Las Vegas is a city that celebrates love.
There’s a reason why our town is known as “Sin City” due to our city’s correlation with being a progressive playground for adults. And this open-mindedness extends to the amazing LGBTQIA community.
However, our history isn’t as peachy when it comes to our state’s acceptance of the LGBTQ community. According to OutHistory.com, police often persecuted and conducted sting operations to entrap those in the LGBTQ community. The concept of community was alien in Nevada due to political and social repression.
As the movement for civil right began taking traction across the country, the tide in Nevada turned, too.
Marge Jacques was an entrepreneur who owned Le Café in the 1970s. Her bar was the unofficial community center, and Jacques spearheaded activism for the community. With Jacques’ outspoken politics, controversy and disdain was quickly met.
“Openly gay, Marge’s political activities in the 1970s established the political consciousness of Las Vegas’s gay community,” the Human Rights Coalition of Las Vegas said. “The good times ended on August 24, 1978 when Le Café was torched. It was never determined beyond doubt who burned Marge’s club.”
Throughout the ’80s and ’90s, Las Vegas morphed into a city that attracted and inspired efforts to build an inclusive and proactive LGBTQ community. As population boomed in Nevada throughout this time, more people moved into the city and established clubs, organizations and LGBTQ friendly events.
In 2014, same-sex marriage was finally recognized in the state, according to NBC News. And in 2020, the state became the first in the nation to protect same-sex marriage in its constitution, according to USA Today.
Today, Las Vegas fosters a community of love and inclusivity. Many of our wedding chapels in the city cater to everyone and anyone, and the list doesn’t just stop at community centers.
Las Vegas is home to a long list of trailblazing icons and figures, who’ve contributed to our country’s history and community. See below to see this list of amazing people that are fabulous icons that call — or called — Las Vegas home.
Senator David R. Parks
Senator David R. Parks is the first openly gay man in the Nevada State Legislature. He’s fought through a landscape that has hurled a multitude of harassment and sharp words toward him. Despite this, he’s been a loyal public service in Nevada, fighting for civil rights for marginalized communities.
