On 4 July, 1965, members of the Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis picketed Philadelphia’s Independence Hall – becoming the first gay and lesbian Americans to march publicly for equality under the law

The city of Philadelphia is hosting a series of events this weekend to celebrate the first ever public call by the LGBTI community for equal treatment 50 years ago.

In 1965 members of the pioneering American gay and lesbian rights groups the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis from New York, Washington DC and Philadelphia teamed up under the name East Coast Homophile Organizations (ECHO) to hold what would be the first of five yearly protests known as the Annual Reminders.

The Mattachines and Daughters of Bilitis had held earlier public protests that year outside the White House, United Nations building, the Pentagon and US Civil Service Commission.

But those actions had centered around specific issues – such as employment discrimination in government jobs, the firing of gay service members and a crackdown on homosexuals by the Castro Regime in Cuba.

The 4 July Independence Day action by ECHO marked the first time gay and lesbian Americans had demanded equal rights in respect to all things.

The groups continued to hold their annual picket into 1969 – the same year as the Stonewall Riots – which they saw as a kind of Boston Tea Party for the LGBTI community in America.

The following year members of the Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis suspended their event and traveled to New York to march from Greenwich Village to Central Park in the first anniversary march commemorating Stonewall.

That march became what we know today as the New York Pride Parade and is still going strong as one of the best known LGBTI pride events around the planet.

To commemorate the 1965 protest Philadelphia is hosting a series of events and LGBTI history exhibitions from 2-5 July.

This includes a National LGBT 50th Anniversary Ceremony MCed by lesbian actress and comedian Wanda Sykes, a VIP Party with James Obergefell – the plaintiff in the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage in all 50 states – and an anniversary party at the National Museum of American Jewish History.

Yesterday Obergefell participated in a wreath laying ceremony at a special Gay Pioneers Historical Marker that marks Philadelphia’s Independence Hall as the site of the Annual Reminders protests.

To find out more about the whole program of events for this weekend in Philadelphia go to the LGBT50 website