Philadelphia has long stood as a city of historic firsts — from the nation’s first lending library to its first hospital. For the LGBTQ+ community, it has also been a place where history was made, challenged and reimagined. Scheduled for release on Oct. 21, “Greater Philadelphia: A New History for the Twenty-First Century” celebrates the region through three volumes of essays by distinguished scholars and community voices.

Through archival research and cultural analysis, the collection examines pivotal moments in queer advocacy before the Stonewall Uprising of 1969. Among them were Philadelphia’s Annual Reminders, a series of demonstrations held outside Independence Hall every July 4 from 1965 to 1969. Organized by the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis, these pickets demande

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