Is anyone studying the LA Gay Riots of the 90s? Extensive Collection of Memorabilia up for grabs.

[Snoutport]

I lived in LA during the gay riots in the early 90s. It was a crazy time. Pete Wilson had promised to vote for gay rights bill if he won...and the son-of-a-gun vetoed the bill.

What followed was one of the most amazing 10 days of my life. In California politics there were the San Francisco gays who were extremely political. San Francisco gays probably go to sleep with blank signs ready JUST IN CASE there was a cause to protest the next day. The LA gays were really busy going to gym and seeing what was new at Fred Segal. But for some reason Pete Wilson's veto riled up Los Angeles and people were pouring out into the streets. West Hollywood's streets began filling up and suddenly there were thousands of gay people marching across Hollywood in protest.

The next night it was bigger, and bigger and bigger and soon there were over 10,000 a night marching across a new part of the city every night. I was in on the ground floor of it. Helping to get the word out. My friend Scott was very political and suddenly a political network began to form. It was amazing to be in the center of all that and observe how it all took off.

At the time I thought that it was, perhaps, the beginning of a major shift of gay people standing up. Each night the march would start in a different place. We marched into the hills and listened to Sting singing as we encircled the Hollywood Bowl. We marched through Santa Monica and UCLA. We criss-crossed Hollywood.

It was scary sometimes. People yelled at us and threw rocks and bottles. There were fights and people even ran into the crowd with their cars. When we marched in the valley some bigot shot into the crowd. I remember giving first aid to a guy who had been shot by a pellet gun in the face. I remember getting the blood stopped but the pellet was stuck in his head. I helped the guy up and he decided, even though his very expensive outfit was ruined, that he was not going to stop his march. We walked together for six hours that night, I think we ran into a pharmacy for first aid supplies to bandage him up good and proper. One of the newspapers interviewed me that night. I saw once, when I googled my name, that it came up in the search and I felt really honored that I would be a permanent part of the history tied to these events.

If you have ever been to the valley it is long vistas of wide roads that stretch for miles and miles. I can remember climbing up on a car bumper and looking back. Miles of gay people choking the streets and demanding their civil rights. More than ten thousand voices yelling into the night sky, "We're here, we're queer, get used to it!" That made me feel powerful. THAT is what a gay pride march is all about.

Twas a beautiful thing.

Anyhoo...during the time I very carefully scoured the papers and kept clippings of all the articles and pictures that ran. Every night at the marches there were tons of fliers being passed out as well. Info about coming events, updates on things that had happened the night before, copies of articles people had run off at Kinkos--it was pre twitter and facebook so we had to do things the old-fashioned way back then. Since I was kind of in the center of things I collected a pretty complete grouping of literature over what happened in those two weeks or so. I've been lugging them around all this time but I have no intention of actually doing anything with them.

And then I thought, DU! If anyone has an idea of what I can do with these or knows a grad student who might be interested in something like this, let me know! I'm gonna start this in General but will probably ask the mods to move it a little bit later to the LGBT group.

I just know there is someone out there who would see great value in these papers. Suggestions?

[Snoutport]

1. Whisked out of the general discussion room...sigh...civil rights issues are for everybody

aren't they?

[xfundy]

2. You might check with the GLBT museum

in SF.

Even though your event was 20 years ago, collection methods and storage are much easier now. Good luck!

[Snoutport]

10. Ah, see, I didn't even know there was one.

Thanks!!

[murielm99]

4. They moved this? n/t

[Snoutport]

14. yeah. Maybe they didn't read the post but just the headline?

[enlightenment]

3. Snoutport -

It sounds amazing. You might want to check your local uni's (are you still in LA?) history and sociology department webpages; many will list the thesis and dissertation topics of their grad students. If not, a quick phone call might give you the information.

You could also contact the special collection departments of the uni's - they might be interested in your collection for conservation and research availability.

I envy your experience - it sounds like it was truly amazing - and appreciate (as an historian, especially) your desire to share your collection. Kudos.

[Snoutport]

11. It was pretty amazing to be there

LA is not the friendliest of cities. I'd moved there for a job and stayed only two years. But in those two years I was able to be a part of gay riots--or marches which is what they really were and my last weekend living in LA was Rodney King. We sat on our roof watching the businesses of the neighborhood go up in flames.

I saw a lot in my short time there.

[Duncan Grant]

5. How about an LGBTQI historical society?

I passed along some historical documents and photos to the James Hormel Center at the San Francisco Public Library last year. Most of the people in this field have a network of colleagues who might be able to help you. Call them up and get a referral: James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center.

You might also try the GLBT Historical Society.

Personally, I wouldn't surrender my documents to a grad student but that's just me.

I'm grateful that you're not simply tossing these documents into the recycling bin and I appreciate your activism very much! Let us know how it all turns out.

[Drale]

6. No my specialty is the Civil War but

it makes me crazy when private collectors buy pieces of history. Yes I own several civil war era artifacts but all but one are currently on loan to various museums and public displays around the era.

[pipoman]

9. Really?

Because I have found private collectors to conserve pieces better than most museums. I have seen the vast warehouses of historical items shuffled away out of sight and out of mind by nearly every museum. People donate pieces and they are often never displayed, then at some point deaccessioned and sold back to the private sector anyway. I would rather things be privately held and displayed where some people can enjoy it than deteriorating in some museum annex. The Getty Museum in LA is a great example of pieces which were expertly conserved in a private collection for decades which are now available for public enjoyment free of charge.

http://www.getty.edu/museum/

[ruggerson]

7. My favorite nighit was Century City

When Wilson was holding a dinner and staying there in a hotel. The cops brought in horses and actually started trampling people. My friend got his head split open. Ah, memories...

[Snoutport]

12. THAT was an amazing night!!

We were right under the horses at one point. I saw several people who had been injured. I remember one really bloody head wound. I wonder if that was your friend?

[Snoutport]

13. I'm holding in my hand the article: "Police on Horseback Break up Gay Protest"

With a big photo of the horses just before they ran into the crowd.

It was the Century Plaza Hotel...It was a very modern street--Avenue of the Stars and I always felt like it was being on the set of Logan's Run.

[MADem]

8. You should put them up on a blog!!!

That way you can share them with the world, people can Google and get them, and they're just a click away.

Your biggest challenge would be what to name the blog!

You could do a post a day, maybe talk a bit about your experiences, and post a few of your papers.

Don't rely on a grad student to run off with your material and maybe/maybe not do a good job of memorializing it....do it yourself!

I'll be honest with you--in the 90s, I was working in Europe and didn't keep up with American news at all--what you're talking about is complete "news" to me. I think your materials and experiences would make a fascinating read.

[Martin Pal]

15. One Institute

Your request about where your papers/collection might be offered to is easy.
It's kinda sad that gay peeople do not know this, and I am very certainly
not faulting you because most people I know would not know this either, but in
Los Angeles there is the "ONE Institute and Archives." It is an independent,
not-for-profit California educational institution which houses the world's
largest research library on GLBT concerns. (www.onearchives.org/)

I, too, was here during this time and it was as incredible as others have
written. The events started during the weeks previous to Wilson's AB101 veto
when a group of people started a hunger strike in the triangle section of
Santa Monica Blvd. and Crescent Heights to last until Wilson signed the
legislation. (Which he didn't obviously.) This area has since been officially
designated the Matthew Shepard Triangle and there is commemorative plaques there
honoring the hunger strikers and the subsequent protesters/marchers/rioters.

I did not collect articles like you did, but I did record news reports of these
days each night and I have two hours or more worth of news coverage of this time.
Not only local (Los Angeles) but it was mentioned on NBC's Today show and
a roundtable discussion on the McLaughlin Group. These protests culminated in a
statewide march on Sacramento with thousands of people all over the state in
attendance, but it did not get the coverage it deserved because it happened on
the same day as the Anita Hill hearings which the country found more provocative,
much as a week of fires knocked the coverage of our recent (Nov. 2008) huge
protest against Proposition 8 off the airwaves.

I probably know who you are! Remember the now defunct League America that formed
during this time? Your papers deserve a place somewhere, these things should not
be forgotten! I have never before or since seen anything like it, personally.
The Prop 8 marches were something, but this lasted about two weeks straight, as you said, and all over the city--including one night at LAX, the airport, which we
marched around and stopped traffic etc. Something that would never ever happen
or be allowed to happen, nowadays. And it went on intermittently for many times
afterward into the fall. (Remember Wilson's address to the UCLA law school in
the rain in Westwood? And Santa Monica pier? And on and on?)

Yes, our history should be known!