White Night riots

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White Night riots

Rioters outside San Francisco City Hall, May 21, 1979, reacting to the voluntary manslaughter verdict for Dan White
Date	May 21, 1979 (1979-05-21)
Time	Evening
Location	San Francisco, California
Casualties

The White Night Riots were a series of violent events sparked by an announcement of the lenient sentencing of Dan White, for the assassinations of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Harvey Milk, an openly gay San Francisco supervisor. The events took place on the night of May 21, 1979 in San Francisco.

The gay community of San Francisco had a long-standing conflict with the police department. The struggle against the SFPD turned violent when White, who was himself a former policeman, was given the lightest possible sentence for the assassinations. Initial demonstrations took place at the San Francisco City Hall after the verdict of voluntary manslaughter was announced. The riots caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage.

Later that night, police made a retaliatory raid on a gay bar in San Francisco's Castro District. Many patrons were severely beaten by police in full riot gear. Two dozen arrests were made, and lawsuits were filed against the San Francisco Police Department.^[1] The show of strength from the gay community led to increased political power, which culminated in the re-election of Mayor Dianne Feinstein the following November. In response to a campaign promise, Feinstein appointed a pro-gay Chief of Police, which increased recruitment of gays in the police force and eased tensions.

Contents 1 Background 1.1 Sodom by the Sea 1.2 Homosexual activism in San Francisco 1.3 Political clout 1.4 Assassinations 2 Riots 2.1 Dan White Verdict 2.2 March through the Castro 2.3 Violence at City Hall 2.4 Police Retaliation 2.5 Aftermath 3 Legacy 3.1 Effects on the AIDS Movement 3.2 Effects on San Francisco Politics 4 See also 5 References 6 Bibliogaphy 7 External links

[edit] Background

[edit] Sodom by the Sea

When American settlers began to go west in the 18th and 19th centuries, they were primarily male prospectors and miners. In this society male romantic friendships were not unknown and tolerated when few women were near.^[2] As San Francisco was settled and grew, the ratio of men to women remained disproportionately high and a culture that catered to homosexuality was fostered in the city. Theatrical female impersonators were common and worked in legitimate stage shows. The city's notorious brothel district–named the Barbary Coast–earned it a reputation as a somewhat lawless and amoral society. It was also given the nickname "Sodom by the Sea."^[3]

Prohibition ended some of the public spaces for drinking, but as soon as it was repealed, gay bars began to open in North Beach, where they were visited by bohemians, writers, and tourists. The most famous of these were the Black Cat, where female impersonation shows were the main draw since the day it opened, and Mona's, a bar exclusively for women.^[4] A homosexual student at Stanford University named Harry Hay became involved in labor activism in the 1930s, crediting the longshoreman's waterfront strike with sparking his interest in communism. Finding radical left organizations unwelcoming or indifferent to homosexuals, Hay conceived of an activist group to champion their rights.

When troop buildup for World War II commenced, San Francisco became a major debarkation point for servicemen stationed in the Pacific Theater. The U.S. military, which was concerned with male homosexuality, actively dismissed any servicemen caught in known gay establishments with blue discharges. Enough men were discharged from the military to create an active community in San Francisco following World War II. Rather than go home to face ostracism, they stayed in the city.^[5]

[edit] Homosexual activism in San Francisco

The gay community of San Francisco had a long history of conflict with the San Francisco Police Department. Following World War II, gay bars were subject to frequent raids and attempts by the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission to revoke their alcohol licenses.^[6] They were accused of serving alcohol to homosexuals, which was a criminal act at the time. Eventually, the California Supreme Court affirmed the right of homosexuals to peacefully assemble, an action which enraged the heavily Irish Catholic police department.^[6]

To assist homosexuals with legal problems, Harry Hay started the Mattachine Society in his living room in Los Angeles in 1951. A few years later, Phyllis Lyon and Del Martin started the Daughters of Bilitis with six other women in San Francisco, initially just to have a place to socialize without being arrested or harassed.^[7] Within a few years, both organizations learned of each other and grew to have similar goals: helping assimilate homosexuals into general society, working for legal reform to repeal sodomy laws, and assisting those who were arrested. Both groups were headquartered in San Francisco by 1957.^[8]

Police soon began enforcing an old ordinance that forbade people from posing as a member of the opposite sex. Prompted by a female impersonator named Jose Sarria, the city's drag queens began wearing slips of paper that read "I am a boy." As a result, those who were arrested and pled not guilty often won their cases. Judges, angry at the increasing backlog of cases, began insisting on possessing evidence before a case was brought to trial. This substantially reduced the number of gays charged with violating this ordinance.^[6] Police continued to arrest gays in large numbers, routinely bringing paddy wagons to gay bars and arresting patrons. Charges were usually dismissed, but those arrested often lost their anonymity when newspapers printed their names, addresses and places of employment. Police also notified the employer and family of the accused, causing serious damage to their reputations.^[6]

In 1964, a New Year's Eve benefit event was held for the Council on Religion and the Homosexual. Police stood outside with large floodlights, and took photographs of everyone who entered the building in an effort to intimidate them. Later, several officers demanded that they be allowed inside. Three lawyers explained to them that under California law, the event was a private party and they could not enter unless they bought tickets. Police promptly arrested the lawyers.^[6] Several ministers who were in attendance held a press conference the next morning, likening the SFPD to the Gestapo. Even the Catholic archbishop strongly condemned the actions of the police. As a result, two officers were assigned to smooth relations with the gay community, in an effort to decrease harassment.^[6]

The Mattachine Society and Daughters of Bilitis promoted non-confrontational education for homosexuals and heterosexuals, hoping to prove that gay people were respectable and normal. Living beyond the mostly white, middle class scope of these groups was an active community of cross-dressers, hustlers, and "street queens" who worked primarily in the Tenderloin district of the city. After being denied service at Gene Compton's Cafeteria, a few activists picketed the restaurant in 1966. Early in the morning a few days later, the police arrived to arrest patrons in drag and a riot ensued after a drag queen flung a cup of coffee in the face of a police officer who grabbed her arm. The cafe's plate glass windows were shattered in the melée, and then again a few days later after they had been replaced.^[9] Although a riot at New York City's Stonewall Inn three years later would make a more significant impact, the Compton's cafeteria riots were the first in American history when homosexuals and the newly forming transgender community fought back against authorities.

[edit] Political clout

San Francisco continued to grow as a haven for homosexuals. North Beach and Polk Street had been quiet neighborhoods with large populations of homosexuals, but in the 1960s, the Castro District grew faster than either of them. Thousands of gay men migrated to San Francisco, turning the quiet Irish working-class neighborhood around Castro Street into a bustling center of activity.^[10] Among them was a New Yorker named Harvey Milk who resettled on Castro Street in 1972, opening a camera store the following year. Milk decided to run for city supervisor after meeting bureaucratic apathy and indifference, and through his multiple campaigns became the political voice for the gay community, promoting himself as the "Mayor of Castro Street".^[10] By 1977, 25 percent of the population of San Francisco was reported to be gay.^[11]

The growing political and economic power of the gay community in the city continued to come into conflict with the more established and dwindling numbers of the Irish Catholic institutions such as the police and fire departments. By 1971, police were arresting an average of 2,800 men per year on public sex charges; by contrast 63 such arrests were made in New York City.^[12] Many charges were dismissed due to entrapment, but several men were given harsh sentences. On Labor Day of 1974, tension between the gay community and San Francisco police came to a head when a man was beaten and arrested while walking down Castro Street. Police reinforcements suddenly appeared on the street, keeping their badge numbers hidden, and severely beat dozens of gay men. 14 were arrested and charged with obstructing a sidewalk.^[13] Harvey Milk dubbed them the "Castro 14", and a $1.375 million lawsuit was filed against the police.^[13]

In 1975, after George Moscone had been elected Mayor, he appointed Charles Gain as his Chief of Police. Gain, whose conciliatory position towards African Americans had branded him as one of the most liberal law enforcement officers in the country, soon earned the ire of the predominantly Irish-Catholic police force.^[14] Gain implemented policies that proved unpopular with his staff, such as painting police cruisers powder blue and barring police officers from drinking on the job. His lenient policies towards gay people also enraged the police force. When asked what he would do if a gay police officer came out, Gain replied "I certainly think that a gay policeman could be up front about it under me. If I had a gay policeman who came out, I would support him one hundred percent."^[14] This statement sent shockwaves through the police department, and made national headlines. The remark, made during the first week of Gain's tenure, also made Mayor Moscone, who had appointed him, extremely unpopular with the police.^[14] The two were so intensely disliked by the police that in 1977, rumors circulated about a plan by right-wing police officers to assassinate Chief Gain.^[15] A year later, after an announcement that a new police recruitment drive would target the gay community, similar plans formed targeting Mayor Moscone.^[15] Upon being informed of this threat, Moscone hired a bodyguard.

[edit] Assassinations

Dissatisfied with the workings of city politics, and in financial difficulty due to his failing restaurant business and his low annual salary of $9,600, Supervisor Dan White resigned from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors on November 10, 1978.^[16] However, after a meeting with the Police Officers' association and the Board of Realtors, White announced that he wanted his seat back. Liberal Supervisors saw this as an opportunity to end the 6-5 split on the Board that had blocked progressive initiatives that they sought to introduce. After intense lobbying by Supervisors Milk and Silver, as well as State Assemblyman Willie Brown, Moscone announced that he would not be reappointing Dan White.^[17][18][19]

The next morning, White picked up the .38 Smith & Wesson revolver that he had used as a police officer. He put ten extra cartridges into his coat pocket, and went to City Hall. After sneaking in through a basement window to avoid the metal detectors, White proceeded to the office of Mayor George Moscone. After a brief argument, White shot the Mayor in the shoulder and chest, and then twice in the head.^[20]

White then walked to his former office, reloading his gun, and asked Milk to join him. Then-Supervisor Dianne Feinstein heard gunshots and called the police. They found Milk on the floor, shot five times.^[21]

[edit] Riots

[edit] Dan White Verdict

On May 21, 1979, Dan White was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter after his assassination of both Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Milk on November 27, 1978.^[22] The prosecutor asked for a finding of first-degree murder with "special circumstances", which would have permitted the death penalty under the terms of a recently-adopted capital punishment law in California, Proposition 7.^[22] The "special circumstances" in this case were that Mayor Moscone had been killed in order to block the appointment of someone to fill the City Supervisor seat from which Dan White had resigned, and also that multiple people were killed.^[22]

White's sentence was reduced due in part to the so-called Twinkie defense, a verdict that provoked outrage in the community. The “Twinkie” defense was presented by a psychiatrist to the jury, stating that too much refined sugar (the type of sugar found in “junk food”) can cause depression and that White may have acted irrationally as a subsequent result of his eating copious amounts of foods containing refined sugars.^[23] The composition of the jury was also considered a factor; composed of mostly working class, predominantly Roman Catholic, heterosexual, and white men and women, just like Dan White.^[23] This was the segment of the city who felt sympathy for White. The jury heard a tape recording of White’s confession, which consisted of highly emotional ranting about the pressure he was under, and members of the jury wept in sympathy for the defendant.^[24]

White represented the "old guard" of San Francisco, who were wary of the influx of minority groups in to the city and represented a more conservative, traditional view that the more liberal forces in the city, like Moscone and Milk, were perceived to be eroding.^[25] He was given the most lenient possible conviction, voluntary manslaughter, and sentenced to seven years and eight months in Soledad prison.^[1] With good behavior he had the chance to be released after serving two-thirds of his sentence, about five years.^[23]

When he heard the verdict, District Attorney Joseph Freitas, Jr., said "It was a wrong decision. The jury was overwhelmed by emotions and did not sufficiently analyze the evidence that this was deliberate, calculated murder."^[22] In defense of his client, White's attorney Douglas Schmidt stated that White, "is filled with remorse and I think he's in a very bad condition."^[22]

The San Francisco Police Department had, in conjunction with the fire department, raised more than $100,000 to defend White, which earned the anger of the gay community.^[26]

White would later confirm that the killings were premeditated. In 1984, he told former police Inspector Frank Falzon that not only had he planned to kill Moscone and Milk, but also had plans to kill Assemblyman Willie Brown and Supervisor Carol Ruth Silver, whom he saw as attempting to block his reinstatement as Supervisor.^{[27] [28]}

[edit] March through the Castro

“	Today, Dan White was essentially patted on the back. He was convicted of manslaughter—what you get for hit and run. We all know this violence has touched all of us. It was not manslaughter. I was there that day at City Hall. I saw what the violence did. It was not manslaughter, it was murder.	”
—Cleve Jones, [29]

When told of the verdict, activist and Milk's friend Cleve Jones addressed approximately 500 people that had gathered on Castro Street, telling them of the verdict. With shouts of "Out of the bars and into the streets," Jones led the march down Castro street, with more people emerging from each bar.^[30] The crowd circled around and marched through the Castro again, numbering approximately 1,500 people.^[30] As the crowd left the Castro, Jones was given the police escort he had been promised days before.

In a 1984 interview, Jones gave a voice to the feeling in the crowd as they began to group together on Castro Street after news of the verdict spread, stating, "The rage in people’s face — I saw people I’d known for years, and they were so furious. That to me was the scariest thing. All these people I’d know from the neighborhood, boys from the corner, these people I’d ridden the bus with, just out there, screaming for blood."^[1]

By the time the crowd reached City Hall, its numbers had increased to over 5,000. Protesters shouted "Kill Dan White" and "Dump Dianne," a reference to Acting Mayor Dianne Feinstein.^[22] The handful of police officers that had been on duty were unsure how to handle this turn of events. Police Department leadership, which was used to seeing docile homosexuals walking quietly into paddy wagons during bar raids, were shocked by the idea of an angry gay crowd screaming for blood.^[22][30] Protesters, on the other hand, were convinced that the police and prosecution had conspired to avoid a severe sentence for White. Prosecutor Thomas Norman denied this.^[27]

[edit] Violence at City Hall

When the crowd from the Castro merged with another crowd from the Polk neighborhood, another predominantly gay district of San Francisco, the battle against San Francisco police began. Before long, thousands more people had gathered.^[31]

Members of the crowd tore gilded ornamental work from the building's wrought iron doors and then used it to break first floor windows. Several of Harvey Milk's friends monitored and attempted to hold back the crowd, including former lover Scott Smith.^[30] A wedge of police appeared on the north side of the Civic Center Plaza, and those attempting to hold back the mob sat down, thankful for the backup. However, rather than reinforcing the friends of Harvey Milk who were monitoring the riots, police proceeded to beat them with night sticks.^[30]

One young man kicked in the window of a police cruiser, lit a pack of matches, and set the upholstery on fire. After burning for a short time, the gas tank exploded. A dozen more police cruisers and eight other automobiles would be destroyed in a similar fashion. Several crowd members threw tear gas, which they had taken from police cruisers.^[22][31][32] Riots began to break out with a mob disrupting traffic, smashing windows of cars and stores. Electric trollies were disabled by having their overhead wires pulled down, and violence broke out against the outnumbered police officers. Police Chief Charles Gain, standing inside City Hall, ordered officers not to attack and to simply stand their ground.^[30]

Mayor Feinstein addressed the crowd, as did Supervisor Carol Ruth Silver, in attempts to defuse the crowd's frustration with the verdict. Mayor Feinstein said that she had received news of the verdict "with disbelief." Supervisor Silver stated, "Dan White has gotten away with murder. It's as simple as that."^[31] She was injured when struck by a flying object.^[22] More than 140 others were also injured.^[31]

[edit] Police Retaliation

After nearly three hours of tolerating shouts from the angry crowd, officers rushed in to quell the riot. Police reportedly covered their badges with black tape, which prevented them from being identified, and beat rioters. Dozens of police officers swept into the crowd. They used tear gas to force protesters away from the building. Police were surprised at the resistance they faced from the angry crowd, which attempted to beat them back using tree branches, chrome torn off city buses, and asphalt ripped from the street. When one man ignited the last police cruiser, he shouted to a reporter "Make sure you put in the paper that I ate too many Twinkies."^[33] Sixty police officers were injured, and approximately two dozen arrests were made.^[22][31][32]

The second stage of the violence was a police raid hours later in the predominantly gay Castro neighborhood.^[34] After order was restored at City Hall, SFPD cars carrying dozens of officers headed into the Castro District.^[35] Police marched into a gay bar called the Elephant Walk, despite having orders to not do so. They shouted "dirty cocksuckers" and "sick faggots", and proceeded to shatter the large plate glass windows of the bar, in addition to beating patrons. After 15 minutes, police withdrew from the bar and joined other officers who were indiscriminately attacking gays on the street. The incident lasted nearly two hours.^{[32][34][36][37]}

When Police Chief Charles Gain heard about the Elephant Walk raid, which he had not authorized, he immediately went down to the location, where he ordered his men to leave.^[36] Later that night, freelance reporter Michael Weiss saw a group of police officers celebrating at a downtown bar. "We were at City Hall the day [the killings] happened and we were smiling then," one officer explained. "We were there tonight and we're still smiling."^[36]

At least 61 police officers and an estimated 100 gays were hospitalized in the course of the riot.^[36][38] A civil grand jury convened to find out who ordered the attack, but it ended inconclusively with a settlement covering personal injury claims and damages.^[34][35]

[edit] Aftermath

Fifteen people sued the police department after the White Night Riots, but most of these suits were settled or dropped.^[1]

The next morning, gay leaders convened in a committee room in the Civic Center. Supervisor Harry Britt, who had replaced Milk, along with the more militant gays of the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, made it clear that nobody was to apologize for the riots. In a press conference, Britt told reporters "Harvey Milk's people do not have anything to apologize for. Now the society is going to have to deal with us not as nice little fairies who have hairdressing salons, but as people capable of violence. We're not going to put up with Dan Whites anymore."^[39] Reporters were shocked that a public official would condone the violent acts of the previous night. Subsequent attempts to find a gay leader who would apologize proved unsuccessful.^[39]

That evening, May 22, would have been the 49th birthday of the slain Harvey Milk. City officials had considered revoking the permit for a rally planned for that night, but had decided against it in fear of sparking more violence. Officials said that the rally could channel the community's anger into something positive.^[31] Police from San Francisco and neighboring towns were put on alert by Mayor Feinstein in case of more violence. Cleve Jones coordinated contingency plans with the police and trained 300 monitors to keep an eye on the crowd. Approximately 20,000 people gathered on Castro and Market streets, where the mood was "angry, but subdued." Police stayed at a distance and monitored the crowd.^[31][39] However, this time the crowd engaged in a peaceful celebration of Milk's life. Attendees danced to popular disco songs, drank beer, and sang a tribute to Milk.^[32][39]

On the same night, approximately 100 people held a demonstration at Sheridan Square in Manhattan for over three hours to protest the verdict. Approximately 20 police officers observed the protest, which began at 8 p.m., but no arrests were made. A candlelight vigil was planned for two days ahead, sponsored by the Coalition for Lesbian and Gay Rights and the National Gay Task Force.^[31]

[edit] Legacy

On October 14, 1979, over 100,000 people marched on Washington for gay rights. Many carried portraits of Milk and placards honoring his legacy.^[40] The rally, which was something that Milk had wanted to organize, was instead a tribute to him. According to journalist and author Randy Shilts, the White Night Riots provided a fitting end to the legend of Harvey Milk.^[40]

On January 14, 1984, Dan White was released from prison. He served five years of a seven year, eight month sentence. On the evening following his release, 9,000 people marched down Castro street and burned him in effigy.^[41] State authorities reportedly feared an assassination attempt.^[41] In response, Scott Smith urged people not to retaliate with violence. He stated, "Harvey was against the death penalty. He was a nonviolent person."^[41]

White committed suicide by self-inflicted carbon monoxide poisoning on October 21, 1985, when he ran a rubber hose from his car's exhaust pipe to the interior of the vehicle and let the vehicle fill with carbon monoxide.^[42] Mayor Feinstein said, "This latest tragedy should close a very sad chapter in this city's history."^[42] According to Orange County lawyer Jeff Walsworth, White had expressed remorse for the killings in February 1984. White reportedly stated that it would always cause him inner turmoil.^[42]

[edit] Effects on the AIDS Movement

Within a year of the riots, Cleve Jones, who had played a major role in instigating them, had become a prominent activist. He dropped out of school to work as a legislative consultant to California State Assembly Speakers Leo McCarthy and Willie Brown.^[43][44] He also spent time organizing political campaigns. In 1981, while working as a consultant to the California State Assembly Health Committee, he first became aware of gay men in San Francisco contracting unusual diseases, such as Kaposi's sarcoma. Soon, the LGBT community would be swamped by AIDS epidemic, and Jones would become a key AIDS activist. Jones co-founded the Kaposi's Sarcoma Research & Education Foundation, which would later become the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, in 1982.^[45] On November 27 1985, at a candlelight vigil on the anniversary of the Moscone-Milk assassinations, Jones learned that 1,000 people had died of AIDS. He then came up with the idea of creating a quilt in remembrance of those who had died.^[46] In 1987, Jones, now HIV-positive himself, launched the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt.^[46] As of 2009, the quilt consists of over 44,000 individual panels.^[46] In a 2004 interview, Jones said "I thought, what a perfect symbol; what a warm, comforting, middle-class, middle-American, traditional-family-values symbol to attach to this disease that's killing homosexuals and IV drug users and Haitian immigrants, and maybe, just maybe, we could apply those traditional family values to my family."^[47]

[edit] Effects on San Francisco Politics

With the 1979 municipal elections only months after the riot, many feared an anti-gay backlash at the polls.^[48] The expected backlash never came, and the gay community wielded unprecedented power. Although the virtually unknown gay Mayoral candidate David Scott finished third in the election, his showing was strong enough to force Acting Mayor Feinstein into a runoff election against conservative City Supervisor Quentin Kopp. Due to her promises of appointing more gay people to public office and her heavy campaigning in the Castro, Feinstein won enough support from the gay community to put her over the edge and give her a full term as Mayor.^[48]

One of Mayor Feinstein's first actions upon being elected was to announce the appointment of Cornelius Murphy, as the new Chief of Police. Murphy, an Irish Catholic, declared that police cars would no longer be colored powder blue, but instead would be repainted as "macho black-and-whites."^[48] This pleased the police officers, and restored their confidence in the leadership.

However, Murphy also vowed to maintain the progressive policy towards gays that his predecessor had implemented. By 1980, one in seven new police recruits was gay or lesbian.^[48] In one of his last public appearances, outgoing Police Chief Charles Gain stated that he fully expected to see the day when San Francisco would have both a gay mayor and Chief of Police.^[48] By October 1985, an organization for gay law enforcement personnel in California, the Golden State Peace Officers Association, had incorporated as a non-profit organization.^[49] It was founded by Art Roth, an Oakland police officer who was present on the night of the riots.

30 years after Dan White's verdict was announced, the Supreme Court of California was preparing their decision on a case attempting to overturn the results of Proposition 8, which had added the statement "Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California" to Article I, section 7.5 of the California State Constitution.^[50] This ballot initiative, which was approved in 2008, eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry in the state.^[50]

In late May 2009, when the Court was preparing to announce their decision, rumors surfaced on the Internet that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom had asked the court not to announce the decision on May 21.^[51][52][53] They suggested that he made this request so that the announcement would not coincide with the 30th anniversary of the White Night riots. San Francisco Communications Director Nathan Ballard published a press release on May 20, stating that the allegation was untrue.^[54] On May 26, the court upheld the validity of Proposition 8, but ruled that the 18,000 marriages that had already been performed would remain valid.^[55]

[edit] See also

• LGBT History
• The Times of Harvey Milk, a 1984 documentary which describes the White Night Riots.
• Stonewall riots

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliogaphy

• Bérubé, Allan (1990). Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II. The Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-1071-9. 
• Carter, David (2004). Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312342691. 
• D'Emilio, John (1992). Making Trouble: Essays on Gay History, Politics, and the University. Routledge. ISBN 0415905109. 
• Duberman, Martin (1993). Stonewall. Penguin Books. ISBN 0525936025. 
• Katz, Jonathan (1976). Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A.. Thomas Y. Crowell Company. ISBN 0-690-01165-2. 
• Peddicord, Richard (1996). Gay and Lesbian Rights: A Question: Sexual rights or Social Justice?. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 1-55612-759-6. 
• Shilts, Randy (1982). The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312560850. 
• Shilts, Randy (1987). And the Band Played On. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0312009941. 
• Stryker, Susan; Van Buskirk, Jim (1996). Gay By the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area. Chronicle Books. ISBN 0811811875. 
• Woods, William J.; Binson, Diane (2003). Gay Bathhouses and Public Health Policy. Haworth Press. ISBN 1-56023-272-2. 

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: White Night riots

• Video of the White Nights Riots
• White Night Riots Account

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