The Black Cat Riots and Protests in Los Angeles
Colfax between Pearl & Washington, by X Bar

Created By: Jack
Sponsored By: X Bar

Many people assume the gay liberation movement started at the Stonewall Inn. But two years before, activists from the Los Angeles LGBTQ community organized the earliest known organized gay rights protest against police abuse in the country.

The crowd at the Black Cat Tavern on Sunset Boulevard was celebrating the new year on January 1, 1967. Many couples embraced and kissed. Same-sex kissing was illegal at the time. Unbeknownst to them, eight undercover LA police officers were in the crowd. Fourteen people were arrested for lewd conduct. Others were arrested for wearing clothing that did not match the gender listed on their ID. The crowd erupted in anger. Patrons were beaten and dragged out into the street. One witness reported seeing a police officer beating a patron with a pool cue. The violence expanded to include a bar across Sanborn Avenue where the bar owner was knocked down and two bartenders were beaten unconscious.

Two of the men arrested for kissing were later convicted under California Penal Code Section 647 and registered as sex offenders. The men appealed, asserting their right of equal protection under the law, but the U.S. Supreme Court did not accept their case. Despite the loss, the case is legally significant as the first time in U.S. history that gay men were defended in a court case as equal under the Constitution.

In response to the raids, PRIDE (Personal Rights in Defense and Education) and the Southern California Council on Religion and Homophile organized a civil demonstration on February 11, 1967. Organizers used secret phone trees to contact each other. This type of organized protest by the LGBTQ community was unprecedented in 1967. Approximately 200 people attended the protest.

Following the protest, PRIDE organized The Advocate, a newsletter that would grow into a national LGBTQ magazine. The Black Cat Tavern closed a few months later. It changed hands many times over the year and was recently re-opened as a restaurant under the same name. The site was declared a Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument in 2008.