Morris Kight by Mary Ann Cherry

Author:Mary Ann Cherry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Process
Published: 2020-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

1970. “Gay Liberation Front” banner that led the parade. Photo: Pat Rocco. Pat Rocco Papers, Coll2007-006, ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, USC Libraries, University of Southern California.

Terry Le Grand remembers there were “a lot of hecklers” at the parade. Terry was holding the GLF banner marching behind Morris Kight when a spectator threw dog feces on him. Aggravated and appalled, Terry stopped walking, dropped the banner and was ready to have a few words with the assailant.

“Morris Kight grabbed me and said, ‘Terry, for crying out loud it’s just shit. Wipe it off and keep walking.’” Terry snapped to his better judgment, right action in the name of a greater cause. He returned to the line-up and continued walking. He took off his shirt and didn’t say another word about the assault.

Los Angeles Times said: “One thing the hour-long, mile-long procession lacked was a violent reaction from spectators, which the Police Commission had predicted in requiring a $1,500 cash bond for the parade permit.”

The Advocate: “The turnout appeared to catch the Los Angeles Police Department largely unprepared. [The police] had blocked off only one side of the boulevard, as specified in the permit, and permitted traffic to proceed on the other side. As a result, cars were trapped in the crush of spectators who surged into the street along the parade route, despite the efforts of a few squad car units and motorcycle-mounted patrolmen to force them back to the sidewalks. Shortly after the parade started, the police gave up and began diverting all traffic, except the paraders, off the boulevard. There was no violence of any kind, and police would acknowledge only three arrests.”

The parade’s second greatest success was that it had begun a shift in social awareness. Hansen wrote, “The fact that nobody threw eggs or rotten tomatoes, nobody jeered—people stood and smiled as it went by—was a huge shock and a very pleasant one.”

New York GLF did not prevail as well. They were unable to get a permit that first year. On that same day, June 28, 1970, thousands of homosexuals, a historical turnout, marched for three miles on the sidewalks from Greenwich Village to Central Park. There was no violence and it was reported to have had “lots of good vibes.” Historical scholars agree, for the long-term success of gay liberation, it was strategically necessary for the Stonewall commemoration to be successful outside of New York. A 2006 article in American Sociological Review: “Los Angeles activists, by participating in a Stonewall commemoration the first year, played a crucial role in the survival of the Stonewall story…. The first commemoration of Stonewall was gay liberation’s biggest and most successful protest event.”

Ultimately, Los Angeles defined the Gay Pride Parade.

At Selma Avenue, the parade turned west and dispersed before Las Palmas. Many people streamed south to Sunset Boulevard where there were more crowds of spectators. Bystanders were curious. They couldn’t imagine who would march down the street professing to be homosexual. On Sunset Boulevard, cars and floats, spectators and participants stuck together.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.