Lee Glaze led early gay rights protest at The Patch 55 years ago
qvoicenews.comThursday marks the 55th anniversary of an important, but little known milestone in gay history. On Aug. 17, 1968, Long Beach resident Lee Glaze, owner of the Wilmington gay bar The Patch, took a stand and pushed back against the Los Angeles Police Department’s constant harassment of his gay male customers.
Glaze’s resistance is significant because it’s an early example of the gay community protesting against police abuse and took place 10 months before the Stonewall Inn demonstrations in New York.
For some people, the national awakening on gay civil rights started at Stonewall. Glaze’s courage, however, shows the struggle for LGBTQ equality was born before Stonewall.
In this 1968 photo, patrons from The Patch, a gay bar in Wilmington owned at the time by Long Beach resident Lee Glaze, hold bouquets of flowers outside the Los Angeles Police Department Harbor Station during a “flower power” protest against police harassment.
