In 1965, Philadelphia was at the center of one of the earliest wins for the LGBTQ+ community.
At a time when gay and transgender people were considered unwelcome in many establishments, they found communal spaces to make their own, like at coffee shops such as Dewey’s. Two of the diner chain’s locations, on 13th Street and 17th Street, became central gathering spaces. While the one on 13th embraced its clientele, managers on 17th Street did not.
In April of 1965, management, blaming “rowdy teenagers,” instructed Dewey employees at the 17th Street location to refuse service to “homosexuals and persons wearing non-conformist clothing.”
And so on April 25, taking inspiration from the civil rights movement’s lunch-counter sit-ins, more than 150 protesters of all backgrounds staged a peaceful sit-in at Dewey’s and were denied service. Police came and arrested three teenagers who refused to leave. Clark Polak, president of the Philadelphia-based homophile organization The Janus Society, was also arrested. All were charged with disorderly conduct.
After the arrests, the Janus Society distributed 1,500 flyers to passersby informing them of Dewey’s policies and patrons’ legal rights if they protest and are arrested. Protests continued for the next five days.
On May 2, a second sit-in was staged. When protesters refused to leave, the police were once again called to the restaurant. After speaking with demonstrators, the Philadelphia Police decided not to take further action and left. Polak, recounting the interaction, said that police told him that “we could stay in there as long as we wanted as the police had no authority to ask us to leave.”
Seeing this as a victory, protesters stayed for another hour before leaving. The Janus Society reported in its publication Drum magazine that the sit-in accomplished all of its objectives, including “to bring about an immediate cessation to all indiscriminate denials of service.”
Dewey’s would reverse its policy, and as the restaurant changed hands in later years – becoming the popular diner Little Pete’s – it continued to be a haven for the LGBTQ+ community.
Two months after the original Dewey’s protests, the first Reminder Day picket outside of Independence Hall was held.
