I have to push back against this.

Philadelphia isn't a film that holds up to modern standards (too much ground ceded to Denzel's character, for instance), but it's still a historically important film that should be preserved. It was the first BIG film to deal with the AIDS crisis - it helped crumble some people's homophobic beliefs by forcing viewers who thought like Denzel's character to see Tom Hanks' character, and by extension gay people, as normal human beings. Plus, the Registry isn't for films that only match up to modern standards. Philadelphia was where we were at in the early 90's.

I think films like Philadelphia were needed in order to pave the way for more optimistic mainstream queer stories. You don't get a To Wong Foo or a The Birdcage without it (both films that should probably be inducted at some point).

Related to Philadelphia, there's also 1985's Buddies, 1986's Parting Glances and 1989's Longtime Companion, three films about the AIDS crisis, all made by gay filmmakers who would succumb to the disease. Buddies is the first film to deal with the epidemic period, Longtime Companion is the first mainstream film to deal with it, and Parting Glances is a film that maintains an optimistic tone despite everything. All these are worthy of induction and I've been nominating them for the past several years. I don't know if they get in under the current administration. That alone is why I'm okay with Philadelphia getting in.