Everything about The Stonewall Riots totally explained
The
Stonewall Riots were a series of violent conflicts between
LGBT people and
New York City police officers that began during a
28 June 1969 police raid, and lasted several days. They were centered at the
Stonewall Inn and are widely recognized as the catalyst for the modern-day movement towards
LGBT rights. Also called the
Stonewall Uprising,
Stonewall Rebellion,
Stonewall Revolution or simply
Stonewall, the clash was a watershed for the worldwide
gay rights movement, as
gay,
lesbian and
transgender people had never before acted together in such large numbers to forcibly resist police harassment directed towards their community. Many also credit the events as igniting a movement to celebrate
gay pride with events such as
pride parades and
dyke marches.
History
Contrary to popular belief, activists had been fighting for homosexual rights for years prior to the
Stonewall Riots. In 1950, a gay man named
Harry Hay and a group of gay activists decided that they were tired of unequal treatment because of their sexual orientation. They launched the
Mattachine Society, which unified isolated gays and also encouraged them to fight for their rights. The activism of the Mattachine Society served as an inspiration for the first student gay rights organization. Students at certain colleges began to see the importance of equal rights for
LGBT people. The first student gay rights group was formed in 1967 at
Columbia University. The group began because of a student,
Stephen Donaldson, who identified himself as
bisexual. After the discrimination that he faced for being honest about his sexual orientation, he decided to form a Mattachine-like group called the
Student Homophile League (SHL) that advocated for gay rights. Although he faced challenges in trying to get the University to accept the organization, Donaldson eventually received approval from the administration. While the SHL attracted negative attention from the media, it inspired other gay activists to begin SHL chapters at different universities. In 1968, the second gay rights group to be formed on a college campus was created at
Cornell University in New York by Jerald Moldenhaurer. When he decided to take on the leadership role, he said to fellow activist Stephen Donaldson, “ the mere presence of such an organization…will help to stimulate a more honest, healthy attitude about homosexuality.”
In the same year, in order to challenge the
State Liquor Authority (SLA) regarding its policies over gay bars, Leitsch conducted a "sip in." Leitsch had called members of the press and planned on meeting at a bar with two other gay men—a bar could have its liquor license taken away for knowingly serving a group of three or more homosexuals—to test the SLA policy of closing bars. When the bartender at Julius turned them away, they made a complaint.
Elsewhere in the nation, group resistance that contributed to recognition of
LGBT civil rights was taking place, for instance the 1966
Compton's Cafeteria riot of mostly
transwomen in San Francisco.
The question then remains why the Stonewall was raided if gay bars were legal and on the rise. John D’Emilio, a prominent historian, points out that the city was in the middle of a mayoral campaign and John Lindsay, who had lost his party’s
primary, had reason to call for a cleanup of the city’s bars. There were a number of reasons that made the Stonewall Inn an easy target: it operated without a
liquor license; had ties to organized crime; and, “offering scantily clad go-go boys as entertainment, it brought an ‘unruly’ element to
Sheridan Square”.
The Stonewall Inn was frequented mainly by Black and Hispanic gay men. Many of those present were
transgender and
drag queens.
Deputy Inspector
Seymour Pine, who led the raid on the bar that first night, claims that he was ordered to close the Stonewall Inn because it was the central location for gathering information on gay men who worked on
Wall Street. A recent increase in the number of thefts from brokerage houses on
Wall Street led police to suspect that gay men, forced by
blackmail, were behind the thefts.
The patrons of the Stonewall were used to such raids and the management was generally able to reopen for business either the same night or the following day.
The Stonewall raid and the aftermath
On Saturday morning,
June 28,
1969, police raided the
Stonewall Inn, a bar in
Greenwich Village where gay people frequently gathered to socialize on Christopher Street, just off Sheridan Square. A number of factors differentiated the raid that took place on
June 28 from other raids at the Stonewall Inn. Because raids had occurred at the Stonewall Inn in the past, managers usually knew what to expect when a raid was about to occur. Likewise, raids tended to occur earlier in the evening, which allowed the bar to continue with normal business for the busiest hours of the night. On June 28th, however, an unexpected raid unfolded at the Inn. At approximately 1:20 am, eight police officers entered the bar with a warrant authorizing a search for illegal sales of alcohol. Of the eight policemen, only one was dressed in his uniform. The police questioned the customers and made many of them show identification. Many were escorted out of the bar, and some were even arrested. The escorted crowd became very angry and began to cause chaos outside of the Inn. While the police loaded arrested patrons into the police van, the existing crowd responded with catcalls and then, eventually erupted into violence. They threw bottles at the officers, and even used a parking meter as a battering ram.
Heterosexual folk singer
Dave van Ronk, who was walking through the area, was grabbed by the police, pulled into the bar, and beaten. The crowd’s attacks were unrelenting. Word quickly spread of the riot and many residents, as well as patrons of nearby bars, rushed to the scene. When the police officers went inside the bar, the angry clients blockaded the Inn and then torched it. Eventually, the protesting crowd was so strong that each time the police would disperse the mob, a new group would re-form behind the police’s back, preventing them from actually breaking up the riot. Bottles and stones were thrown by protesters who chanted “Gay Power!” The crowd, estimated at over 2000, fought with over 400 police officers.
The police sent additional forces in the form of the
Tactical Patrol Force, a riot-control squad originally trained to counter
Vietnam War protesters. The tactical patrol force arrived to disperse the crowd. However, they failed to break up the crowd, who sprayed them with rocks and other projectiles.
Eventually the scene quieted, but the crowd returned again the next night. While less violent than the first night, the crowd had the same energy as it had on the previous night. Skirmishes between the rioters and the police ensued until approximately 4:00 a.m.. The third day of rioting fell five days after the raid on the Stonewall Inn. On that Wednesday, 1,000 people congregated at the bar and again caused extensive property damage.
Numerous books on this North American gay civil rights flash point have been written. In 2004, St. Martin's Press published David Carter's
Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution, based on ten years of research and interviews with participants. In the book Carter examines inconsistencies of historical record, debunking a number of myths that have surrounded the events of June 1969, including the oft-repeated urban legend that it was the death of
Judy Garland that sparked the riots.
Legacy
The forces that were simmering before the riots were now no longer beneath the surface. The community created by the homophile organizations of the previous two decades had created the perfect environment for the creation of the Gay Liberation Movement. By the end of July the
Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was formed in New York and by the end of the year the GLF could be seen in cities and universities around the country. Similar organizations were soon created around the world including
Canada,
France,
Britain,
Germany,
Belgium,
The Netherlands,
Australia and
New Zealand.
The following year, in commemoration of the Stonewall Riots, the GLF organized a march from
Greenwich Village to
Central Park. Between 5,000 and 10,000 men and women attended the march. Many
gay pride celebrations choose the month of June to hold their parades and events to celebrate “The Hairpin Drop
Heard Round the World" (D'Emilio 232). Many major American cities including
New York City,
Chicago,
Houston,
San Francisco,
Seattle,
Minneapolis and
Columbus as well as other cities such as
Toronto hold Gay Pride Marches on the last Sunday of June, in honor of Stonewall. Other cities such as
Anchorage,
Baltimore,
Boston,
Des Moines,
Detroit,
Kansas City,
Salt Lake City, Philadelphia,
Atlanta and
Washington, DC hold their pride parade in June but not on the last Sunday of the month. Still others, such as
Dallas, Texas and
Palm Springs, California, hold their celebration in another month entirely.
In 1998, an LGBT-rights group in the
United States formed the
Stonewall Democrats (affiliated with the
Democratic Party). The group was founded by
Barney Frank, a gay Democratic member of the
U.S. House of Representatives representing Massachusetts's fourth congressional district.
The Stonewall Inn closed in late 1969. Over the next twenty years, the space was occupied by various other establishments, including a bagel sandwich shop, a Chinese restaurant, and a shoe store. Many visitors and new residents in the neighborhood were unaware of the building's history or its connection to the Stonewall riots. In the early 1990s, after its first renovation, a new gay bar, named simply "Stonewall" opened in the west half of the original Stonewall Inn. A second renovation in the late 1990s brought in new crowds to its new multi-floor layout. The club remained popular until management lost its lease in 2006. New management reopened the latest version of The Stonewall in February 2007.
In popular culture
- The prominent British gay rights group Stonewall is named after the riots. Numerous gay bars around the world take their name from the revolutionary bar - two of the most famous are The Stonewall and Moose Lounge in Allentown, Pennsylvania and Stonewall Hotel in Sydney, Australia.
The general atmosphere of the days immediately before the riots are dramatized in a 1995 film called Stonewall. The film has now been turned into a stage play by the Film's Screenwriter Rikki Beadle-Blair, and had its World Premiere in London in 2007 followed by a run at the 2007 Edinburgh Festival.
The late Brazilian singer Renato Russo recorded a 1993 English-language album entitled The StoneWall Celebration Concert and dedicated it to gay people around the world.
The webcomics Mac Hall/Three Panel Soul featured a character based on co-author Matt Boyd's avatar in the MMORPG City of Villains named "The Homosexual Agenda" (intended as a satire on the so-called homosexual political agenda which modern conservative pundits have accused gays and lesbians of), but game administrators deemed the title offensive and Matt has since changed the character's name to Stonewall Riots.
The Beautiful Room Is Empty, a novel by Edmund White, ends with the Stonewall Riots.Further Information
Get more info on 'Stonewall Riots'.
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