The Pink Panthers

{{Short description|New York City LGBTQ rights group}}

{{about|the LGBTQ rights organizations|the organized crime network|Pink Panthers|the series of comedy films|The Pink Panther||The Pink Panther (disambiguation)}}

The Pink Panthers Patrol (often shortened to Pink Panthers) were a civilian patrol group based in New York City, founded by members of Queer Nation in the summer of 1990 in order to combat anti-LGBT violence in Manhattan's West Village.{{cite news|last1=Hays|first1=Constance|title=Gay Patrol And MGM In a Battle Over Name|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/05/27/nyregion/gay-patrol-and-mgm-in-a-battle-over-name.html|website=The New York Times|date=27 May 1991 |accessdate=1 January 2015}}{{cite web |last1=Moss |first1=Jeremiah |title=Pink Panthers |url=http://vanishingnewyork.blogspot.com/2010/10/pink-panthers.html |website=Jeremiah's Vanishing New York |date=25 October 2010}} Gay bashings in New York City were happening on the streets with regularity at the time.{{cite news |last1=Span |first1=Paula |title=PATROL OF THE PINK PANTHERS |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/09/19/patrol-of-the-pink-panthers/54b667cd-6265-44af-99a3-f0aaa4ecae36/ |work=Washington Post |date=19 September 1990 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240314185639/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1990/09/19/patrol-of-the-pink-panthers/54b667cd-6265-44af-99a3-f0aaa4ecae36/ |archive-date=14 March 2024 |language=en}} The organization's logo was the pink triangle with a paw print in it.

Gerri Wells founded the organization. It recruited about 150 members shortly after its establishment. The members would organize into groups to do foot patrols in gay areas. These patrols would carry whistles to scare off assailants, and some groups carried citizens band radios to call for help. If necessary they would seek police support. In case of an attack, they would intervene to protect the victim. Wells explained that there was a public perception that people could physically assault gay people without consequence, and that the gay community would no longer tolerate this behavior.{{cite news |title=Pink Panthers Protect Pansies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1PQDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT43&dq=pink+panthers&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjln_Dj5a2LAxWPElkFHeS2BfwQ6AF6BAgHEAM#v=onepage&q&f=false |work=Weekly World News |date=October 9, 1990 |page=44}}

They received notoriety when they were successfully sued in 1991 by MGM Pictures, the owner of the rights to the Pink Panther cartoon.{{cite news|title=Gay Group Can't Call Itself Pink Panthers|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/05/nyregion/gay-group-can-t-call-itself-pink-panthers.html|website=The New York Times|date=5 October 1991 |accessdate=1 January 2015}} The neighborhood watch group would patrol areas that had a large number of gang assaults on LGBTQ people. In NYC, where the Pink Panthers was founded these patrols would generally be in the East and West Village. There was a number of patrols in the rambles (Central Park).{{Citation needed|date=September 2010}}