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Las Vegas is known around the world as a flashy, libertarian oasis where an individual's pursuit of happiness and profit is paramount. This was not true for the city's queer community. Being gay in Las Vegas until the 1990s was a felony with a hefty fine and long prison sentence. The Las Vegas LGBTQ community did not organize to fight for its rights until the late 1970s and by the early 1980s had made significant headway, before AIDS stopped their momentum. While the plague was devastating, it taught compassion, self-reliance, and political savvy. In 1993, the community persuaded the Nevada State Legislature to repeal the state's sodomy law, and throughout the 1990s and 2000s--even with some significant setbacks--Las Vegas rapidly caught up with more enlightened places in the United States. By 2017, Las Vegas was a city among the most welcoming of the nation's queer community.
About the author
Dennis McBride is a native of Las Vegas who has been a historian and queer advocate since the early 1970s. He is the author of several books on Nevada history, including Out of the Neon Closet: Queer Community in the Silver State.
