Last year, Nancy Valverde became the first lesbian Chicana to receive a dedicated public square in Los Angeles. This past March, she passed away at the age of 92.
Growing up Chicana, or Mexican American, in the 1950s, Valverde felt isolated in her community. She watched police abuse their power to harass Chicano families and shut down any public display of queerness. In 1959, The LAPD forced many Chicano families from their homes in a cruel ploy to build Dodger Stadium.
LA has a sordid history of such harassment under “anti-masquerading” laws, which gave police power to arrest or penalize based on clothing. Police routinely demanded identification from visibly queer people. If their outward presentation didn’t match the gender on their ID, they would be arrested under the pretense of “sex perversion.”
Under the leadership of Police Chief William H. Parker, who took over in 1950, LAPD arrests for homosexuality increased by more than 85%.
In 2023 a downtown intersection was renamed by the city to Cooper Do-nuts/Nancy Valverde Square, after Valverde and the location of a 1959 riot against anti-LGBT police harassment.
LAPD Deputy Chief Robert Flores issued an apology for its history of violence against Valverde and the LA queer community: “The LAPD of that time was not always kind to our gay, lesbian, transgender (and) our non-conforming Angelenos … This mistreatment of our citizens was wrong and should never have happened.”
Valverde was unable to be present at the ceremony, but is quoted saying, “I never thought I was going to get this, but it’s about time.”
Nancy from East Side Clover is a documentary about Valverde directed by Gregorio Davila. In the documentary, she shares how she felt ostracized by her local queer scene for standing up to police: “The gay community didn’t want me around. They said I was too out. Everybody was passing for straight, and the only place they came out was at the bars. On the streets, they wouldn’t talk with me …”
Over time her bravery has become admired and respected in the Los Angeles gay scene. Valverde worked as a barber, gaining renown as a safe and affirming space for marginalized identities. Her work became the inspiration for a 2008 play The Barber of East L.A. performed by a queer Chicana-Latina theater trio, Butchlalis De Panochtitlan.
Photo by LA LGBT Center
