The Untold History of the First PRIDE

by guest blogger and MTSE Advisory Board Member Yali Bitan, they/them

Years before PRIDE was associated with corporate parades, gay folks had to fight for their right to party.

Many people associate the beginning of gay activism/organization/protest with the 1969 uprising at the Stonewall Inn in New York, but few know about the Black Cat protest of 1967.

At the time, homosexual activity was criminalized, and gay bars were routinely raided by police. “Kissing was a crime; cross-dressing was a crime. If you were arrested and identified as being gay, you could lose your job, your income, your house, your family." - Alexei Romanoff, activist and owner of New Faces, another local gay bar.

On New Years Eve in 1966, 12 undercover LAPD officers raided The Black Cat, a popular gay bar in Silver Lake, brutally beating and humiliating the patrons before arresting 14 men.

6 weeks later, on February 11, some 500 people congregated to protest the raid. The protest was organized by a group called PRIDE, (Personal Rights in Defense and Education). This was the first time the word pride was officially used in the context of queer politics.

Other organizers included the SCCRH (South California Council on Religion and the Homophile*) and RAMCOM.

*old word for homosexual, used by many gay groups in the 50s-60s to promote the love aspect of their identities instead of the overly pathologized sexual aspect

"What's important about the Black Cat from a legal perspective," says attorney David Farah, Alexei's life partner, "is that the gay men fought the case not on the basis of entrapment, but on the legal theory that they had equal rights and did nothing to be arrested for. That was a tremendous mindset change” that included homosexuals in the battle for civil rights and legal protections.

This civil uprising by hundreds demonstrating as a unified community against police brutality while asserting their right to equal protection under the law, stands out as one of the earliest moments in the gay liberation movement, 2 years before The Stonewall Inn protest.

The Black Cat is still operating and has been an official historic landmark since 2008! You can visit this important site of LGBTQ+ activism at 3909 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90029

Sources:

-Eve Goldberg. 2012. “Riot at the Black Cat.” The Gay & Lesbian Review. https://glreview.org/article/riot-at-the-black-cat/

-Mike Davis and Jon Wiener. 2020. “Fire Set the Night on Fire: L.A. in the Sixties.” 2020. Verso Books.