In 1973, the parade began with a rally in Rittenhouse Square, then headed down Chestnut Street, wound around City Hall, headed up the Parkway and ended with a fair at Eakins Oval in front of the Art Museum.įor the next few years, the city’s Pride parades assembled each June at Rittenhouse Square and marched to Independence Park, until the last one in 1976. Participants marched east up Chestnut Street and spilled into an open-air dance and celebration at Independence Park. Philadelphia’s first Gay Pride Parade assembled at Rittenhouse Square on June 11, 1972, with rousing speeches by community leaders Barbara Gittings and Jerry Curtis. In 1972, however, several Philadelphia political-activist organizations including the Gay Activists Alliance, the Homophile Action League, Radicalesbians and groups from Penn State and Temple University came together to produce their own event.
It’s been 48 years since Philadelphia’s first Pride parade and 30 years since Philly Pride Presents took over organizing the event.īack in 1970 -71, Philadelphia activists were much too involved with the first Christopher Street Liberation Day Parades in New York that commemorated the 1969 Stonewall Riots to produce their own local parade.
