It’s Gonna Happen, Kids: Progress in the Face of Prop 8

by Loni Shibuyama

On the morning of November 5, 2008, the country was still reeling from the election of Barack Obama, and many, including me, were ecstatic. But millions (including me) were also holding our collective breaths, waiting for the definitive results on California’s Proposition 8. That morning, I knew more than a couple people who were literally in tears, saddened that the measure had passed.

Then the blame game started, and the finger-pointing began, along with declarations of our failure. We failed as a political movement. We failed as a community. We were left with the questions of what to do next.

The legality of Prop 8 is now being challenged in court, with openly gay but Republican-appointed Judge Vaughn Walker making the decision. Closing arguments ended on June 16, and as much as I would like to believe that Judge Walker realizes that the Prop 8 proponents are full of crap, the decision is still up in the air. So—once again—we wait.

To earn my living, I work as an archivist for a GLBT research library, which means I probably think about GLBTQ history a little more than most. I don’t know too many people who obsess and lose sleep for three days because they’ve misplaced a single 1967 gay protest photograph (which I found, by the way), but I love my job because it involves learning something new every single day. Not a week goes by where I don’t think, “That was, like ... wow.”

Like when I read the 1947 lesbian magazine, Vice Versa, that was produced by a 25-year-old secretary in Hollywood ... “Wow, she was really ahead of her time!”

Or, when I look through a 1960s pamphlet advertising electroshock therapy to knock the gay right out of you ... “Wow, that was so fucked up!”

Having a career where I am always in touch with old ways of thinking creates a 24/7 examination of how things change and how things stay the same. So yes, I lament the fact that Mississippi teenager Constance McMillen and her girlfriend were kept out of her senior prom, and that Obama hasn’t yet made a sweeping change concerning “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” as so many had hoped. Yet, being in touch with history on a daily basis, I am always conscious of seeing the change play out over time. I’ve decided to focus not on the failures but on how far we’ve come—the incremental changes and the punctuated progress—and to be grateful for it and the people who fought and persisted in pushing forward when they were always being pushed backward.

Just look at what we’ve seen in California same-sex marriage laws in only the last few years:

• AB 849, the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Protection Act, passes the State Assembly (Yay!!)
• AB 849 is vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger (Boo!!)
• CA Supreme Court legalizes gay marriage with the Tyler, et al. vs. LA County decision (Yay!!!)
• Proposition 8 passes (Booo!!!)

As disappointed as I was with the passing of Prop 8, I didn’t see it as an utter failure. Rather, it was a bump in the road in the middle of a long, long journey. It took us decades to get to this point, and it’s probably going to take us decades to get full equality under the law throughout the U.S. Some food for thought:

Sixty years ago, gay men and lesbian women could be arrested essentially for just being gay or lesbian. In Los Angeles, so-called “masquerading” ordinances allowed police to arrest people who wore clothing of the opposite sex. Bars and restaurants known to have a gay or lesbian clientele were shut down, and gays and lesbians were frequently arrested for “lewd” or “deviant” behavior. But sixty years ago, a small group of gay men and women started secretly gathering in private homes throughout Los Angeles to discuss these issues and more. This group, known as the Mattachine Society (a French medieval term to describe traveling performers who wore masks) grew to a few dozen members within the next two years. By 1954, it became the first national “homophile” organization, with hundreds of members throughout the United States.

In 1952 one of the Mattachine’s original members, Dale Jennings, was in MacArthur Park when he was followed home by an LAPD plain-clothed vice cop. The police officer barged his way into Jennings’ apartment, where he arrested Jennings for solicitation. He was bailed out by Mattachine founder Harry Hay, and they decided to publicly challenge the arrest charges in court—an unprecedented move. Jennings publicly acknowledged his homosexuality but pleaded not guilty to the allegations. Responding to arguments that he was a victim of police entrapment, a jury sided with Jennings, and he was acquitted after a 10-day trial. It was a decisive victory for the gay and lesbian community for sure, and a brief moment of progress.

The Jennings incident worried some of the Mattachine members, who were afraid that their association with Jennings or Mattachine would out them. For others, though, Jennings’ acquittal was a vote of confidence for fighting the law and discrimination. The incident also marked the creation of Mattachine’s “Citizens’ Committee to Outlaw Police Entrapment,” which sought to educate gays and lesbians on what their rights were in case of arrest.

But it certainly wouldn’t be the last time that gay or lesbian Americans would be the targets of police discrimination and brutality, and the community became more educated and empowered and GLBTQ people started fighting back. In 1955, a group of gay men started a mini-riot in downtown Los Angeles, when a gay-friendly coffee shop, Cooper’s Doughnuts, was raided. The rioters threw donuts and coffee at the police, who had to call for back-up. In 1967, the Black Cat Bar in Silver Lake was raided on New Years’ Day. A dozen gay men were severely beaten. The raid sparked a public demonstration at the bar a month later. And on June 28, 1969, dozens of gays and lesbians, many of whom were drag queens and transgender individuals, began a two-day riot fighting against the police raid of the Stonewall Inn in New York. The Stonewall Riots are widely considered the birth of the “modern” gay liberation movement. But it was decades of GLBTQ people’s courage and communication that led the community to that moment and every moment after.

On the one-year anniversary of Stonewall in 1970, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, and New York each held parades or demonstrations to commemorate that historic day and bring to light the brutal police tactics used on GLBTQ Americans. Then the changes started happening from inside. By the 1980s, GLBTQ counselors and advisory committees started popping up in police departments. Fast-forward to June 2010, and somewhere between 50 to 100 LAPD officers—the same LAPD that entrapped Jennings and severely beat a dozen gay bar patrons—are marching in the West Hollywood gay pride parade ... right behind the Dykes on Bikes. Go figure.

This year, as we wait for the decision on the legality of Prop 8, we also celebrate the first Harvey Milk Day, the 40th anniversary of the first pride parades, the 45th anniversary of the first public gay rights demonstrations, and the 60th anniversary of the founding of the nation’s first gay rights organization. It goes without saying, but whatever Judge Walker decides in the Prop 8 trial, GLBTQ people and allies will continue to fight and progress as they have for generations before.

My point? It’s gonna happen, kids. It’s been said before, and I’ll say it again. The law is on our side. History is on our side. And the courage and pride of a community are on our side. Just you wait.

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