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Southern California has a rich history, but there is little known about the beginnings of the LGBTQ+ community in Southern California.
We spoke to American historian, activist, and multiple Stonewall Book Award-winning author Lillian Faderman to find out.
For the past five decades, Faderman has written many books on the LGBTQ+ community and taught her audience the intricate journey of LGBT history throughout America.
Specifically, her most recent novel, written with Stuart Timmons, Gay in L.A. tells why Los Angeles is recognized as “the first gay center in the country.”
“In 1930s, Los Angeles particularly once prohibition was at an end, a number of places opened for lesbians and gay men, and straight people who were sympathetic or who were tourists, lesbians particularly, frequented a couple of places on the Sunset strip,” said Faderman. “These people had entertainers what we would call trans men today. There were places for men, primarily places for men that had drag entertainment where ‘boys will be girls.'”
Faderman noted that, historically, lesbians were afforded more acceptance in society than gay men.
“Women could dance with other women. Men could not dance with other men,” she explained.
As a major city, Los Angeles drew large crowds, especially during the height of World War II. The larger the city, the greater the sense of liberty individuals felt, allowing them to find community and belonging.
“Gay people during World War II came to Los Angeles for RNR in the military,” she said. “Which was huge and I think many people from little towns and even bigger cities and all over the country were introduced to this incredible big city where things seemed more freer,” said Faderman.
The darker side of history emerged during the Civil Rights era with the rise of the LAPD Vice Squad, which many described as “vicious.”
“The vice squad would raid a bar,” said Faderman. “By the mid-1960s, there were literally over 160 gay and lesbian bars in Los Angeles. They would close down, but another one would open in its place.”
Out of this struggle came the birth of what we know today as Pride; a movement rooted in resilience and visibility.
“I think it was really the trigger of the Gay Liberation Front that started shortly after the Stonewall riots that radicalized the gay community in Los Angeles in particular, and all over the the country as well,” she explained. “In Los Angeles there was a parade of 1000 people, and I think it’s because Los Angeles was just so ready for this. There were beautiful floats and there were beautiful drag queens. It was truly remarkable.”
The gay bar was more than a spot to have a few drinks and mingle; it was a sanctuary. And believe it or not, even certain restaurants in West Hollywood offered that same sense of safety and belonging.
The AIDS crisis was another factor in the 1980s was one of the devastating things that happened that unified the LGBT community more than ever. Faderman describes how everyone, despite what they identified with, learned how to work together more than ever before.
“We learned how to demand rights that would have been inconceivable before,” said Faderman.
“We started with nothing, and we ended up with virtual equality, not quite equality, but virtual equality, that should have started from nothing and gained so much in terms of equal rights, in terms of civil rights, in terms of acceptance, was absolutely incredible to me as someone who seen the community first hand since 1956.”
