Pride Day Reminder Tea Dance In West Chester: June 24

WEST CHESTER, PA— Chester County History Center is hosting the “Reminder Day Tea Dance” from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 24 at the center, 225 N. High St.

The celebration to commemorate Reminder Day, one of the earliest organized gay rights demonstrations in the United States, was held in Philadelphia from 1965 to 1969.

The celebration served as a reminder to the public that basic rights of citizenship were being denied to homosexual individuals.

The tea dances were events organized on Sunday afternoons in the 1950s and 1960s in New York. They were outdoor events for people to meet and originally served tea rather than alcohol to make them more acceptable and less law-defying.

The event will feature music and food. It is free and open to the public.

Here are some other pride events in Chester County

• The 6th Annual Chester County Pride Festival, hosted by the LGBT Equality Alliance of Chester County, is from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday, June 10 on Bridge Street in downtown Phoenixville, PA. The event is free, and all ages are welcome. After the festival, restaurants and shops are offering special discounts. Rainbow balloons will designate participating restaurants and shops.
• Pride Party: A pride after party is planned from 8 p.m. Saturday, June 10, to 11:59 p.m. Sunday, June 11 at the LGBT Equality Alliance, 14 Gay St., downtown Phoenixville.
• Pride Talk: A conversation with Walter Naegle is planned from 6 to 7 p.m. Friday, June 23 at the Chester County History Center, 25 N. High St, West Chester. Naegle is an artist and photographer who is the surviving partner of late American Civil Rights leader Bayard Rustin, Naegle serves as board member emeritus at the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice, an LGBTQIA center in Princeton, N.J.

History of Gay Pride Month

Pride Month occurs during June in deference to the Stonewall Uprising, a tipping point in the struggle for equality among people who identify as LGBTQ.

New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar, in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969. Such raids were common, but patrons fought back, resulting in days of violent clashes across Greenwich Village.

The observance started as Gay Pride Day on the last Sunday in June but soon grew to the point that June calendars are packed with pride parades, parties, workshops, symposiums, and concerts across the nation and around the world.

In Pennsylvania about 4.1 percent, or 490,000 people — identify as LGBTQ, according to the Movement Advance Project, which tracks legislation targets. They represent 5 percent of Pennsylvania’s workforce or 307,000 people.

The organization gives Pennsylvania 16.5 points out of a possible 43.5 points.
Pennsylvania received 6.75 points out of a possible 20 for sexual orientation policy and 9.75 points out of a possible 23 for gender policy.

The overall ranking was graded “fair.”

Pennsylvania proposed legislation

Pride Month 2023 occurs amid a historic surge in bills targeting LGBTQ rights, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Nearly 500 pieces of legislation nationwide have been filed in state legislatures this year, according to the ACLU tracking.

In Pennsylvania, lawmakers advanced three bills this year:

• House Bill 138: A bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee on March 8 to allow an individual arising from gender affirmation treatment as a minor to file a civil claim before age 30.
• House Bill 216: A bill was referred to the House Education Committee on March 8 to protect women’s sports. The bill is to ensure women are not forced to compete against biological males on women’s sports teams.
• House Bill 315: A bill was referred to the House Education Committee on March 13. The bill would prevent classroom instruction on sexual identification through fifth grade, require classroom instruction to be age-appropriate, and require school officials to notify parents if there is a change in services regarding a child