February eleventh marks a outstanding second in LGBTQ+ historical past.
The Black Cat Tavern raid in 1967 is one such second—a flashpoint that ignited activism and helped to pave the way in which for LGBTQ+ equality.
Historical Background
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During the Sixties, the queer group confronted widespread discrimination and oppression. Being brazenly homosexual was ostracized, and anti-sodomy legal guidelines had been enforced. Police raids on homosexual institutions had been regularly occurring and sometimes brutal, serving as a transparent message from society: being LGBTQ+ was not acceptable.
The Black Cat Tavern Raids
The Black Cat Tavern in Los Angeles was a haven for the group. However, on New Year’s Eve 1966, the favored Silverlake institution turned an emblem of oppression. Police stormed the tavern, claiming lewd conduct violations. Patrons had been savagely crushed, and a number of other had been arrested, marking an escalation within the police’s battle in opposition to LGBTQ+ people.
Activism, Legacy & Impact
Two months after the raids, on February 11, 1967, advocates organized a protest outdoors the tavern. This marked one of many earliest recorded LGBTQ+ rights protests within the United States, making it a transparent watershed second for our group.
This protest, in response to the Black Cat Tavern raid weeks earlier, served as a forerunner to the Stonewall riots of 1969. Together, these occasions impressed a brand new section of the LGBTQ+ rights motion, together with authorized and social modifications that improved queer folks’s high quality of life.
The significance of the Black Cat Tavern incident has been formally acknowledged; in 2008, the location was named a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument for its function within the LGBTQ+ civil rights motion.
