
Within the first year of launching DOB, ACLU members Martin and Lyon invited Ernest Besig, the executive director of the ACLU’s Northern Calfornia affiliate, to a meeting in San Francisco. He spoke to a small group of women on July 5, 1956, advising them to educate themselves about their rights. He also acknowledged the vexing problem of the local police. Both San Francisco law enforcement and agents with California’s Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control could and did raid gay bars and arrest patrons. Many women and men pled guilty and paid a fine, not knowing that merely being in a gay bar was not against the law at that time. They had little to no choice. Even the threat of arrest could cost them dearly, as it was not uncommon for gay men and lesbians — as well as gender non-conforming individuals or those assumed to be LGBTQ — to lose jobs, homes, or even custody of their children if they were caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. There were very few places to turn for assistance. The local ACLU was one of them.