""The police brutality was unbelievable and extended down to another gay bar. Undercover police officers came in and started to beat the people who were there. Two men kissing longer than a few seconds was considered a crime, and so these people were charged with a lewd conduct. We were upset, as any community would be, so we started to organize.""
""When you have an illegitimate law preventing people from doing certain things, that affects society, and you've got to stand up, you've got to say, 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore,' like we did.""
On New Year's Eve 1966, undercover Los Angeles police raided the Black Cat, a gay bar in Silver Lake, tearing decorations, brandishing guns, beating and cuffing 14 patrons as New Year balloons dropped. Two men arrested for kissing were later forced to register as sex offenders and a bartender suffered a ruptured spleen. Violent raids on queer bars were common in the 1960s, but the Black Cat raid prompted organized resistance from the local gay community. Survivors described extreme police brutality, arrests for brief displays of affection, and a determination to stand up against illegitimate laws and policing practices.
Read at Advocate.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]