Black Cat Tavern Raid (1966)

Sat Dec 31, 1966

Image: Outside the Black Cat on February 11th, 1967

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On this day in 1966, undercover L.A. police raided the Black Cat Tavern when celebrating queer patrons kissed each other at midnight. A campaign of protest, fundraising, and legal appeals on behalf of the arrested was launched, but lost when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case and convictions were sustained.

The Black Cat Tavern is an LGBT historic site located in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, established just two months prior to the raid. PRIDE, short for “Personal Rights in Defense and Education”, was a recently esbalished LGBT rights organization that also played a key role in the conflict.

On New Year’s Eve in 1966, undercover police staked out the Black Cat Tavern, waiting for the moment that queer patrons would kiss each other at midnight. Cops poured into the bar, assaulting patrons and employees, smashing furniture, and arresting six people. The raid took place two years before the infamous conflict at Stonewall Inn.

PRIDE quickly responded with a campaign of protest, fundraising, and legal appeals for the six arrested that night. On February 11th, 1967, PRIDE organized a peaceful demonstration protesting the LAPD’s raid of the Black Cat Tavern, one of the first U.S. demonstrations protesting police brutality against LGBT people.

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 and their convictions were upheld.

On November 7th, 2008, the Black Cat site was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument.

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• Date: 1966-12-31
• Learn More: news.usc.edu, en.wikipedia.org.
• Tags: #Queer, #Protests.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org