A historical marker in honor of Richard Schlegel has been removed from outside his former home. The decision was in response to a Republican lawmaker's claims challenging Schlegel's reputation following a 1993 interview Schlegel gave.
The state Historical and Museum Commission has been seeking more markers about previously underrepresented people and groups, offering financial support for the markers if their subjects concern women, Hispanics, Latinos and Asian Americans, or if they are about Black and LGBTQ history outside Philadelphia.
He appealed his firing for “immoral and indecent conduct” to the U.S. Court of Claims, which upheld the dismissal on grounds that his sexual orientation in a government job would inevitably make the agency less efficient. He was forced to resign two years later after postal inspectors informed his supervisors about mail he was getting for the Janus Society, an educational, social and advocacy group founded in Philadelphia during the early 1960s by gay and lesbian activists.
Schlegel may not have anticipated that his interview with Stein would end up available to anyone over the internet. He described his sexual history in frank terms, recalled controversies regarding gay publications in which he played a role, recounted his interactions with other prominent figures in Philadelphia gay culture in the '60s and ’70s and related other stories from his personal and work life.
“Young, young, young,” he told Stein. “Of course, there wasn't this national or international obsession with molesting kids at that point.” Stein said in an interview this week that he was dismayed by the commission's decision, and expressed doubt that the commission or DiSanto properly understood the legal and historical context in which Schlegel's decisions and actions occurred.
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