When The Advocate first debuted in September 1967, it did so in the wake of violent, anti-LGBTQ+ police raids in Los Angeles — Cooper Do-nuts (1959), New Faces and Black Cat Tavern (both 1967) — and at San Francisco’s Compton’s Cafeteria (1966). After the Black Cat raid and the protests of police brutality that followed, the early gay activist group, PRIDE, launched a newsletter that became, at first, The Los and later just . (PRIDE stood for Personal Rights in Defense and Education.)
