In the 1960s, Barbara Gittings pioneered the LGBTQ+ and women's rights movement in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Barbara Gittings is considered one of the pioneers of LGBTQ+ rights and women's rights movements. In the 1960s, the activist fought against employment discrimination and picketed outside of Independence Hall.
Rebecca Fisher retraced the footprints of history where American democracy took its first steps. She reminds people of stories that often go untold in the City of Brotherly Love, which led her and her cofounder to create the "Beyond the Bell" tours.
"It was on the 4th of July in 1965 and it was called the annual reminder," Fisher said.
One of those tours is the Bad Ass Women's History Tour, a love letter to Philadelphia women like Gittings.
"Barbara Gittings for many in Philadelphia is the mother of the LGBTQ rights movement because she stages the very first picket protest for LGBTQ rights here in Philadelphia outside of the Liberty Bell on the 4th of July," Fisher said.
From 1965 to 1969, Gittings picketed against employment discrimination by the federal government towards the LGBTQ+ community, which was before the New York City Stonewall Riots in June 1969.
Mark Segal, the founder of Philadelphia Gay News, was at the Stonewall Riots.
"She was a maverick," said Segal, who befriended Gittings in 1969.
"I think she was a very brave woman," Segal said. "1965 through 69 doing those marches outside Independence Hall, just standing up and saying, 'I'm a lesbian,' was amazing."
"They were the only 100 out people in all of America. Then, Stonewall happened and throughout that next year, people were organizing. One year later, 15,000 people came out to march," Segal said.
Gittings' activism did not stop outside Independence Hall.
"Her next piece of activism is the declassification of homosexuality as a mental illness," Fisher said.
In 1972, Gittings and a coalition from Philadelphia, including gay psychiatrist John Fryer, traveled to Texas to advocate for the American Psychiatric Association to remove "homosexuality" as a mental illness. It was removed as a mental disorder the following year.
"Symptoms that you see in your gay patients are not a result of their sexuality but how people treat gay people," Fisher said.
Barbara Gittings Way now marks the intersection of Locust and 13th Streets in Philadelphia's Gayborhood.
A mural of her annual reminder is on the side of the William Way LGBT Community Center.
Gittings' legacy is one of equality, beyond the bell that still rings today.
