Tributes are pouring in to honor Jewel Thais-Williams, a trailblazer and icon in the LGBTQ+ community who died this week at the age of 86.
Thais-Williams is well known for opening Jewel’s Catch One in the 70s. The now-legendary disco club was the first Black-owned LGBTQ+ nightclub.
Gerald Garth runs LA Pride and he spoke of her impact, starting with the club, which was a safe space for a community that needed it.
“So much of what she brought to the movement, to the community, was a sense of belonging. So much of what Ms. Jewel did was help people to know that they were loved, help people to know that they belong and brought joy and beauty to the movement when often times no other times afforded it for us,” Garth said. “When you move through the world, at the intersection of identities, where people are very vocal of how they feel about you, having spaces to be celebrated and to be joyful are essential. And Jewel created that.”
Jasmyne Cannick, who runs South LA Pride, echoed those sentiments.
“I feel like she knew what having that establishment, what having that space meant to the community,” Cannick said. “And now in 2025, there are a whole new generation who are making their own stories at the Catch One.”
But Cannick knows Thais-Williams’ impact goes far beyond the club. The trailblazer was very active in the community and at one point opened a health clinic next door.
“When I think about Jewel, I think of a dynamic woman who really cared about the entire community,” Cannick said. “She was a Black lesbian woman, like myself, right? But she cared about the trans community, but she cared about how HIV and AIDS were affecting Black gay men.”
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Cannick said the entire LGBTQ+ community can thank Thais-Williams for the progress that’s been made.
“In 2025, there are so many generations of younger people who can live their best gay life, their best queer life, their best trans life because of women like Jewel Thais-Williams,” Cannick said. “Because of the leaders who paved the way and opened the doors and kept the doors open for other folks to come through.”
While alive, her accomplishments were celebrated. In 2019, she became the first Black woman with a dedicated square in Los Angeles. Jewel Thais-Williams Square is right outside Catch One.
And on Wednesday after she passed, County Supervisor Holly Mitchell honored Thais-Williams at the Board of Supervisors meeting.
“I just really appreciate having the opportunity to cross paths with her in this lifetime and actually having the opportunity to really know her,” Cannick said.
Now, friends want to carry on her important work.
“Now she is among our ancestors and we have a responsibility to ensure that her legacy lives on,” Garth said. “A reminder to the community that we all have a role, and a phrase I say it consistently, ‘None of us have to do everything, if all of us do something.’ And in memory of Ms. Jewel, I invite us all to do our something.”