Philly’s Furtive Fraternity (How Queer Elders Survived Frank Rizzo’s Philly)

Philly’s Furtive Fraternity (How Queer Elders Survived Frank Rizzo’s Philly)

By Nora Gordon The “Furtive Fraternity”, written by Gaeton Fonzi during the winter of 1962 in Philadelphia Magazine, was the first instance of the term “gay” used in reference to the local populace. It had not been the first recognition of homosexuality, but it did mark the changing of the times as homosexuality began to bleed into the mainstream consciousness. In his reporting on the “Furtive Fraternity”, he outlined various other social enviro…