These early days of San Francisco Pride are soon to be the subject of Labor of Love, a virtual exhibit that Koskovich co-curated for the GLBT Historical Society. It’s been a balancing act, and sometimes a battle between political struggle and celebration.”
“It’s important to remember that Pride started as a combination of militancy against extreme oppression and a celebration of desire, love, and pleasure. “How many people think of armed revolution when they think of a Pride parade?” Koskovich asked with a laugh.
The frequent police raids at bars like the Black Cat Tavern in Los Angeles in July 1967, in which undercover officers began beating and handcuffing patrons who were kissing to celebrate New Year, were a reminder that the very fact of being gay was treated as a criminal act. This “gay in” was five years before California repealed its anti-gay sodomy laws, and homosexuality was still illegal in the vast majority of U.S. Beyond aesthetics, though, one of the starkest differences between early Pride parades and actions and the ones we have now is the relationship to law enforcement: Today, Pride parades have a heavy police presence, whereas the San Francisco gay-in ended with cops rounding up attendees. It more closely resembled a large family picnic than the modern equivalent of Pride, a corporate-funded saturnalia featuring mid-level executives dancing on Wells Fargo floats to Lady Gaga. A “gay-in” held at Golden Gate Park the next day was similarly low-key, drawing about 200 people.