The Tumblebugs

From Rebels, Rubyfruit and Rhinestones, by James T. Sears

In 1967 Rita, celebrating her fourth year with Ricci, opened the Roaring Sixties. "A lot of club owners back then said women couldn’t come in if they didn’t turn their pants around" or wear dresses, remembers Rita. Two months after her club’s opening, Houston’s vice squad came to visit.... Separating out the more butch-looking patrons, an Irish sergeant barked out commands. "You get over here. You get over there." Twenty-five lesbians were hauled to jail for wearing clothing of the opposite sex. "The enforcement of the ordinance, of course, was directed only at those people perceived to be gay," underscores Rita. Used for police harassment and extortion, it was also a convenient excuse for some bar owners to restrict lesbians. "Everyone got mad," remembers Rita. "But what could you do?" Rita paid all of the $25 fines and hired an all-girl band, led by "little butch" Sandra to "pump our business back up."

Two nights before New Year’s Eve, a sergeant and his men of the vice squad rushed into the Sixties and found women "dressed in men’s pants, men’s shirts, and men’s shoes." Rita reminisces: "They lined people up and started questioning. One woman who was asked her occupation said: ‘I’m a weenie peeler.’ That just broke everyone up. More cops came in and they made her repeat it. It turned out that she worked in a meat factory and when the weenies came through she would peel one to make sure it was stuffed right. So they put all of the butches in the paddy wagon

As in Stonewall, something snapped. "I don’t think the other bar owners could see what was happening," swears Rita. However, she "saw the need for someone to speak out on behalf of this community." It was an unjust law that "deprived me of my right to do business."

Wanstrom sought out the help of Percy Foreman, whose legal fee matched his status as the preeminent lawyer of the Southwest. Foreman was willing to represent Rita when another raid befell her club. As Rita headed down to the Roaring Sixties that evening to rally folks, "I happened to see a little tumblebug. Now, a tumblebug will just lay there until somebody turns it over and helps it back on its feet."  And so, as the summer of 1967 receded into history, the Tumblebugs were born.

Selling sweatshirts, hosting benefits, and sponsoring drag shows, the dozen or so women who made up the Tumblebugs raised Foreman’s $2,500 fee.... In challenging the city ordinance, Rita hoped to get "people to think for themselves about what was happening to us and what we needed to do to take the heat off."  

On the day of the trial, Rita and her "girls"–wearing dresses and makeup–appeared before Judge Raymond Judice. Amidst a bevy of "not guilty" pleas, a shocked magistrate stared down at the Tumblebugs as their celebrated attorney asserted: "This will not be a test of the law.... It will be a test of the vice squad’s concept of the law."

The cases against the 11 were dismissed due to the failure of the vice officers to appear. The sergeant, however, announced that he "definitely intended" to refile charges and to continue to enforce the ordinance. Inexplicably, however, he was transferred to the Narcotics Division. Rita affirms, "They never bothered us again!"