Within a week of the raid, a member of the Dallas Bar Association's Goals for Dallas Committee met with Dallas Police officials and stated their opposition to the continuing raids on gay bars in the city, and while the police stated that their actions did not constitute harassment of the gay community, a story published two weeks later in the Dallas Times Herald included interviews with vice squad members that seemingly refuted these statements. He also announced that he would be filing a civil lawsuit against the city of Dallas, and he began seeking out witnesses who had been at the club the night of the raid. The morning after the raid, the general manager of the Village Station posted bail for arrested individuals who could not afford it, which cost them $2,693. The lewdness charges came from the fact that the patrons were performing a bunny hop dance. Several patrons were arrested on charges of public lewdness, while a bartender was also arrested. Once inside, the officers met with undercover police officers who were already in the building and began arresting individuals. on October 25, 1979, several members of the Dallas Police Department entered the building, ordering the doorman not to interfere. However, by 1979, Burgess had left the police department, and, regarding the relationship between the club and police, an article in D Magazine said that the club "has maintained generally good relations with the police, who make spot checks regularly the beat cops will occasionally stop in, chat with the bartenders, and take in the sights". Burgess, head of the Dallas Police Department's vice squad, who often led police raids on the club. For several years, the bar was targeted by the D. However, the club had also faced a number of problems, including legal issues, harassment from police, and an arson attack that had completely destroyed the club in 1976, leading it to reopen at a new location at the intersection of Cedar Springs and Throckmorton in mid-1979. By the late 1970s, the club (renamed Village Station in 1979) was one of the most popular venues in the city, with D Magazine calling it "the hottest bar in town".
During this time, many gay bars were founded in the area, with one of these being the Old Plantation, a disco bar located on Cedar Springs Road that had been established in 1976. In the 1970s, the Texas city of Dallas saw a growth in its LGBT community, primarily in the neighborhood of Oak Lawn, and with this growth came a number of entertainment venues that catered to them. The events coincided with an increased push among Dallas's LGBT community for greater rights and against discriminationįurther information: LGBT culture in Dallas–Fort Worth While the people who were arrested in similar raids tended to plead guilty to avoid publicity, the Village Station raid was notable in that several of the arrested individuals opted to fight their charges in court, with several either being found not guilty or having their cases dismissed. on October 25, led to the arrest of about ten patrons on charges of public lewdness. The 1979 raid, which occurred just before 1 a.m. Like many of the clubs in the area, it had been the target of repeated police raids and other forms of discrimination, including an arson attack in 1976 that had destroyed its then-location. The Village Station was one such bar, having relocated to its present location in mid-1979. The raid and the subsequent court cases involving those arrested are considered an important moment in the LGBT history of Dallas, with the impact it had on the city compared to that of the Stonewall riots of 1969.īy the 1970s, Dallas's Oak Lawn neighborhood had become the city's gay village and was home to several nightclubs that catered to the LGBT community. The raid occurred on October 25, 1979, and saw several bar patrons arrested for public lewdness while performing a bunny hop dance. The Village Station police raid was a police raid that targeted the Village Station, a gay bar in Dallas, Texas, United States.