Before Stonewall: LA Police Raid Black Cat, Gay Bar
The Los Angeles police raided the Black Cat, a gay bar in the city, on this day.
The raid was followed by months of protests by members of PRIDE (Personal Rights in Defense and Education). Its newsletter evolved into The Los Angeles Advocate in September 1967, and later The Advocate, which became a leading lesbian and gay rights magazine.
The raid and protests preceded the famous riot in New York City on the morning of June 28, 1968, when the police raided a gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, and the bar’s customers fought back to protest police harassment of homosexuals. The riot actually involved disturbances that extended over five days until July 3rd.
The “Stonewall Inn Riot” is credited with sparking the LGBT movement, which included annual gay rights parades, which began the following year, on June 27, 1970 in Chicago and June 28, 1970 in New York City.
Learn more: Vern Bullough, Before Stonewall: Activists for Gay and Lesbian Rights in Historical Context (2002)
Read The Advocate: http://www.advocate.com/
And read: Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney, Out for Good: The Struggle to Build a Gay Rights Movement in America (1999)