Google Mapping LGBT Historical Markers and their connections

I wanted to center my mapping project around the three historically marked LGBTQ+ sites in Philadelphia, and present their histories through other sites either in the city or around the country to which their histories connect. These three historically marked LGBT sites are the markers for Barbara Gittings, a well-known gay rights pioneer, the Annual Reminder demonstrations, which took place on July 4 between 1965-1969 and are revered as one of the few well-documented gay rights demonstrations prior to Stonewall in 1969, and Giovanni’s Room, one of the first gay book stores in the United States which first opened in 1973. I chose these sites because they are the only commemorated LGBT sites in the city, and because they have interesting stories that lend themselves to a spatial presentation. Each site has a different number of related spaces, and by color-coding to show which sites are related, one can exhibit how influential and important these sites are, both in Philadelphia’s history, and in the larger, national LGBT history. For example, Barbara Gittings was a leading figure in the Gay Rights movement and delivered speeches and made appearances at protests in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, New York City, Dallas, Texas, San Francisco, California, and elsewhere. For this map, and on the second layer, I only included the speeches in Harrisburg and Dallas, but by placing these on a map one quickly gains an understanding for just how visible and influential a figure Barbara Gittings was. Similarly, Giovanni’s Room was in two different locations before being able to settle at 12th and Pine where it remains today. By showing its other locations one can interrogate why the owners moved the store where they did while also grappling with why they had to move in the first place. Was it discriminatory landlords or expired leases? Did they choose new locations by affordability? Or were they seeking a visible location that the greatest number of LGBT Philadelphians could find? Placing these spaces on a map opens new lines of inquiry by aiding one in visualizing historical movement. I would be curious to examine the boundaries of Philadelphia’s Gayborhood historically to see whether they were relatively static or fluctuating, and then see how that might have influenced the movements of stores like Giovanni’s Room.