Tay-Bush Inn raid
| Part of Gay liberation movement | |
| Date | September 14, 1961 |
|---|---|
| Venue | Tay-Bush Inn |
| Location |
|
The Tay-Bush Inn raid was a 1961 police raid on an all-night, one-room café in San Francisco, California. It was the largest raid on a gay bar in this city and is considered a pivotal event in the history of LGBT rights in San Francisco.[1][2]
Background
[edit]On August 28, 1951, the Supreme Court of California ruled in Stoumen v. Reilly that gays have a right to freely assemble.[3][4] Despite this, by the mid 1950s, and with and with the support of the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and newly elected San Francisco mayor George Christopher, the San Francisco Police Department was able to exploit vague and imprecise language in the Stoumen v. Reilly ruling to continue to surveil, harass, and raid gay bars.[1][3] In 1960, the “gayola” scandal revealed a pattern of San Francisco police demanding bribes from bar owners to protect them from raids, the exposure of which ended the policy and led to an even stricter crackdown on gay establishments. [3]
The Raid
[edit]At 3:15 a.m. on September 14, 1961, undercover police officers arrested 103 patrons of the Tay-Bush Inn, most of whom were charged as “visitors to a disorderly house”.[1] The arrested were described in the press as mostly white and middle-class men.[5] Ultimately, all but two of the charges were eventually dropped.[1]
Aftermath and Legacy
[edit]The raid marked a turning point in public opinion. In response to the incident, media coverage became more critical of the SFPD’s policing methods.[1] The LGBTQ community also organized new groups to combat these injustices, namely the Society for Individual Rights (SIR), Citizens Alert, the Tavern Guild, and the Council of Religion and the Homosexual (CRH).[3]
Following the Tay-Bush Inn raid, the 1965 New Years Ball at California Hall (a fundraiser for the Council on Religion and the Homosexual and other homophile organizations) also ended in a police raid and subsequent lawsuit for gay rights.[6][7]
The site of the Tay-Bush Inn is now called the La Galleria Condominiums (at 900 Bush Street), a 14-story building that contains 152 units.[1]
See also
[edit]
- Gayola, a type of police bribe
- Hazel's Inn raid (1956)
- Cooper Do-nuts Riot (1959)
References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "1961 police raid pivotal for gay rights in S.F." SFGate. 22 June 2013. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
- ↑ Boyd, Nan Alamilla (2003). Wide-Open Town: A History of Queer San Francisco to 1965. University of California Press. p. 213. ISBN 978-0-520-24474-0.
- 1 2 3 4 Smith, Tegan A. (2020). "San Francisco Gay Bars: Challenging Exploitation and Increasing Activism". The Macksey Journal. 1 (Article 71).
- ↑ "Pride timeline: A history of gay rights in San Francisco". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2026-06-23.
- ↑ Agee, Christopher Lowen (2014-03-31). The Streets of San Francisco: Policing and the Creation of a Cosmopolitan Liberal Politics, 1950-1972. University of Chicago Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-226-12231-1.
- ↑ Sides, Josh (2011). Erotic City: Sexual Revolutions and the Making of Modern San Francisco. Oxford University Press. p. 103. ISBN 978-0-19-987406-4.
- ↑ Cain, Patricia A. (Oct 1993). "Litigating for Lesbian and Gay Rights: A Legal History". Virginia Law Review. 79 (7 Symposium on Sexual Orientation and the Law): 1551–1641. doi:10.2307/1073382. JSTOR 1073382.
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