The Temerity Of A Kiss - Black Cat raid of 1966, celebrate this New Year's Eve with a radical act.

[BR_Parkway]

Cross posted in GD for those who never venture into GLBT, give it a kick if you will:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3031175

How far we have come in 40 years - how far we still have to travel

It all began exactly forty years ago this New Year’s Eve, on Sunset Blvd., in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, in a small bar called the Black Cat. There were some sixty or seventy patrons gathered during those final moments of 1966, counting down the last few seconds to midnight. Couples gathered and stood next to each other, and as the countdown approached zero, they leaned into one other, and, amid the shouts of “Happy New Year!” and the opening strands of Auld Lang Syne, they did something all couples do all around the world. They kissed.

And immediately at least six plainclothes officers who had infiltrated the gay bar began viciously beating and arresting the kissing offenders. As the melee widened, several people tried to escape to the nearby New Faces bar. Undercover officers followed and raided that bar as well. One of the New Faces workers was beaten so badly by police that they cracked a rib, fractured his skull and ruptured his spleen.

Six Black Cat kissers were tried and convicted of “lewd or dissolute conduct” in a public place, conduct that consisted of male couples hugging and kissing. According to one police report, one couple had “kissed on the mouth for three to five seconds.” Apparently, three to five seconds are what constituted “lewd or dissolute conduct” among the LAPD.

<snip>

In a society where heterosexual couples can kiss wherever they please and lesbians kissing is considered “hot”, a kiss is still a very radical act when that kiss is shared between two men. Critics point to the popularity of Will & Grace as evidence that gay men were accepted, but long-suffering Will Truman rarely had a boyfriend. And when he finally got one, he was never allowed to kiss him on the lips. A few years ago, Oliver Stone put Alexander the Great in bed naked with Hephaistion after they expressed their undying love for each other. But even though Stone’s reputation is supposedly built on his bold interpretations of history, he chickened out and only let Alexander share his kiss with Olympia in a love scene that was more a struggle for dominance than an expression of love. And while Ennis Del Mar and Jack Tripp were finally allowed to kiss each other in the remotest reaches of Brokeback Mountain where nobody could see them, all of that kissing still came to an end some twenty-five years ago with Jack’s brutal murder.

Forty years after the Black Cat raid, men still cannot be seen kissing each other, at least not without one of them dying.

http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2006/12/27/171

[Torn_Scorned_Ignored]

1. interesting.....

[meegbear]

2. Great read!

Thanks!

[FuzzyDicePHL]

3. Powerful

Thanks for posting.

[nofurylike]

4. how sick, pit lesbians against gays. sick writing. don't reply. bye.

[NMMNG]

5. Funny, I didn't get that out of it.

:shrug:

[BR_Parkway]

6. I don't see how you could read anything remotely like that into this

article.

As a gay man, the only thing I feel about lesbians kissing is that I'm happy that they have found someone in their life that they feel that way about. I don't share the straight boy fantasy about it that seems so prevailent in today's society.

It's a history of gay repression - which certainly included lesbians. The biggest difference that I can see from the histories that I have read is that, because of the common cultural expecations of the time, women were supposed to find a husband and marry and have kids - those who didn't became spinsters and many of them lived together. Certainly some portion were lesbians in relationships, but the general public probably didn't see it as that, they were more likely to think that those women just weren't "lucky" enough to "catch" a man. I don't recall ever reading about women's groups or clubs getting the police crackdowns like those mentioned in this article or Stonewall - but if you know of some sources, I'd love to see them. There still is no complete GLBT history - it seems to be mostly bits and pieces.

But in terms of repression, I'd stand to defend you sister, even if I weren't having to stand to defend myself. Peace