The 1965 Police Raid on California Hall
Who would have guessed that the dawn of the gay and lesbian civil rights movement in San Francisco was jump-started by straight ministers at a dance? This little-known, yet pivotal event happened the first day of 1965, and it was an occasion like never before. For the first time, all the fledgling “homophile” organizations came together as one to put on a costume ball, publicly revealing their community in a thoroughly respectable, yet overtly political, and queerly fabulous fashion! The twist was they were rallied by progressive straight ministers who had seen, firsthand, the brutal police violence against this community and they were determined to do something about it. So when the SFPD showed up to try and shut the party down, the results were explosively historic! The event has been known as the 1965 Police Raid on California Hall, but it was almost lost to history.
Jallen Rix heard the story on his first day of graduate school and it had such an impact on him, the Police Raid became his area of research for his dissertation. When Coproducer Chris Sinton heard the story and realized that a number of the key dance instigators were not long for this world, he knew they had to do something about it. The result of their efforts is the documentary, Lewd and Lascivious which recovers for today’s and future audiences the landmark event in American history when just being perceived as homosexual was reason enough to discriminate, and being caught in gay sexual activity was “Lewd and Lascivious Conduct” and could result in years-long prison sentences.
The movie appeared in a few LGBTQ festivals, most notably the world premiere in the city where it all began, San Francisco, at the 37th Frameline Festival. Several of the cast members were able to attend. During the Q&A just after the film, the cast was asked to stand which resulted in the sold-out crowd jumping to their feet and going crazy with applause, and applause, and more applause. 50 years after the actual event, those people who sacrificed so much for everyone’s civil rights were being appreciated like never before. It was a moment never to be forgotten! With this film, we hope their work will never be forgotten.
The 2.5 Minute Trailer:
The Feature Presentation: Lewd & Lascivious (51 minutes):
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Behind the scenes stories of L&L:
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Reach out / Stay in Touch…
Please let me know how I can support you in your personal sexual health.
Also, I regularly make appearances, facilitate workshops and teach retreats. If you would like to be notified about new opportunities I offer, let me know where to send the email (this is a private list that is never bought or sold).
Absolutely great depiction of history. We must remember this is possible so that it does not happen again!
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Hi! I just want to thank you for your fantastic documentary about the California Hall raid. I produce a queer history podcast called “Mattachine: A Queer Serial” and I was in desperate need of more details about the epic raid. I was googling around and found your doc. What an incredible resource! Thank you so much for preserving these stories. No history book recorded them like you did.
Devlyn Camp
Hi! Was this documentary originally titled “the last dance”? Im interested in knowing the title chance story thanks
Hey Chandra, yes, the first name was “The Last Dance Raid” which we thought was pretty snappy, but in all honesty, it wasn’t really the last raid. Plenty of other raids happen to the LGBT community back then, more so house raids and private parties, than something this public. Yet, we thought ultimately that “Lewd and Lascivious” was bigger eye-catcher… great question of documentary trivia.