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. Schlegel may not have anticipated that his interview with Stein would end up available to anyone over the internet. Schlegel’s account suggests he sexually touched the boy when he was 16 and the other boy was 11 or 12. The marker called Schlegel a trail-blazing activist whose job discrimination case produced key arguments that were valuable in later decisions.ĭiSanto’s December letter to the commission described a section of the interview with Stein in which Schlegel recalled a sexual experience he had with a neighbor boy while living on a farm in Milroy, a small town some 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of State College. 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. Bill Scranton to fix a highways department “fiscal and budgetary situation” and give the governor greater control over the department. In the personal history told to scholar Marc Stein, now a history professor at San Francisco State University, Schlegel recalled how he was subsequently hired in 1963 under then-Gov. “Adult persons are even more conscious that this is true.” “Any schoolboy knows that a homosexual act is immoral, indecent, lewd and obscene,” a claims court judge wrote in ruling against him in October 1969. 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 appealed his firing for “immoral and indecent conduct” to the U.S. Schlegel was fired in July 1961 from a civilian job with the Army’s transportation office in Hawaii after his sexual activities surfaced during an investigation to qualify for a top secret clearance. “There were very few leaders, if you will, at that time - people who were willing to stick their neck out and actually have their name known.” He was the driving force behind the application to honor Schlegel. “He is certainly an important figure in the context of Pennsylvania,” said Barry Loveland, chair of the history project at the LGBT Center of Central Pennsylvania. Supreme Court declined to take the case in 1970. His unsuccessful effort to overturn his firing from an earlier federal job based on his sexual identity ended when the U.S. Schlegel, who died in 2006 at age 79, is a former state highway department official who founded the Harrisburg region’s first LGBTQ group. The commission’s action and DiSanto’s letter were first reported by. John DiSanto, R-Dauphin, wrote to say Schlegel’s remarks in a lengthy piece about his life were “reprehensible and would be considered criminal, regardless of sexual orientation.”
The decision came about six months after state Sen.
The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission had the marker in honor of Richard Schlegel taken down June 3 from its location outside his former home, a block from the Capitol in downtown Harrisburg. A roadside historical marker installed less than a year ago to honor a gay rights pioneer has been removed after a state senator raised concerns with Pennsylvania’s state history agency about the man’s 30-year-old memories of an early sexual encounter with another boy.