Lesbians Against Police Violence worked against police harassment in San Francisco especially the Mission neighborhood. The papers consist of agendas, minutes, and notes of general meetings and committee meetings; skits and song lyrics; flyers and fact sheets; and a few clippings.

Lesbians Against Police Violence (LAPV) worked against police harassment in San Francisco in 1979 and 1980. LAPV was organized to monitor the police, respond to police-related incidents, educate citizens, and form support and legal defense groups for victims of police violence. The group saw an affinity with the severity of police violence in the Third World, drawing parallels to the San Francisco Police Department’s (SFPD) role in the Mission (a San Francisco neighborhood of mostly low income residents), a “Third World neighborhood.” LAPV began as a meeting called by Lesbian School workers after a February 1979 incident at Amelia’s, a women’s bar in the Mission. Sue Davis and Shirley Wilson, two lesbians leaving the bar, were arrested by SFPD officers. They were beaten, strip-searched, and held overnight without being charged or granted a telephone call. The treatment of ex-cop and SF supervisor Dan White after his murder of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk was another source of anger for the group. Meg Barnett was one of the founding members of LAPV and the related Sue and Shirley Defense Fund.

1 box (0.4 linear feet)

Copyright to any unpublished materials included in this collection of which Meg Barnett is currently the legal owner has been transferred to the GLBT Historical Society.

Collection is open for research. Funding for processing this collection was provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC).