By Sarah Weiss
Every June we see the rainbows roll out; flags and logos redone in rainbow serve to indicate that Pride Month has arrived once more. However, there’s a lot more to the history of Pride – and it all has a closer connection to cannabis than one might think.
Pride wasn’t always parties and parades. The first Pride was a riot.
Pride was created in remembrance of the Stonewall Riots. The Stonewall Riots, also known as the Stonewall Uprising, occurred in New York City in June 1969. The riot was in response to a police raid of the Stonewall Inn, a gay nightclub in Greenwich Village. This raid was not abnormal, as the 1960s were marked by all-too-regular police raids of gay establishments in the city.
The raid of the Stonewall Inn began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969. The police arrested 13 people, including employees and patrons. Some of the documented offenses included violating the state’s gender-appropriate clothing statute. “The majority of people at Stonewall were either drag queens or gay men of color,” Titus Montalvo, a hairdresser and makeup artist who was 16 at the time, shared in an interview with USA TODAY.
The LGBTQ+ community had had enough and thus began the Stonewall Uprising. Accounts vary on what exactly started the protests – one of the more popular stories is that a Transgender Black woman by the name of Marsha P. Johnson threw a liquor bottle (or a brick) at a police officer. In the years since, Marsha has become an idol in the movement, despite insisting in a 1987 interview that she had not arrived until after the protest began.
Regardless of how it started, the protests continued as the Stonewall reopened the following night and was once again raided. The violence escalated; police employed the use of tear gas against protestors. Over the next week, the Stonewall Inn became a gathering point for LGBTQ+ activists.
In total, the Stonewall Riots lasted six days. Although it was in no way the beginning of the gay-rights movement in America (or even the first documented riot induced by police mistreatment of LGBTQ+ individuals), it is considered a crucial turning point in LGBTQ+ history.
The first Gay Pride Parade was held on June 28, 1970, on the first anniversary of Stonewall. A hundred or so people marched down Christopher Street, where the Stonewall Inn still stands today.
Over 50 years later, cities all over the world hold pride events during June in remembrance and support of the long fight for LGTBQ+ equality.
But how are Pride Month and the gay rights movement intertwined with cannabis?
In recent history, a study conducted by the National Library of Medicine found that Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual adults were more likely to use cannabis than heterosexual adults. But cannabis and the LGBTQ community have a relationship that goes back decades.
A large portion of support for the legalization of medical marijuana came in the wake of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, which disproportionately affected the LGBTQ+ community. Many began to see the medical benefits of cannabis when they started using it to ease nausea, appetite loss, and pain associated with AIDS. Many members of LGBTQ+ communities, particularly those in San Francisco, were experienced activists due to their involvement in the gay rights movement. These activists used this experience to jump-start another cause: legalizing medical marijuana. Two prominent figures in the original efforts to legalize were Dennis Peron and Mary Jane Rathbun, also known as “Brownie Mary.” Both individuals spent the majority of their lives in San Francisco, and both of them witnessed the impact of the AIDS crisis first-hand – which made clear the medicinal value of cannabis.
Dennis Peron, a man largely credited as the “father of medical marijuana,” began his journey into cannabis at seventeen. Shortly thereafter, he served in Vietnam under the United States Air Force. He returned from Vietnam with two pounds of cannabis hidden in his duffel bag. Paron settled down in San Francisco, eventually opening a restaurant, through which he sold weed from the establishment’s second floor.
The medicinal value of marijuana became rapidly apparent to Peron as the AIDS crisis began to take root. He was an openly gay man and his partner, Johnathan West, used marijuana medically to combat the side-effects of his AIDS medication.
While Dennis Peron was arrested many times on marijuana-related charges, one particular arrest in January 1990 served as his personal catalyst into cannabis activism. That winter, the police raided the home that Peron shared with West. The police found four ounces of marijuana and charged Paron with intent to sell. However, at Peron’s trial, West revealed the stash was his and the charges against Peron were subsequently dropped.
Johnathan West never received any charges in the matter, as he lost his battle with AIDS and died just two weeks after Peron’s trial.
His partner’s death catalyzed Peron. He wrote Proposition P alongside fellow activists, which was a ballot measure asking San Francisco to add marijuana to the list of substances that may be used to treat illnesses (such as AIDS, cancer, and glaucoma). The measure passed in 1991 with an 80% majority.
Alongside Dennis Peron, there was “Brownie Mary.” Mary Jane Rathbun was a single mother working as a server at IHOP in San Francisco in the 1970s when she developed her renowned cannabis-infused brownie recipe. She began selling the brownies on the side to earn some extra income to support herself and her daughter.
Mary was arrested for the first time at age 57 when cops raided her home and found over 18 pounds of cannabis. In place of jail time, Mary was required to do community service, most of which she did for an organization known as the Shanti Project. The Shanti Project was an emerging program to support those diagnosed with AIDS during the emerging crisis. Here, Mary truly came to see the medicinal potential of marijuana.
Mary was increasingly interested in cannabis’s ability to combat “wasting syndrome” (weight loss of more than 10% of a patient’s total body weight, commonly seen during the HIV/AIDS epidemic) by increasing appetite and fighting rapid weight loss. By the mid-1980s, Mary was baking around 600 cannabis-infused brownies a day for patients in the AIDS wards in San Francisco.
This work is especially notable as AIDS was largely misunderstood and widely feared at the time. No one was sure yet how exactly the disease was contracted, and most patients had, at most, 18 months to live after diagnosis. This meant that AIDS wards were not frequented by guests, or even by hospital staff. Mary wasn’t just providing medical relief, she was also providing companionship.
Mary was arrested several times over the course of her career on cannabis-related charges, and after an arrest in 1992 she testified about the medical benefits of marijuana. Her testimony led to a decision to reduce cannabis possession to the “lowest priority” for prosecution.
That same year, Mary Rathbun and Dennis Peron joined forces and opened the Cannabis Buyers Club.
The Cannabis Buyers Club was created with the intention of being arrested. Once arrested, Paron intended to launch a defense based on the medicinal value of marijuana, and to bring awareness to AIDS patients who found the plant to be a necessary part of a comfortable existence. The issue was… the cops never showed. Instead, patients flocked to the club in droves.
Once inside the Cannabis Buyers Club, one could both purchase marijuana and consume it on-site. Besides providing medicine, the club naturally became somewhat of a social mecca. The Cannabis Buyers Club provided AIDS patients and LGBTQ+ individuals alike with a safe place to socialize. Several support groups formed within its walls, from those in cancer treatment to those living on the streets. It seemed that those from marginalized groups could always find some comradery at the CBC. On the weekends, staff would even go as far as to prepare a home-cooked meal for members. In the decades since its grand opening, many of the original members have been interviewed. Many patrons of the CBC reported not only the health benefits of marijuana itself, but the additional health benefits of being part of a healing, open-minded community.
We owe the origins of the modern-day dispensary to the work of Brownie Mary and Dennis Peron.
Here at Substance, we hope to continue in their legacy by creating a safe, welcoming space for everyone.
