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.