Personal Rights in Defense and Education
Encyclopedia
Personal Rights in Defense and Education or PRIDE was a gay political organization. Established in 1966 as a radical gay political organization that from its origination set a new tone for gay political groups like the Gay Liberation Front
(GLF), ACT UP and the Radical Faeries
. PRIDE led aggressive, in your face, demonstrations against the oppression by the Los Angeles Police Department
(LAPD) of gay gatherings or same-sex meetings in the city of Los Angeles. PRIDE's monthly single-page newsletter evolved into The Advocate
, the nation's longest running gay news publication.
in 1966 by Steve Ginsberg. PRIDE, from its very inception, was much more radical than the pre-1960s homosexual rights groups, which were more deferential. PRIDE's goal was to get out on the streets and get in the faces of the opposition with noisy, loud demonstrations and political action, as opposed to the conservative approach taken by its predecessors.
The then 27-year-old founder, Steve Ginsberg, made it clear from the start that the organization would not hold back on showing its youthful overt sexuality. Ginsberg set the example for members by wearing his leather gear to run the PRIDE management meetings. This was a new breed of radical activist whose approach gave permission to later groups like the GLF, ACT UP and the Radical Faeries.
The organization called their meetings "PRIDE NIGHTS" and they took place at a gay bar in Los Angeles called The HUB. Like many gay bars, The Hub served the gay community in many ways; primarily as place to socialize openly and in relative safety, but also as a place to gather politically and organize gay-related activities, both political and recreational. The bars would often lend their spaces for many non-"bar"-related activities to support the gay community. Ginsberg often used the bar and club scene to connect with gay youth directly. PRIDE strongly defended the gay bars and the gay youth culture that attended them, while older gay groups would not. Since gay youth were mostly excluded by older conservative gay groups, they looked for other outlets, and PRIDE and Ginsberg saw the opportunity to tap into an energetic and under-represented constituency. The organization's core belief was that gays needed a variety of social environments in which to gather. These venues included bars and night clubs, as well as outdoor events, such as hiking, bowling, and other sporting activities. The core beliefs also encompassed the opportunity to marry and the right to access to social services.
But what PRIDE did better than any other group was to organize large groups of disenfranchised youth to demonstrate against any group or person that denied the gay community their equal rights or dignity. Not surprisingly the Police (LAPD) was often targeted because of its aggressive and openly violent oppression of gays. The raid on the Black Cat Tavern
in the Silverlake
section of Los Angeles on New Year's Eve 1967 was the defining moment for PRIDE Undercover police staked out the bar, waiting for the moment that male patrons kissed each other at midnight. Word went out to waiting police reinforcements and they poured into the bar, beating up patrons, smashing the furniture and chasing several patrons down the street to another bar called New Faces, where the police knocked the manager (a woman) to the ground and subsequently beat up the bartenders. PRIDE acted quickly, organizing large vocal street demonstrations, handing out thousands of leaflets to passing drivers and pedestrians outside the Black Cat Tavern and in the Sunset Junction area.
This happened a full two years prior to the gay rights riots at the Stonewall Inn
, NYC. PRIDE ran fundraising efforts for the six customers arrested during the raid at the Black Cat Tavern who were convicted. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The Court refused to hear the case and the convictions were sustained.
PRIDE published a newsletter under the guidance of Richard Mitch starting in 1966. The early issues were simply printed on school-style mimeographed press. In late summer of 1967 Richard Mitch and his boyfriend Bill Rau worked to ramp up the PRIDE newsletter into a full gay newspaper. The first issue was only 500 hundred copies. The publication got a new, more official sounding name, The Los Angeles Advocate.
The cover story was entitled "GAY POWER." Eventually PRIDE and its fledgling publication diverged with differing agendas and Richard Mitch, Sam Winston and Bill Rand purchased the rights to the publication for $1.00. The Advocate
was now a stand-alone institution and grew to become the first national gay publication. and is still in operation today as a national magazine. as part of the here! media conglomerate, which also includes Out
magazine.
In late 1968 PRIDE under tremendous pressure from all sides (gay and straight) to cease its aggressive radical approach and activities was dissolved by its founders.
Gay Liberation Front
Gay Liberation Front was the name of a number of Gay Liberation groups, the first of which was formed in New York City in 1969, immediately after the Stonewall riots, in which police clashed with gay demonstrators.-The Gay Liberation Front:...
(GLF), ACT UP and the Radical Faeries
Radical Faeries
The Radical Faeries are a loosely-affiliated, worldwide network and counter-cultural movement seeking to reject hetero-imitation and redefine queer identity through spirituality. The Radical Faerie movement started in the United States among gay men during the 1970s sexual and counterculture...
. PRIDE led aggressive, in your face, demonstrations against the oppression by the Los Angeles Police Department
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
(LAPD) of gay gatherings or same-sex meetings in the city of Los Angeles. PRIDE's monthly single-page newsletter evolved into The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
, the nation's longest running gay news publication.
History
PRIDE is an acronym for Personal Rights in Defense and Education. The organization was formed in Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
in 1966 by Steve Ginsberg. PRIDE, from its very inception, was much more radical than the pre-1960s homosexual rights groups, which were more deferential. PRIDE's goal was to get out on the streets and get in the faces of the opposition with noisy, loud demonstrations and political action, as opposed to the conservative approach taken by its predecessors.
The then 27-year-old founder, Steve Ginsberg, made it clear from the start that the organization would not hold back on showing its youthful overt sexuality. Ginsberg set the example for members by wearing his leather gear to run the PRIDE management meetings. This was a new breed of radical activist whose approach gave permission to later groups like the GLF, ACT UP and the Radical Faeries.
The organization called their meetings "PRIDE NIGHTS" and they took place at a gay bar in Los Angeles called The HUB. Like many gay bars, The Hub served the gay community in many ways; primarily as place to socialize openly and in relative safety, but also as a place to gather politically and organize gay-related activities, both political and recreational. The bars would often lend their spaces for many non-"bar"-related activities to support the gay community. Ginsberg often used the bar and club scene to connect with gay youth directly. PRIDE strongly defended the gay bars and the gay youth culture that attended them, while older gay groups would not. Since gay youth were mostly excluded by older conservative gay groups, they looked for other outlets, and PRIDE and Ginsberg saw the opportunity to tap into an energetic and under-represented constituency. The organization's core belief was that gays needed a variety of social environments in which to gather. These venues included bars and night clubs, as well as outdoor events, such as hiking, bowling, and other sporting activities. The core beliefs also encompassed the opportunity to marry and the right to access to social services.
But what PRIDE did better than any other group was to organize large groups of disenfranchised youth to demonstrate against any group or person that denied the gay community their equal rights or dignity. Not surprisingly the Police (LAPD) was often targeted because of its aggressive and openly violent oppression of gays. The raid on the Black Cat Tavern
Black Cat Tavern
The Black Cat Tavern was an LGBT bar formerly located at 3909 W. Sunset Blvd. in the Silverlake section of Los Angeles, California.-History:The bar was established in November of 1966. Two months later, on the night of New Year's 1967, several plain-clothes police officers infiltrated the Black Cat...
in the Silverlake
Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California
Silver Lake is a hilly neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California east of Hollywood and northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Silver Lake is inhabited by a wide variety of ethnic and socioeconomic groups, but it is best known as an eclectic gathering of hipsters and the creative class.The...
section of Los Angeles on New Year's Eve 1967 was the defining moment for PRIDE Undercover police staked out the bar, waiting for the moment that male patrons kissed each other at midnight. Word went out to waiting police reinforcements and they poured into the bar, beating up patrons, smashing the furniture and chasing several patrons down the street to another bar called New Faces, where the police knocked the manager (a woman) to the ground and subsequently beat up the bartenders. PRIDE acted quickly, organizing large vocal street demonstrations, handing out thousands of leaflets to passing drivers and pedestrians outside the Black Cat Tavern and in the Sunset Junction area.
This happened a full two years prior to the gay rights riots at the Stonewall Inn
Stonewall Inn
The Stonewall Inn, often shortened to Stonewall is an American bar in New York City and the site of the Stonewall riots of 1969, which are widely considered to be the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for gay and lesbian rights in the United...
, NYC. PRIDE ran fundraising efforts for the six customers arrested during the raid at the Black Cat Tavern who were convicted. The case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. The Court refused to hear the case and the convictions were sustained.
PRIDE published a newsletter under the guidance of Richard Mitch starting in 1966. The early issues were simply printed on school-style mimeographed press. In late summer of 1967 Richard Mitch and his boyfriend Bill Rau worked to ramp up the PRIDE newsletter into a full gay newspaper. The first issue was only 500 hundred copies. The publication got a new, more official sounding name, The Los Angeles Advocate.
The cover story was entitled "GAY POWER." Eventually PRIDE and its fledgling publication diverged with differing agendas and Richard Mitch, Sam Winston and Bill Rand purchased the rights to the publication for $1.00. The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
was now a stand-alone institution and grew to become the first national gay publication. and is still in operation today as a national magazine. as part of the here! media conglomerate, which also includes Out
Out (magazine)
Out is a popular gay and lesbian fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any gay monthly publication in the United States. It carries itself in a similar editorial manner to Details, Esquire, and GQ. Out was published by PlanetOut Inc...
magazine.
In late 1968 PRIDE under tremendous pressure from all sides (gay and straight) to cease its aggressive radical approach and activities was dissolved by its founders.
External links
- http://books.google.com/books?id=HO7IKU79zgAC&pg=PA171&lpg=PA171&dq=%22PRIDE+%28Personal+Rights+in+Defense+and+Education%29%22&source=bl&ots=WTWDMOZ-s2&sig=DPCbyp9r11ny3thLAZKtGPeeWKs&hl=en&ei=uNSBTNHPHY-osQP_l5H3Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwADgU#v=onepage&q=%22PRIDE%20%28Personal%20Rights%20in%20Defense%20and%20Education%29%22&f=false|TheGay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America, By Charles Kaiser]
- Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbien, Bisexual, Trandgender & Queer Culture
- http://books.google.com/books?id=I5SVsJmVxDUC&pg=PA155&lpg=PA155&dq=%22PRIDE+%28Personal+Rights+in+Defense+and+Education%29%22&source=bl&ots=xho4NhK9Yf&sig=Z2d5S7gxjQ-bgi0UOQuDNabH7H0&hl=en&ei=dtSBTJ75DZScsQO__LH3Bw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CCkQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22PRIDE%20%28Personal%20Rights%20in%20Defense%20and%20Education%29%22&f=false|Gay L.A.: a history of sexual outlaws, power politics, and lipstick lesbians, By Lillian Faderman, Stuart Timmons]
- Bohemian Los Angeles and the making of modern politics By Daniel Hurewitz