Silver Lake Removes Kast Anti-Gay Signs

At first glance, the signs are innocuous, simply directing traffic on the road. But longtime queer residents of Silver Lake knew they were a symbol of the neighborhood’s darker past.

Messages like “No cruising. No U-turns. Midnight to 6 am” were posted around the neighborhood in 1997, with the intent to curb gay men from roaming the streets to hook up.

For years the signs remained, even as the city’s leadership changed and the community grew — until this week. In a celebration with LGBTQ+ community members, District 4 Councilmember Nithya Raman and District 13 Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez retired the signs on Monday.4

“Los Angeles has a rich history of welcoming the LGBTQIA+ community, but there has also been real and present homophobia— which at times has been inscribed into the city’s physical spaces, as with these no-U-turn signs,” Raman said in a statement.

In the late 90s, when the internet was new and gay dating apps such as Grindr did not exist, queer men sometimes relied on printed guidebooks that listed public areas where they could find love, sex and community without outing themselves.

Among those areas was West Hollywood, where anti-gay traffic signs similar to the ones removed Monday were installed in 1991 and later removed — and Griffith Park Boulevard in Silver Lake, where Soto-Martinez and Raman’s districts now meet. The area is also where more than half a dozen bars, all within a 2-mile radius, serve a thriving queer clientele between East Hollywood and Silver Lake.

Read the Full Article:
Silver Lake removes last traffic signs of its anti-gay past