This story is part of History is Queer, an advocacy series that examines major LGBTQ+ moments, events, and figures in history and their ongoing impact. Is there an LGBTQ+ history we should write? Please email us at history@advocate.com.
It is often said that Pride began with protests. In fact, it was Defender.
The Black Cat, a gay bar in Los Angeles’ Silver Lake neighborhood, was raided by police on New Year’s Eve 1966. As balloons fell from the ceiling to celebrate the 1967 New Year, undercover police ripped Christmas decorations from the walls, brandished guns, and beat and handcuffed 14 people. The two men arrested for kissing were later forced to register as sex offenders. One bartender suffered a ruptured spleen. Violent police raids on queer bars were common in the ’60s, but this time gays weren’t letting it go.
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“The police brutality was unbelievable and it extended to another gay bar,” said Alexei Romanov, the last survivor of the attack. defender “Undercover police officers came and started beating the people who were there. It’s considered a crime for two men to kiss for more than a few seconds, so these people were charged with obscenity. As in any community, we were upset and started organizing.”
“When you have illegal laws that prevent people from doing certain things and it’s impacting society, you have to stand up like the rest of us and say, ‘I’m really pissed off and I’m not going to put up with it any longer,'” he continued.
Several political changes affected the situation. “Gay bar attacks were common in the Los Angeles area until about 1964,” said Romanoff’s husband, historian David Farrar, who participated in the interview. “There was a citywide truce and there were no attacks on gay bars for about two years.” [until that New Year’s Eve]. What happened in the ’66 election was that Ronald Reagan was elected governor of California. At midnight that night, he becomes governor and, with a change of party, the police decide they can go back and start raiding gay bars. ”Reagan, a Republican who would sue the religious right when he ran for president, replaced Democrat Edmund G. “Pat” Brown, father of future governor Jerry Brown.
Romanoff said there were a series of protests at Black Cat in 1967, some of which drew 500 to 600 people. A group called Individual Rights in Defense and Education (PRIDE) organized the demonstration. Local news outlets didn’t cover them. So two gay men, Richard Mitch and Bill Rau, decided to take over the PRIDE newsletter and develop it into a news magazine. Los Angeles defense team. The first issue was published in September 1967. The magazine soon expanded to cover national news, defender As we know it today. This article looks at another uprising against police raids in 1969: the Stonewall Riots. Neither the Black Cat Movement nor Stonewall immediately ended police brutality or won equal rights against LGBTQ+ people, but the movements were coming together.
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In 2008, the City of Los Angeles designated the Black Cat Site a Los Angeles Historical and Cultural Monument, honoring its role in the early LGBTQ+ rights movement. A plaque on the building details its significance.
The original Black Cat eventually closed, and since then the location has been home to bars with various names, most of which cater to a gay clientele. But now it’s an upscale gastropub that once again uses the Black Cat name and caters to the general public.
In 2019, then-Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti praised the city’s role in civil rights. “Los Angeles doesn’t follow, we lead,” he said. Defender. “I think a lot of people think that the history of civil rights is being written in other parts of this country. The South is racial equality, New York is LGBTQ equality. Los Angeles can make a case for being at the forefront of school desegregation and driving progress.” [for LGBTQ+ rights] It was about Black Cat and Cooper’s Donuts 10 years ago, long before Stonewall. ”
At Cooper’s Donuts, a popular gathering place for LGBTQ+ people in downtown Los Angeles, drag queens and hustlers stood up against a police raid in 1959. Officers tried to arrest the three men just for being there, and other patrons threw coffee cups, donuts and paper plates at officers. Cooper’s Donuts will be the subject of future history.
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The Black Cat protests were memorialized in a film. In 2017, ride-sharing service Lyft silver lake out loud, Featuring Romanov. 2018 documentary, Long Walk to Freedom: Defenders Celebrate 50th Anniversary; It features Black Cat and other milestones in the LGBTQ+ rights movement. And the PRIDE name lives on as the name of our sister website. pride.com.
“That spirit is still here,” Romanoff said at the 2017 Black Cat Memorial Day rally. “And I’m counting on all of you to help move this forward.”
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
