Black Cat Tavern

At midnight on January 1, 1967, undercover LAPD officers raided the Black Cat Tavern in Silver Lake. Fourteen men were beaten, dragged outside, and arrested. Six men were charged with lewd conduct for same-sex kissing. Outrage over the raid spurred two new California gay rights groups to organize hundreds of protestors to demonstrate against police entrapment and arbitrary arrest. The peaceful demonstration outside the Black Cat Tavern on February 11, 1967 was Southern California's first public protest for gay rights. Events like the Black Cat Tavern protest, and earlier demonstrations at Compton's Cafeteria in San Francisco, were critical milestones in California's LGBTQ+ history, opening the floodgates for new civil rights strategies within the LGBTQ+ community that led to the repeal of discriminatory laws in California.

Los Angeles, California · United States