How do you mark the beginning of a revolution? The Stonewall Riots are often thought of as the birth of the modern Gay Rights Movement, but as formative as the events of that hot summer evening and the days that followed were to our people, they often overshadow another, equally pivotal, event in our shared history–the Black Cat Riots right here in Los Angeles.
On New Year’s Eve, 1967, several plain-clothed officers of the LAPD entered the Black Cat Tavern and arrested several men for the “crime” of kissing–and then the beatings began. As horrible as it was, this kind of thing was not uncommon, but this time we fought back. The LAPD responded to this show of backbone with brutal savagery, two patrons fled the Cat and sought refuge at another nearby gay bar, New Faces, where the officers followed them and continued the beatings. Ultimately 16 were arrested and two were beaten unconscious. These savage events were followed by days protest rallies, the birth of what would be The Advocate magazine and the first use of the word “Pride” in association with the struggle for gay rights—two years before Stonewall.
On Nov. 8, 2008, the L.A. City Council declared the Black Cat to be a landmark of historical significance to the people of Los Angeles. On the morning of June 3, 2014, a plaque was unveiled, honoring the sacrifice of those who fought back that night. It is only the second plaque, after the one honoring the contribution of Hary Hay and the Radical Faeries at the nearby Silver Lake Steps, to comemorate LGBT history here in Los Angeres.
On hand for the dedication were L.A. City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell, Silver Lake community activist and gay historian Wes Joe and perhaps most significantly to the occasion Alexei Romanoff, one of the original organizers of the protests. Noted author Mark Thompson and his husband, the famous civil rights activist Rev. Malcolm Boyd were on hand to help commemorate this very special occasion.
In his remarks, O’Farrell spoke of the responsibility he felt, being the first openly gay City Councilmember to represent the historically gay community of Silver Lake, and the importance of remembering those who fought the early fights for gay liberation. “Change will come,” he told the assembled crowd “but you can’t change history.”
O’Farrell introduced the criminally overlooked Alexi as “the author of our history,” and he was visibly emotional as he spoke about being a young gay man in the ‘60s and how far we have come sense. Alexi related a story of a Queen he knew in those days that everyone called “Mother Brian,” who would tell Alexi and his friends stories about being a man who loved men in the 1890s. “But the most important thing he ever told me was ‘If you haven’t left your community a better place than you found it, you haven’t lived.’”
If so, then Alexei Romanoff has truly lived, as did all those who fought for queer rights during the Black Cat Riots. And now as Romanoff said “Just like you have Gettysburg, Selma and Bunker Hill. Young gay men and women have a place to come and say this is where we fought back.”
