Protesters Press Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez to Save Morris Kight Residence

Protest Monday, June 5th; City’s Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee to hear Petition for ‘Historic Cultural Monument’ (HCM) status for LGBTQ Rights Pioneer’s residence on June 6^th

Preservation-minded activists from AHF and its housing advocacy arm, Housing Is A Human Right, will stage a protest Monday June 5^th targeting Los Angeles City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez at her Field Office in Glassell Park. Protesters will ask Hernandez to help preserve the residence of 20^th century Los Angeles LGBTQ rights pioneer Morris Kight.

A petition for Historic Cultural Monument (HCM) status for the Kight residence will be heard by the city’s PLUM Committee on Tuesday, June 6^th at 2:00 p.m. The home, on 4^th Street in the Westlake neighborhood, is listed on the California Register of Historical Resources. Hernandez’s office has said she will support only the lesser ‘site of’ designation. With ‘site of’ status, the owner could – and plans to – raze the property and redevelop the site.

In mid-May at a prior PLUM Committee meeting, Councilmember Hernandez's office offered an amendment to the HCM proposal calling for a ‘site of’ designation which, according to the Los Angeles Conservancy, “… will not include or protect the actual house in which LGBTQ+ history happened.”

The Conservancy also notes, “Morris Kight (1919-2003) is considered one of the founding fathers of the American LGBTQ civil rights movement. His Los Angeles residence, a modest Craftsman home in the Westlake neighborhood and a hub of LGBTQ social activity in the twentieth century helped form the backdrop to his work as an activist and gay rights pioneer.” It adds, “Kight also spearheaded the creation of the Gay Community Services Center, which today is known as the Los Angeles LGBT Center.”

To contact the PLUM Committee to urge they save the Morris Kight Residence from possible demolition, visit the Los Angeles Conservancy’s Morris Kight Residence Page. People may also visit the website: www.savemorriskights4thstreet.com and can also sign a petition urging city officials to preserve Kight’s home.

Currently, less than one percent of the city’s HCM sites honor the LGBTQ+ community.

About AHF

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the world’s largest HIV/AIDS healthcare organization, provides cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to more than 1.7 million individuals in 45 countries in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region, and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, visit us online at AIDShealth.org, find us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to our Ahfter Hours podcast.

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