Pride - LGBTQ History

How Long Beach caused the death of John A. Lamb.

Immediately after his 1914 election as mayor of Long Beach, Louis Napoleon Whealton fired the chief of police and raided the city treasury. To replenish the funds, Mayor Whealton concocted a scheme to collect fines from any male “who made advances toward other men.” Two special police officers entrapped and arrested thirty-one men, dragging them before a judge to pay up or risk a public trial. When one victim refused to play along, newspapers were quick to publish the names of everyone accused, including local pharmacist and popular churchman John A. Lamb. His suicide made headlines, but the city continued to target gay men well into this century.

Author and historian Gerrie Schipske uncovers the story of a tragic death with far-reaching consequences in Long Beach.

San Francisco’s Transgender District, six blocks in the Tenderloin, was founded in 2017 by three black trans women. The first trans and gender nonconforming residents in the area were two-spirit residents of the Ramaytush Ohlone territory. After the founding of San Francisco, trans individuals continued to live, perform, advocate, and gather in the area. 

Some members of the trans community gained fame and fortune in local vaudeville theaters and performing in drag. Others regularly navigated issues with the police, landlords, and local businesses. The 1906 earthquake dramatically reshaped the neighborhood when Market Street was destroyed. José Julio Sarria, local clergy, “Screaming Queens,” the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Ms. Billie Cooper, and many others helped the trans community find glitter in the ashes and recover from hardship. The Transgender District includes the site of the first trans and queer uprising at Compton’s Cafeteria and Glide Memorial Church, the site of the first transgender support group in the United States. 

Rev. Dr. Megan Rohrer, an activist, award-winning historian, and finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in transgender nonfiction, leads regular walking tours of the district. Images in this book come from his personal collection, museums, archives, and local photographers.

In 1974, one of San Francisco's most horrific unsolved serial murder cases began.

In less than two years, the man police called "The Doodler'? took at least five lives, terrorized the LGBTQ community, and left three survivors forever changed. Initial reports claimed the murderer didn't approach his victims with the knife he used to kill them, but that the suspect shared skilled drawings--sketches of faces and animals--before leaving several gay men to bleed out in the sands of Ocean Beach. Police investigations and activist efforts to uncover the killer led to several suspects, but no definitive identification of the artist of death.

Author Kate Zaliznock shines a light on this riveting cold case.

Long Beach, California, founded in the 1880s by conservative, pro-temperance settlers, has been known as “American Colony,” “Queen of the Beaches,” “Iowa-By-The Sea,” “Home of the Pike,” and “Paradise for Pansies.” This book gives a glimpse of how Long Beach went from making national headlines in 1914 for entrapping 31 gay men as “social vagrants” to receiving a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s “Municipal Equality Index” for issues that contribute to a positive climate for LGBTQA+ people. Over time, Long Beach changed, becoming one of the most diverse cities in California. Voters elected a lesbian to city council in 2006 and a gay mayor in 2014 who they sent to Congress in 2022. Its new main library is named in honor of its hometown lesbian heroine, Billie Jean King. Today, Long Beach has the third largest “Pride Parade and Festival” in California.