New Year’s is a time to party, but it’s also a time for making important changes. On New Year’s Day 1965, the queer community threw a party that would ultimately change how the world at large saw gays and lesbians. Not only that, but that party was started with what now seems like some unlikely allies: straight ministers.
Jallen Rix’s 2013 documentary Lewd and Lascivious: 1965: Drag Queens, Ministers and the SFPD tells how a group of cross-denominational heterosexual ministers moved to San Francisco to find out how to best serve the community. Church attendance among younger people was declining—much as it is today—and the ministers entered the gay community to discover what kinds of things they could help with. They went with their new queer friends to many of the city’s gay bars to find out what exactly the community needed.
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The number one issue: constant police harassment by the San Francisco PD. One bar, The Chuckkers, even erected a sign in front declaring the bar that was “Famous for its unusual entertainment, now presents Police Harassment! Every Friday and Saturday!”
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The Reverend Ted McIlvenna shared one horrific story of police brutality with Rix.
“One night I got a call, and I went to a hotel. And here were two gay guys with their genitals kicked in. And I said, ‘Call the police.’ And they said, ‘We can’t call the police because it’s the police that did the kicking.’ We took them to the hospital, and the hospital wouldn’t take them in. The doctor at the ER room said they’re dirty, filthy queers,” he said.
McIlvenna was part of the Glide Memorial Methodist Church and he worked with many in the queer community, including Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin, the founders of the Daughters of Bilitis. Following the success of a summit between clergy and queer leaders, a new group was formed: the Council on Religion and the Homosexual.
That winter, the CRH networked with all the other gay groups in San Francisco, including the Mattachine Society, the Tavern Guild, and the Society for Individual Rights (or S.I.R.) to sell tickets to a New Year’s Ball at California Hall on Polk Street. This was the first time the organizations had worked together as one political entity. Tickets were sold by the individual groups for $4 each, with $1 going to the organization that sold the ticket. Over 500 tickets were sold.
Since it was such a large event, the CRH needed permits, which were only attainable via the San Francisco Police. The ministers expecting to talk to the chief of police were forced to deal with the vice squad. The vice cops asked them all sorts of insulting questions about what sex acts were permitted by God, eventually telling the ministers that if they weren’t going to “uphold God’s law,” it was up to the cops to do it. With the help of some lawyers however, the CRH got the permits, and the cops gave their word they wouldn’t raid the ball.
The CRH was prepared for trouble knowing exactly how much the cops’ word was worth. And, of course, the cops showed up, taking photos of everyone who entered or left the ball despite, as The Guardian points out, telling the CRH that no cameras would be allowed. Police officers also kept requesting access to the ball for “inspections” about every 10 minutes, activist Nancy May told Rix. When organizers eventually told the police to stop and that any further “inspections” would require a warrant, the arrests started.
Six people were arrested. Four for obstructing the police, including three attorneys – Herb Donaldson, Evander Smith, and Elliot Leighton – along with May, who was taking tickets and was one of those who objected to the “inspections.” Two guests, Konrad Osterreich and Jon Borset, were charged with lewd and lascivious conduct for dancing too closely.
The raid on California Hall could have been just another incident in a long history of police harassment by the SFPD. But this time, the members of the clergy at the ball held a press conference the following day, blasting the police for lying to them and harassing citizens for no reason. The ministers made front-page news in all the city papers and the story was picked up by wire services. Following the press coverage, the ACLU offered support and representation.
The trial went very badly—for the police. Judge Leo Friedman mocked police excuses from the bench, including one incident where an officer said cameras were needed “because of the high incidence of crime these people are involved in.” Friedman was so disgusted by the police’s conduct, he instructed the jury to deliver a verdict of “not guilty,” and said that the verdict would be set aside and the case dismissed if they did otherwise.
“It’s useless to waste everybody’s time following this to its finale,” Friedman said when the prosecution finished making its case.
Coverage of the case brought mainstream attention to the harassment that the queer community was facing regularly—and was key in changing the public’s views. Though Borset lost his job following the California Hall arrest, he said that when he told his new employer about it, they thought it was foolish to arrest a man for dancing.
The California Hall raid is also responsible for making San Francisco the LGBTQ+ capital of the United States—and the city has the police to thank for that. In trying to demonize the community, police claimed there were as many as 75,000 gays and lesbians in San Francisco, according to Rix’s film. Though there were nowhere near that many, it became a self-fulfilling prophecy as queer people from around the country read that claim and decided that was where they wanted to be.
As homophobia and transphobia are on the rise again with the Republican party stoking fear and hatred, it’s important to remember the lesson learned from the California Hall raid. We must all come together and fight. And, most importantly, though queerphobes might have the power, when a spotlight is shown on their horrific actions, most everyone else will recoil in disgust and fight alongside.
Watch Lewd and Lascivious now
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