pride Flag Raising at City Hall happens on Friday, June 5, 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm.

05/28/2026

• 𝗢𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀: Miss P's

The ads and articles in our extensive collections of LGBTQ newspapers and magazines are a valuable source of information about q***r spaces in America.

The first ad from 1976, below, is for Miss P’s, one of the city’s first drag show bars, which was at 418 S 18th St., on the NW corner of Lombard St. right across from the old Graduate Hospital.

About 1966, entrepreneur Teddy Roberts opened a bar at the location and called it Teddy’s. A few years later he hired Edward O’Donnell, AKA “Patty Page,” or just “Miss P,” as the manager. Miss P had gotten her start tending bar at the New Look on Spruce about 1949, and continued working there after it became the Allegro in the 1950s.

Miss P had a stage put in and began hosting amateur drag shows. When Teddy retired in the early 1970s, Ed O’Donnell bought him out, changing the name of the place to “Miss P’s.” She described it as a “Mom and Pop gay bar.”

When Ralph W. Davis visited Miss P’s in 1977, he wrote:
“Miss P’s…attracts a mixed age crowd also. Many drags head here on Friday and Saturday. At 11:15 pm there is usually a show. To enter, you must turn the combination lock to 4, then 3, then push the door open. …Some dancing.”

Miss P’s Show Bar closed on September 9, 1978.

Miss P went on to perform at “After Dark,” which became the “New Forrest” and is now the Bike Stop.

418 S 18th St. is now a neighborhood Korean gastropub called Southgate.

05/22/2026

• 𝗢𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀: 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗔𝗗𝗜𝗖𝗔𝗟 𝗤𝗨𝗘𝗘𝗡, 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗴𝗮𝘇𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗼𝗻-𝗠𝗮𝗻

Radical Queen was published from 1973 to 1975 in Philadelphia for transgender and non-binary folks, drag queens, femmes and gender nonconforming people in general.

Its parent group, the Radical Queens, was co-founded by activists Cei Bell and Tommi Avicolli Mecca at a time when groups like the Gay Activists Alliance were not always welcoming to people who weren't heteronormative.

The group embraced feminist values, performed theatrical works they created and hosted workshops.

In the words of the Radical Queens 1973 manifesto:

“Whereas we are tired of being the brunt of most straight oppression, including fairy jokes, physical assaults, and snickering stares; whereas we are tired of the oppression of straight-identified machismo g**s, including remarks about the ‘tacky queens’, denial of queens as representative of the gay community, and being looked down upon; whereas gay liberation movements have often denied our very existence while in the same breath patting us on the ass and telling us we are equal (as long as we remain Uncle Toms); whereas we have decided that macho straight identification is psychologically oppressive and destructive, we have branded together in a union of Radical Queens to shatter myths, ZAP! our oppressor (both straight and gay), and thereby stand up and get our right to be ourselves both in the straight and in the gay communities, including wearing makeup, doing drag, and other femme-identified activity that any queen decides expresses him or herself!!!!”

05/20/2026

Opening June 11th, “This Is (Not) a Celebration: Q***r Resistance, 1976/2026” reveals the history of Philadelphia’s LGBTQ+ organizing, activism, and protest during the Bicentennial through archival materials and the work of three local artists; Scarlett DeLorme, Justin Jain, and Amy Cousins.

Within the civic reflection of the 250th of the United States, “This Is (Not) a Celebration” shifts the focus from commemoration to resistance. Organized by the William Way LGBT Community Center, artists were invited to create work in dialogue with materials from the Center’s John J. Wilcox, Jr. Archives—the most extensive collection documenting the history of Philadelphia’s LGBTQ community.

Join us for the Opening Reception at Huddle (338 Brown Street) on Thursday, June 11th 6-9PM. See the link in our bio for more information and to learn about additional events!

This exhibition is a part of Radical Americana, a citywide initiative organized by The Clay Studio that unites Philadelphia’s leading arts and cultural institutions through a series of exhibitions showcasing research-driven work by contemporary artists. These exhibitions celebrate the city’s historic role in shaping America’s cultural identity, civic life, and creative spirit, while inviting reflection and dialogue about the nation’s present and future.

05/18/2026

• 𝗢𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀: 𝗚𝗔𝗬 𝗜𝗦 𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗗

Political buttons are powerful time capsules of civic and social history. This is just one of the hundreds of historical LGBTQ buttons we have in our collections.

In 1968, iconic gay activist Frank Kameny coined the phrase “Gay is Good” as a battle cry for the growing homophile movement. Seeing many parallels between the gay rights movement and black civil right activism, he modeled it after the African American pride slogan “Black is Beautiful."

Two years later, Frank would carry the slogan on a placard in the first Gay Pride march in New York.