The Long Beach ‘social vagrant’ investigations, 1914

From the Archives The L.A. Times took glee in reporting on 1914 arrests targeting gay men in Long Beach

By Hailey Branson-Potts

The Los Angeles Times de­tailed the ar­rests of 31 men ac­cused of “so­cial vag­rancy” and gay sex in the neigh­bor­ing city of Long Beach. The news­pa­per, which pub­lished the names of the men, ap­peared to take great de­light in cov­er­ing the “mor­al clean-up” in the city and the em­bar­rass­ment caused by “the scan­dal.” One man, flor­ist Her­bert N. Lowe, fought the charges at tri­al. The art­icle quotes a judge speak­ing about John Lamb, a Long Beach banker who com­mit­ted sui­cide after be­ing ar­res­ted and hav­ing his name pub­lished in the news­pa­per. Lamb “was as guilty of the charge of vag­rancy as any of the group, al­though we all de­plore his death,” Po­lice Judge J.J. Hart said, adding that he favored the print­ing of the names of “these de­gen­er­ates.”

Sources: Los Angeles Times, Nov. 22, 1914