“Nothing disgusts me more than a faggot on the sideline.” — Rev. Ray Broshears
Flanked by drag queens while brandishing a .410-gauge shotgun on July 6, 1973, Broshears announced the establishment of a new vigilante group: the Lavender Panthers.
Clad in a clerical collar, with a heavy silver cross hanging from his neck, he carried a gun and commanded a group of people on the offensive against anti-LGBTQ violence.
He was the Reverend Raymond Broshears, and his followers were the Lavender Panthers. [...] By the time of his death in 1982, he’d made many enemies, among them fellow gay activists who condemned his penchant for fighting violence with violence. But he’d also gained the loyalty of those he attempted to protect: the impoverished members of San Francisco’s LGBTQ community.
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In response to anti-gay violence, the Reverend Raymond Broshears formed the Lavender Panthers, an armed self-defense group, in 1973
The Lavender Panthers’ street patrols were not designed to watch for police abuses, as was the case with the Black Panthers’ street patrols in 1966, but were instead directed towards straight “punks.” These punks were not explicitly racially identified by the Lavender Panthers but were often Chicano, Black, or Chinese.
This racial tension is not often documented in stories about the Lavender Panthers, but it speaks to the disconnect between them and other liberationist groups operating at that time.
Whereas other groups were formed around multi-issue organizing including coalitions against state violence, the Lavender Panthers (and the GAA) operated from an explicitly gay and religious ethos. [...] The group also included trans women and gender noncomforming peoples[sic] at a time when these populations were shunned by other activist groups.
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That Was Ray (2019) - Short Documentary Film
Like so many other queer elders who didn't quite fit the mold (such as Lynn Segerblom, the actual creator of the rainbow flag), Ray Broshears was erased almost entirely from history.
Ray wasn't marketable, palatable, sanitary enough to serve as a figurehead for a movement that soon ditched queer liberation and, increasingly on a global level, chose assimilation to reach its goals - from civil rights and anti-discrimination laws (slay) to gay marriage (...yay?) to disposable rainbow flags, pigs at Pride and such (🤢).
Ray held views that I don't share. He publicly declared sadomasochism a mental illness. He was into guns. He was into god.
Ray was a person who suffered and dealt violence. To help his community, he drew on the resources he had at this disposal - including an abundance of personal anger and hurt. No matter how you feel about Ray's activism, his story is important because it still resonates with many of us, and it can provide inspiration, comfort, and a stark warning to new generations of faggots and other queers who feel the same all-consuming rage.
Talk about what happened to Ray Broshears and what he did. Be angry like Ray. Fuck shit up. But also, go to therapy. And whatever you do, don't die like Ray.
