Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-02-22
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

Before Stonewall, there was Cooper Donuts
Special to the online edition of Windy City Times
by Christiana Lilly, South Florida Gay News
2016-10-04

This article shared 1464 times since Tue Oct 4, 2016
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


It was a torrent of doughnuts and coffee that kicked off the LGBT-rights movement.

Sure, the Stonewall Riots of 1969 in New York City get all the glory, but ten years earlier there was a small, nearly forgotten uprising to which the movement's roots can also be traced: Cooper Donuts in Los Angeles.

Like their New York counterparts, the Los Angeles Police Department often targeted LGBT people through entrapment, intimidation, and violence. Police specifically targeted trans people, arresting those whose perceived gender did not match their driver's license. Several gay bars, in an attempt to remain inconspicuous and avoid police raids, banned or discouraged transgender people from entering. However, Cooper's Donuts, which opened in 1959 in the Skid Row neighborhood, was welcoming to the transgender community. The shop served policemen during the day and, as the patrols dwindled in the evening, opened its doors to trans people and those barred from other establishments.

One evening, two police officers asked for ID cards from some customers at the shop — a typical way for them to harass LGBT people. Those who were picked out of the crowd, including John Rechy, an accomplished gay author who has written about the uprising, were "two hustlers, two queens and a young man just cruising."

Something snapped in one of them; enough was enough. He objected to the car being packed with five people and fought back, leading the customers at the donut shop to flood into the streets, throwing coffee cups, trash, spoons, donuts, anything they could get their hands on.

"[The officers] fled into their car," Rechy writes, "called backups and soon the street was bustling with disobedience. Gay people danced about the cars."

The officers returned with reinforcements, Main Street was closed, and history was made. However, the importance of the Cooper's Donuts uprising was not recognized until much later.

Mark Thompson, a social historian who lived in the same neighborhood as Rechy, writes of the event's importance: "I would not describe it as a riot but more like an isolated patch of local social unrest that had lasting repercussions. I think less in its day, more as a lesson for us today. L.A. is such a huge, sprawling city ( even back then ) so what happened in one district probably did not register elsewhere — especially when issues of class and race are factored in."

Not too much is known about the uprising at Cooper's Donuts, and as time passes, fewer of the storytellers of the time are around to share their experiences. But it is important to remember that the fight for LGBT rights was not limited to one city and one event. The Cooper's Donuts uprising, like the Compton Cafeteria riots, the Dewey's sit-ins, and the Independence Hall protests, helped pave the way for Stonewall and for all the victories the community has seen since.

Christiana Lilly's foray into journalism began at 11, when she put together a one-page gazette for classmates recounting field trips, announcing the lunch menu and other important news. Today, she's a freelance journalist who covers a plethora of topics, including contributing regularly to South Florida Gay News. There, she covers health, religion, law and activism impacting the LGBT community. She has won multiple awards for her coverage, including stories on conversion therapy and youth homelessness. Christiana grew up in Asia as the daughter of a foreign service officer, and now calls Fort Lauderdale home with her fiance.


This article shared 1464 times since Tue Oct 4, 2016
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

San Francisco's Harvey Milk School celebrates birthday of its namesake
2023-05-23
Students at the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy in San Francisco's LGBTQ Castro neighborhood took to the streets Monday, May 22, and marched on Harvey Milk Day. The day of special significance in California honors the ...


Gay News

About Face Theater hosts Leppen Leadership Awards
2023-05-23
On May 14, About Face Theater presented its Leppen Leadership Awards to members of the LGBTQ+ community for their activism and service. The organization normally awards two individuals a year but decided to expand this year, ...


Gay News

Lambda Legal marks 50 years with Bon Foster Civil Rights Celebration
2023-05-20
Lambda Legal marked its 50th anniversary with The Bon Foster Civil Rights Celebration May 19 at the Art Institute of Chicago. The event honored Windy City Times Owner and Co-Founder Tracy Baim. The celebration was named ...


Gay News

Gloria Allen to be honored on National LGBTQ Wall of Honor on June 22
2023-05-15
The International Imperial Court System and the National LGBTQ Task Force are honoring seven legends of the LGBTQ+-rights movement as 2023 National LGBTQ Wall of Honor inductees at NYC's historic Stonewall Inn on June 22, per ...


Gay News

GLAAD ceremony honors celebrities and welcomes TGNC state reps
2023-05-14
On May 13, GLAAD announced recipients for the final 18 of this year's 33 categories of the 34th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York City. Maren Morris accepted GLAAD's Excellence in Media Award, introduced by ...


Gay News

UIC's 'lavender' graduates step out into the world
2023-05-12
On May 2, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) held its 17th annual Lavender Graduation Ceremony in front of a crowded room of queer graduates and their friends, allies and families. The event was held in ...


Gay News

Lambda Legal to celebrate 50 years with Bon Foster Civil Rights Celebration May 19
2023-05-05
--From a press release - Lambda Legal's Bon Foster Civil Rights Celebration returns on Friday, May 19, 2023 at The Art Institute of Chicago. The event is named after Robert Bonvoulier "Bon" Foster, a Chicago attorney and civil rights leader who ...


Gay News

2023 Leppen Leadership Awards announced, event May 14
2023-05-04
--From a press release - About Face Theatre has announced the return of the Leppen Leadership Awards. Now in the 28th season, About Face has been honoring community luminaries since 2001 with the Leppen Leadership Award, named for founding supporter and ...


Gay News

LAMMY Awards announce host, presenters, special guests for June 9 event
2023-05-04
--From a press release - New York, NY, May 4, 2023 — Lambda Literary, the nation's premier LGBTQ literary arts organization, announced updates and additions, including host, special guests and more at the upcoming 35th Annual Lambda Literary Awards — aka ...


Gay News

Tony nominations are out
2023-05-02
The 2023 Tony nominations are out. With 13 nominations, the musical Some Like It Hot led all productions, with & Juliet; New York, New York; and Shucked tying for second with nine nominations, per Deadline. Kimberly ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ Lily Tomlin, Daniel Craig, Lizzo, 'Noah's Arc,' Maurice Jamal, 'Heartstopper'
2023-04-29
Video below - The Peabody Awards announced that Lily Tomlin and Issa Rae will receive honorary awards at the June 11 ceremony, to be held in Los Angeles for the first time in Peabody's 83-year history, per the Hollywood ...


Gay News

NLGJA, Curve Foundation announce recipients of inaugural Curve Award for Excellence in Lesbian Coverage
2023-04-27
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 27, 2023) — Today, NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists and The Curve Foundation announced the recipients of the inaugural Curve Award for Excellence in Lesbian Coverage. ...


Gay News

GALECA to also honor achievements in theater
2023-04-26
GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics announced it is expanding its mission to honor Broadway and off-Broadway productions, across various inaugural categories, beginning with the current 2022-23 theater season. ...


Gay News

White House proclaims 70th anniversary of the 'Lavender Scare'
2023-04-26
On April 25, the White House issued a proclamation noting April 27 as the 70th anniversary of the Lavender Scare, which negatively—and extensively—impacted the LGBTQ+ community. In 1950, the U.S. State Department fired 91 employees because ...


Gay News

PASSAGES: Retired Chicago Fire Department district chief, paramedic Pat Ciara
2023-04-25
Retired Chicago Fire Department (CFD) district chief, paramedic and at one time the highest ranking out lesbian in the history of the CFD, Pat Ciara died April 19 of lung cancer in Lake Worth, Florida. She ...


 


Copyright © 2023 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives. Single copies of back issues in print form are
available for $4 per issue, older than one month for $6 if available,
by check to the mailing address listed below.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.
All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transegender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.