The Portland Police Bureau was founded in 1870, and has been making societal changes in their city before others across the country, naming the first female police officer, Lola Baldwin, in 1908, being the first Bureau to ever do so in the United States. [1] Its interaction with the LGBTQ community dates back to as early as 1912, with the Portland Vice Scandal, which involved many arrests in the community due to “indecency” or even counts of sodomy, when the arrests had little viable evidence and were heavily biased. [2] The community kept low throughout the next few decades, until the early 1960s, when the community began to grow in size along with the rest of the city. Writers for papers such as The Oregon Journal stated: “The unmentionable people are virtually untouchable and they are growing stronger each week.” [3] These reports were odd and prompted some early arrests in the 60s for “sex and pornography offenses” which prompted uproar. After these small incidents, the police became hands off with the LGBTQ community, and throughout the decades have embraced their inclusion in the Portland community, swearing to protect and serve all citizens of Portland. In 1977, the city recognized a national gay pride day, and campaigns against bigoted state measures in the 1990s helped halt discrimination and put Portland on the path to its current inclusive social environment.
The Portland Vice Scandal was one of the cities first exposure to the LGBTQ community, and shook the city in an era where that identity was unthinkable and shunned upon. On November 8, 1922, the Portland Police arrested 19-year-old Benjamin Trout for a minor offense, and through his investigation, he revealed local homosexual activity in the city that was just beginning to show. [4] This was many Portlanders first exposure to the LGBTQ community, and was front-page news for weeks. This led to more than 50 arrests throughout the city for acts such as sodomy, indecency, and immoral acts. Many could not be charged due to lack of evidence, but seven people pleaded guilty and faced charges. Some of those implicated fled and hid in the YMCA, one man even committing suicide due to the humiliation brought by public scrutiny. [2] After the scandal, schools started to educate and promote heterosexuality, and even promoted Oregon (among Washington and Idaho) to practice eugenics that sterilized offenders.
Throughout the start of the 20th century, the number of LGBTQ bars and hangout spots in the city grew and gained popularity as the decades went on. This came to a boiling point in 1963. Oregon Police made a series of arrests for various sex and pornography charges, and then-Portland mayor Terry Schrunk vowed to put an end to it. [3] Schrunk had been mayor for 16 years, and promoted equality for the traditional household and citizen, which followed racial and sexual guidelines at the time. His next move at the time was to shut down six bars, which saw police officers escorting bar goers on their way and clearing out the place, but the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) refused to give away the licensing to the bar, thus putting a halt to the mayors attempts on slowing down the scene. [3] By 1967, nobody was caring about the bars or the overall presence of the LGBTQ community, police included. Almost every other large city across the U.S. faced harassment issues towards their LGBTQ communities, but Portland's failed attempt to do this earlier in the decade did the opposite, and it was a city that saw a shift in culture change come the 1970s, one that was inclusive and much different from cities that spanned across the country.
Portland Police have spent many of the past few decades adjusting to the culture shift that Portland has gone through, however they participate in citywide events often, offering assistance and protection during the event. During June, the city of Portland holds a pride week for the community, [5] and the Portland Police provides protection and security for those participating in these events. Now, the bureau gives new opportunity to the community by offering self defense classes to any gender identity for free. [6] Once the 1970s had approached, and after the cities failed attempt to crack down on the community, LGBTQ safe spaces and hubs around the city began to flourish. One such being Dema's Bar, which was purchased by a man named Walter Cole. [7] Cole soon turned the bar into a theater in 1971, one used for the drag show Darcelle XV, the longest running drag show in the United States. These events rose up and became common in the city and allowed freedom of expression for the first time in the cities history. In 1981, Portland Police Chief Penny Harrington appointed Deputy Chief Tom Potter as the Bureau's liaison between the police and the gay community, he is the first to be officially appointed to the role [8]
The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Although the demonstrations were not the first time American homosexuals fought back against government-sponsored persecution of sexual minorities, the Stonewall riots marked a new beginning for the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBTQ rights that took place in the year 1971.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the 20th century before 1949.
LGBTQ history dates back to the first recorded instances of same-sex love, diverse gender identities, and sexualities in ancient civilizations, involving the history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) peoples and cultures around the world. What survives after many centuries of persecution—resulting in shame, suppression, and secrecy—has only in more recent decades been pursued and interwoven into more mainstream historical narratives.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people living in Lebanon face discrimination and legal difficulties not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Various courts have ruled that Article 534 of the Lebanese Penal Code, which prohibits having sexual relations that "contradict the laws of nature", should not be used to arrest LGBT people. Nonetheless, the law is still being used to harass and persecute LGBT people through occasional police arrests, in which detainees are sometimes subject to intrusive physical examinations.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in the Gambia face significant challenges not experienced by non-LGBTQ residents. Same-sex sexual activity is illegal for both men and women in the Gambia. Criminalisation commenced under the colonial rule of the British. The 1933 Criminal Code provides penalties of prison terms of up to fourteen years. In 2014, the country amended its code to impose even harsher penalties of life imprisonment for "aggravated" cases. The gender expression of transgender individuals is also legally restricted in the country. While the United States Department of State reports that the laws against homosexual activity are not "actively enforced", arrests have occurred; the NGO Human Rights Watch, reports regular organised actions by law enforcement against persons suspected of homosexuality and gender non-conformity.
This is a list of notable events in the history of LGBT rights that took place in the 1970s.
Terrence Doyle Schrunk was an American politician who served as the mayor for the city of Portland, Oregon, 1957–1973, a length tying with George Luis Baker, who also served 16 years (1917–1933).
The Portland vice scandal refers to the discovery in November 1912 of a deviant group in the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon. Nearly 70 men were charged, and three were convicted by jury; the Oregon Supreme Court then reversed the convictions on legal technicalities.
Hands Across Hawthorne was a rally held at the Hawthorne Bridge in the American West Coast city of Portland, Oregon, on May 29, 2011. The demonstration was in response to an attack, one week earlier, on Brad Forkner and Christopher Rosevear, a gay male couple who had been holding hands while walking across the bridge. According to the couple and the Portland Police Bureau, a group of five men followed Forkner and Rosevear along the bridge before physically assaulting them. The assault was condemned by Portland's mayor, Sam Adams, and its police chief, Mike Reese, and news of the attack spread throughout the Pacific Northwest and the United States. The attack prompted volunteers from the Q Center, a nonprofit organization that supports the LGBTQ community, to form street patrols as a means of monitoring Portland's downtown area.
New York state, a state in the northeastern United States, has one of the largest and the most prominent LGBTQ populations in the world. Brian Silverman, the author of Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day, wrote that New York City has "one of the world's largest, loudest, and most powerful" LGBT communities", and "Gay and lesbian culture is as much a part of New York's basic identity as yellow cabs, high-rises, and Broadway theatre". LGBT travel guide Queer in the World states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, and queer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs". LGBT Americans in New York City constitute by significant margins the largest self-identifying lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities in the United States, and the 1969 Stonewall riots in Greenwich Village are widely considered to be the genesis of the modern gay rights movement.
The historical study of LGBTQ people in Mexico can be divided into three separate periods, coinciding with the three main periods of Mexican history: pre-Columbian, colonial, and post-independence, in spite of the fact that the rejection of LGBTQ identities forms a connecting thread that crosses the three periods.
LGBTQ history in the United States consists of the contributions and struggles of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people, as well as the LGBTQ social movements they have built.
This article concerns LGBT history in Florida.
CC Slaughters is a gay bar and nightclub located in Portland, Oregon, and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The Portland bar is located in the Old Town Chinatown neighborhood, and the Puerto Vallarta bar is located in Zona Romántica.
LGBTQ culture in Portland, Oregon is an important part of Pacific Northwest culture.
New York City has been described as the gay capital of the world and the central node of the LGBTQ+ sociopolitical ecosystem, and is home to one of the world's largest and most prominent LGBTQ+ populations. Brian Silverman, the author of Frommer's New York City from $90 a Day, wrote the city has "one of the world's largest, loudest, and most powerful LGBT communities", and "Gay and lesbian culture is as much a part of New York's basic identity as yellow cabs, high-rise buildings, and Broadway theatre". LGBT travel guide Queer in the World states, "The fabulosity of Gay New York is unrivaled on Earth, and queer culture seeps into every corner of its five boroughs". LGBTQ advocate and entertainer Madonna stated metaphorically, "Anyways, not only is New York City the best place in the world because of the queer people here. Let me tell you something, if you can make it here, then you must be queer."
Eugenics was practiced in about 33 different states. Oregon was one of the many states that implemented eugenics programs and laws. This affected a number of different groups that were marginalized for being "unfit" and often were subject to forced sterilization.
Michael D. Schrunk was an American attorney who served as district attorney of Multnomah County, Oregon, United States from 1981 until 2012. He is believed to have been the longest-serving district attorney in the state of Oregon.
On August 5, 1969, the Atlanta Police Department led a police raid on a screening of the film Lonesome Cowboys at a movie theater in Atlanta, Georgia, United States.