1970s LGBT Rights
Stonewall is so synonymous with gay pride that it obscures the fact that the movement for gay rights in the United States was born in Los Angeles. (https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/before-stonewall-gay-pride-history/)
- In 1967 the aftermath of a brutal police raid on the Black Cat Tavern, a Silver Lake gay bar, became the impetus for unprecedented resistance among the gay community and most visible example of the city’s simmering gay rebellion.
- But long before that incident, Los Angeles had been the site of dozens of “firsts” in gay history:
2) First official gay rights organization (the Mattachine Society, 1950),
3) First homosexual magazine (ONE Magazine, 1953),
4) First gay motorcycle club (the Satyrs MC, 1954),
5) First Supreme Court decision in favor of gay rights (One Inc. v. Olesen, 1958),
6) First mention of a gay riot in response to police harassment (Cooper Do-nuts, 1958)
1st GAY PRIDE PARADE:
- Founded in 1970 and incorporated in 1976, Christopher Street West Association, Inc. is a nonprofit service organization within the LGBTQ community. The organization was responsible for organizing the world's first LGBTQ pride parade, which took place in Los Angeles.
- On June 28, 1970, approximately 2,000 people gathered on McCadden Place in Los Angeles, marched north to Hollywood Blvd, and proceeded east towards Vine Street. CSW's "Gay Pride Parade" became the first permitted gay parade in the world.
- The original intent behind this parade was to celebrate LGBTQ resistance during the 1969 New York Stonewall Riots and to provide an experience in which LGBTQ individuals could feel pride in their identities, see others like themselves in a public setting, and not feel alone.
- The first pride parade took place on June 28, 1970
- December 15, 1973 The board of the American Psychiatric Association votes to remove homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses.
November 8, 1977 - Harvey Milk
1) Harvey Milk wins a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and is responsible for introducing a gay rights ordinance protecting gays and lesbians from being fired from their jobs. Milk also leads a successful campaign against Proposition 6, an initiative forbidding homosexual teachers.
2) A year later, on November 27, 1978, former city supervisor Dan White assassinates Milk. White's actions are motivated by jealousy and depression, rather than homophobia.May 21, 1979
Dan White is convicted of voluntary manslaughter and is sentenced to seven years in prison. Outraged by what they believed to be a lenient sentence, more than 5,000 protesters ransack San Francisco's City Hall, doing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of property damage in the surrounding area.The following night, approximately 10,000 people gather on San Francisco's Castro and Market streets for a peaceful demonstration to commemorate what would have been Milk's 49th birthday.
MAJOR MARCH
October 14, 1979
An estimated 75,000 people participate in the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. LGBT people and straight allies demand equal civil rights and urge for the passage of protective civil rights legislature.