Los Angeles Pride is this weekend June 10-12 and the parade grand marshall is… Paris Hilton. No, I’m not kidding. Here’s some pride related history for you. In 1975 the president of Christopher Street West, the organization which founded Los Angeles Pride invited then Police Chief Edward Davis to participate in the festivities. Frontiers Newsmagazine*, a Southern California gay publication, has reprinted Davis’ historical response:
May 23, 1975
Ms. Sharon D. Cornelison, President
Christopher Street West Association
P.O. Box 3949
Hollywood, California 90028Dear Ms. Cornelison:
As you no doubt expected, I am declining your invitation to participate in the celebration of “GAY PRIDE WEEK.” While I support your organization’s constitutional right to express your feelings on the subject of homosexuality, I am obviously not in sympathy with your views on the subject. I would much rather celebrate “GAY CONVERSION WEEK” which I will gladly sponsor when the medical practitioners in this country find a way to convert gays to heterosexuals.
Very truly yours,
[signed]
E. M. DAVIS
Chief of Police
Here are some key facts to put the letter in context: Homosexuality was removed from the DSM in 1973, two years before this letter was penned. Los Angeles Pride began in 1970 but wasn’t held in West Hollywood until 1979 and at the time was still an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County. West Hollywood was finally incorporated in 1984. This weekend marks the 35th year of celebration.
Incidentally Edward Davis was still serving a year later when 107 police officers raided the “Mark IV,” a local bathhouse holding a charity mock-slave auction, citing participants under a 1899 state law prohibiting slavery. The following day The Orange County Register’s front page headline read “Police Free Gay Slaves.”(*)
*Page 16. May 11-24, 2005. Vol 24, No 11.
This is interesting history, but I’ll relate a bit of personal history.
In 1975, I was living in Arlington VA and working in the environs of the US patent office (they have since moved to Alexandria VA, but that is another issue). I met a fellow at a gay club (Lost & Found) in the “lower capitol hill” area. He was somewhat older than I, but, quite frankly, I didn’t care. (I was lonely and I wanted friends.). We worked in the same building, and he refused to acknowledge my presence in the elevator of the office building, although he was more than interested in acknowledging me when he saw me wiggling my butt at at Lost & Found. That was in 1975.
Sad.
Dan, explain something to me. EODavis had been widely known for decades for being among the most racist, the most homopobic and the most phobic this-that-and-the-other chiefs of police for a major city police department. He was in many ways similar to Ernst Roehm, the enforcer, the head of the Brownshirts.
Regarding your post, what lesson do you want us to obtain should we from the post?
You know the pride parade has become irrelevant when Paris Hilton is the grand marshall.
LAPD marched, in uniform, in last year’s parade – while Bratton rode in a parade car. Good for him. But there’s lots more that LAPD needs to do.
The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department has a core values statement that specifically addresses “.. courage to stand against racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, homophobia and bigotry in all its forms.” This is printed on the back of all business cards and is posted on the station walls.
Adopting a core values statement like the above would be a great step for Bratton to enact.
LAPD still has a long way to go… but it has certainly come far. Part of the problem, i think, has less to do with the chief than with the environment.
When Chief Darryl Gates (I believe Davis’ successor) was in office, he was not considered a friend of the community. However, once he was out of office he had his own talk-radio show and I recall his attitude towards gay folks improving tremendously. On one occasion (I believe it was when Pete Wilson vetoed AB101 – a nondiscrimination bill) Gates announced on his show where a protest was being held and said something along the lines of “..if I were gay, that’s where I’d be right now”.
There may be something about authoritarian organizations that requires group-think and otherwise decent people get caught up in the collective attitude. However, as the overall societal attitude towards our community has improved, I see improvements in police/military as well. Let’s hope it continues.
As for Paris Hilton:
yeah, I know she’s a brainless piece of fluff. However, she is very influential of a whole younger generation.
And if Paris says “that’s hot” about a gay pride parade, lots of kids will believe it. (You don’t have to take my word for it, ask Carls Jr.)
I had an arguement this weekend with someone who was saying “why can’t we have someone who is gay be the grand marshall”. So let me correct a misconception… LA has two grand marshalls, one community and one celebrity. The reason you hear about the celebrity grand marshall and not the community grand marshall is obvious.
Very interesting article about a group at NY pride. Seems they are conservative Baptists who believe homosexuality is sin but showed up to pride to pass out water and to appologize for the harm that Christianity has done to gay people.
According to the article, they didn’t try to do any conversion at all but instead focussed on showing humility and an example of God’s love.
Progress.
https://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/06/nyregion/06ministry.html
Tim, I won’t dwell on Paris Hilton, but I’ll merely point out that she appears to be a shameless self-promoter who has made a lot of money promoting herself. Is she brainless? I sincerely doubt it. She seems to know how to promote herself to the “n-th” degree. The brainless people are the ones who fall for her self-promotion.
raj and Regan
I’ve no doubt we could all come up people more worthy than Paris. But I still think that she reaches an audience that many of our allies cannot.
So lets compromise. I’ll agree she’s not the best choice… but she’s not a bad choice.
btw… Regan, will you be there? Are you working a booth or marching or anything (you seem very involved). If so, gimme a brief description and I’ll keep an eye out in case I see you.
Actually, I’d say she’s a pretty dumb choice. People don’t pay any attention to her because they think she’s smart. They pay attention to her precisely because she comes across as being dumb as a brick. They just can’t wait to see what stupid thing she’s going to do next, and that is what we call entertainment, at least in L.A.
So that’s who the grand marshal’s going to be. Good grief! Who was the idiot that thought that was a good idea? Even the young whipersnappers these days don’t take her as anything approaching a role mode. The only “influence” she has is teaching folks how to say “that’s hot”. I seriously doubt anybody is going to see her and think, “huh, yaknowwhat? Gay people… they’re hot”.
Well, nobody outside of L.A. anyway…
Tim, I wasn’t criticizing Paris Hilton, I was praising her. A no-talent piece of fluff who became famous for being famous, and who cashed in on her famousness. I seriously was praising her.
Her having been selected to cheerlead the gay pride event in LA is merely another indication that big-city gay pride events are commercial events. Nothing more. Nothing less. She’s there to attract an audience, and not just of gay people. I could go on at length, but you get the idea.
raj…
lol. sorry. you’re right.
and let’s just hope that joe six-pack puts down his Carls Jr burger for a second and thinks “huh, if i were at that gay thing maybe i could hook up with Paris”
yeah, i know, not real likely, but it could happen
Tim, if you stay up late at night (or wake up early in the morning) and click onto cable TV, you can’t miss ads for a series pushing soft-core porn referred to as “Girls Gone Wild.” It’s kind of like the things that MTV used to do with spring break–young women exposing their breasts, jumping up and down so that they wiggle. It’s hilarious. And, apparently, the GGW series of videos have been extremely successful.
Commercially speaking.
And the Paris Hilton thing is exactly the same thing.
hmmm…
maybe we can get the “girls gone wild” girls next year… we’d probably double the attendance watching the parade.
Sorry, Regan, I missed this
Even Bratton’s accent…
Bratton is out in LA now? He was a jackass here in Boston for a while, then he was a jackass in NYC. He’s in LA now?