On this day, 31 March 1979, a group of around 15 men, including off duty police in San Francisco’s vice squad attacked patrons and workers at a lesbian bar in the city. The men had been celebrating a bachelor party when they were denied entry to Peg’s Place by the door person as they were drunk and carrying beer.
Some of the men were reported to have shouted “Let’s get the d*kes” and forced their way in, attacking the woman working the door, and beating the woman who owned the bar with a pool cue. When the men were told the women were calling the police, they responded “We are the cops, and we’ll do as we damn well please”.
And when on duty officers eventually arrived, the patrons claimed that they did not provide any medical assistance to the wounded and refused to take witness statements. One woman who was attacked ended up needing to be hospitalised for 10 days with head injuries.
In the end, one police officer was convicted for his part in the attack, but served no jail time, and he and the other officers involved kept their jobs. The outrageous incident was a contributing factor to growing anger in the LGBTQ community which would explode some weeks later following the failure to convict on murder charges the killer of gay superintendent Harvey Milk.
To learn more about LGBTQ struggles around that time, check out our podcast miniseries about the Stonewall rebellion: https://workingclasshistory.com/2019/05/13/e21-22-the-stonewall-riots-and-pride-at-50/
Pictured: a subsequent protest in the city that year https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1388670641318082/?type=3