Within minutes, a full-blown riot involving hundreds of people began. Gay people were never supposed to be threats to police officers. Updated: May 31, 2022 | Original: May 31, 2017. Corrections? Identify the topic you chose to explore: Tulsa Massacre The concept behind the initial Pride march was formally proposed by lesbian activist Ellen Broidy (NYU Student Homophile League), who had written the proposaltogether with Craig Rodwell (Homophile Youth Movement). Stonewall Stonewall Riots John O'Brien:Heterosexuals, legally, had lots of sexual outlets. Chapter 2: Activist Agendas and Visions before Stonewall, Chapter 3: Political Protests before Stonewall, Chapter 6: Activist Agendas after Stonewall, Chapter 7: Political Protests after Stonewall, About the Author:Short CV/Long CV/Biography, Documenting the Stonewall Riots: A Bibliography of Primary Sources, View the files for Part I, II, III and Resources, San Francisco State Like many gay establishments at the time, the Stonewall Inn was owned by the mafia, and as long as they continued to make a profit, they cared very little what happened to their clientele. Published July 1969. And they wore dark police uniforms and riot helmets and they had billy clubs and they had big plastic shields, like Roman army, and they actually formed a phalanx, and just marched down Christopher Street and kind of pushed us in front of them. Because its all right in the Village, but the minute we cross 14th street, if there's only ten of us, God knows what's going to happen to us.". Paper, $35.00.) I went in there and they took bats and just busted that place up. We were scared. The term like "authority figures" wasn't used back then, there was just "Lily Law," "Patty Pig," "Betty Badge." And the Village has a lot of people with children and they were offended. These homosexuals glorify unnatural sex acts. The very idea of being out, it was ludicrous. Hunted, hunted, sometimes we were hunted. Calling 'em names, telling 'em how good-looking they were, grabbing their butts. Fed up with constant police harassment and social discrimination, angry patrons and neighborhood residents hung around outside of the bar rather than disperse, becoming increasingly agitated as the events unfolded and people were aggressively manhandled. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/stonewall Though the Stonewall uprising didnt start the gay rights movement, it was a galvanizing force for LGBT political activism, leading to numerous gay rights organizations, including the Gay Liberation Front, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD (formerly Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), andPFLAG (formerly Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). It gives back a little of the terror they gave in my life. The cops would hide behind the walls of the urinals. Philly took me to NYC for the 1st time and we went to a bar called The Sewer. I say, I cannot tell this without tearing up. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. However, once the bar reopened the next day, the cops planned a surprise raid that upcoming weekend. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Our radio was cut off every time we got on the police radio. They can be anywhere. Pennebaker courtesy of Pennebaker Hegedus Films Jerry Hoose:I was chased down the street with billy clubs. And this went on for hours. Raymond Castro:Incendiary devices were being thrown in I don't think they were Molotov cocktails, but it was just fire being thrown in when the doors got open. The police weren't letting us dance. It was one of the things you did in New York, it was like the Barnum and Bailey aspect of it. So you couldn't have a license to practice law, you couldn't be a licensed doctor. Historians have noted that the shift in activism, if Stonewall truly represented one at all, was a shift primarily for white cisgender people, as people of color and gender non-conforming people never truly had the benefit of concealing their marginalized identities. For LGBT periodicals, seeLGBT Life with Full Text(EBSCO),Archives of Sexuality and Gender(Gale), and theOutHistorywebsite. Homosexuals do not want that, you might find some fringe character someplace who says that that's what he wants. The lasting impact of the Stonewall Riots. Documents and Transcripts Listed by Time of Occurrence, from Earliest to Latest Document 1. Stonewall Riots Alexis Charizopolis The mayor of New York City, the police commissioner, were under pressure to clean up the streets of any kind of quote unquote "weirdness." In fact, the NYPD had stormed Stonewall Inn just a few days before the riot-inducing raid. The 1960s and preceding decades were not welcoming times for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans. It sparked protests, political organization for gays, and gay pride parades. Often, those who had survived police raids were hospitalized or had to seek medical care for their injuries. The Stonewall Riots: A Documentary History Audience Member (Archival):I was wondering if you think that there are any quote "happy homosexuals" for whom homosexuality would be, in a way, their best adjustment in life? Danny Garvin:It was the perfect time to be in the Village. Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen Gay History Papers and Photographs, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations David Carter One was the 1845 statute that made it a crime in the state to masquerade. on, causing damage to the roof, hood and rear engine cover. woman, whose identity was not known, was arrested. Slate:Boys Beware(1961) Public Service Announcement. Doric Wilson:And I looked back and there were about 2,000 people behind us, and that's when I knew it had happened. The first documented U.S. gay rights organization, The Society for Human Rights (SHR), was founded in 1924 by Henry Gerber, a German immigrant. %PDF-1.3 Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:It was getting worse and worse. I first engaged in such acts when I was 14 years old. The fire department and a riot squad were eventually able to douse the flames, rescue those inside Stonewall, and disperse the crowd. Very sleazy and colorful place I recall seeing boys walking around in silver jockstraps, etc. With riveting narrative skill, he recreates those revolutionary, sweltering nights in vivid detail through the lives of six people who were drawn into the struggle for LGBTQ rights. They were getting more ferocious. It was a nightly home for many runaways and homeless gay youths, who panhandled or shoplifted to afford the entry fee. (Sourcing) Who was Dick Leitsch? The "Stonewall Era" corresponds with the opening of the Stonewallin January 1966 until it closed in December 1969. I mean it didn't stop after that. This 19-year-old serviceman left his girlfriend on the beach to go to a men's room in a park nearby where he knew that he could find a homosexual contact. The Stonewall riots, as they came to be known, marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world. You knew you could ruin them for life. Without police interference, the crime family could cut costs how they saw fit: The club lacked a fire exit, running water behind the bar to wash glasses, clean toilets that didnt routinely overflow and palatable drinks that werent watered down beyond recognition. All the rules were off in the '60s. And it was those loudest people, the most vulnerable, the most likely to be arrested, were the ones that were doing the real fighting. This time the people milling outside the bar did not retreat or scatter as they almost always had in the past. There was the Hippie movement, there was the Summer of Love, Martin Luther King, and all of these affected me terribly. And a whole bunch of people who were in the paddy wagon ran out. John O'Brien:The election was in November of 1969 and this was the summer of 1969, this was June. It provides references for primary documents related to the materials reprinted inThe Stonewall Riots; most of the sources come from newspapers, magazines, and newsletters. You know, Howard's concern was and my concern was that if all hell broke loose, they'd just start busting heads. We didn't necessarily know where we were going yet, you know, what organizations we were going to be or how things would go, but we became something I, as a person, could all of a sudden grab onto, that I couldn't grab onto when I'd go to a subway T-room as a kid, or a 42nd street movie theater, you know, or being picked up by some dirty old man. Fred Sargeant:The effect of the Stonewall riot was to change the direction of the gay movement. 'Cause I really realized that I was being trained as a straight person, so I could really fool these people. Daily News Geordie, Liam and Theo Gude The Stonewall Riots (June 28, 1969) In 1969, a riot at the Stonewall Inn (later known as the Stonewall Riots) became a turning point in the fight for LGBTQ civil rights. and I didn't see anything but a forest of hands. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). A CBS news public opinion survey indicates that sentiment is against permitting homosexual relationships between consenting adults without legal punishment. Our lessons and assessments are available for free download once you've created an account. How do you think that would affect him mentally, for the rest of their lives if they saw an act like that being? I hope it was. We knew that this was a moment that we didn't want to let slip past, because it was something that we could use to bring more of the groups together. (Close reading) According to this document, which groups of people had strong attachments to the Stonewall Inn? Absolutely, and many people who were not lucky, felt the cops. Martin Boyce:Oh, Miss New Orleans, she wouldn't be stopped. On June 28, 1969, New York City police raided a Greenwich Village gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, setting off a three-day riot that launched the modern American gay rights movement. Stonewall Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:All of straight America, in terms of the middle class, was recoiling in horror from what was happening all around them at that time, in that summer and the summer before. The Underground Lounge In the Life The parades official chant was: Say it loud, gay is proud.. Thanks to activists efforts, these regulations were overturned in 1966, and LGBT patrons could then be served alcohol. Primary Sources for Pride: Celebrating Stonewall & Christopher Narrator (Archival):This involves showing the gay man pictures of nude males and shocking him with a strong electric current. Every arrest and prosecution is a step in the education of the public to the solution of the problem. You were alone. If anybody should find out I was gay and would tell my mother, who was in a wheelchair, it would have broken my heart and she would have thought she did something wrong. Stonewall Riots Getting then in the car, rocking them back and forth. The Catholic Church, be damned to hell. People started throwing pennies. Fred Sargeant:Three articles of clothing had to be of your gender or you would be in violation of that law. It's not my cup of tea. . Mr. Carter also said the documents corroborated information that had been provided to him by Seymour Pine, the police inspector who led the raid on the Stonewall Inn (and later expressed regret about the nature and Diana Davies Photographs, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations Stonewall And you felt bad that you were part of this, when you knew they broke the law, but what kind of law was that? The owner of a 1968 Volkswagen showed up at the Sixth Precinct station house with a complaint. Finally, Mayor Lindsay listened to us and he announced that there would be no more police entrapment in New York City. We didn't want to come on, you know, wearing fuzzy sweaters and lipstick, you know, and being freaks. And Dick Leitsch, who was the head of the Mattachine Society said, "Who's in favor?" Stonewall Riot WebThe United States has had its share of violent or destructive protests, starting during colonial times and continuing through the 1900s (e.g., Boston Tea Party in 1773; New York City draft riots in 1863, Haymarket riot in Chicago in 1886, Chicago Race Riot in 1919, Tulsa Race Massacre 1921, Zoot Suite riot in 1943, riots in Newark and Detroit in Dr. Socarides (Archival):Homosexuality is in fact a mental illness which has reached epidemiological proportions. A set of police records gathered by OutHistory.org, a Web site run by the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the City Danny Garvin:We were talking about the revolution happening and we were walking up 7th Avenue and I was thinking it was either Black Panthers or the Young Lords were going to start it and we turned the corner from 7th Avenue onto Christopher Street and we saw the paddy wagon pull up there. When police raided Stonewall Inn on the morning of June 28, it came as a surprisethe bar wasnt tipped off this time. And we were singing: "We are the Village girls, we wear our hair in curls, we wear our dungarees, above our nellie knees." This is one thing that if you don't get caught by us, you'll be caught by yourself. Drag queens and They could be judges, lawyers. It was as if they were identifying a thing. John O'Brien:Whenever you see the cops, you would run away from them. How do you Ensure Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:So you're outside, and you see like two people walking toward these trucks and you think, "Oh I think I'll go in there," you go in there, there's like a lot of people in there and it's all dark. A police officer, Charles Holmes, was treated at St. Vincents Hospital after being bitten on the right wrist by a rioter. a gay-history Web site run by the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the City University of New York Graduate Center. They were to us. Everyone from the street kids who were white and black kids from the South. Other images in this film are either recreations or drawn from events of the time. The Stonewall had reopened. "The rebellion (it was never a 'riot') lasted five inconsecutive nights (they were not 'riots')" -STONEWALL Veterans' Association. We were going to propose something that all groups could participate in and what we ended up producing was what's now known as the gay pride march. Jimmy knew he shouldn't be interested but, well, he was curious. That night, the police ran from us, the lowliest of the low. ITN Source TV Host (Archival):That's a very lovely dress too that you're wearing Simone. I said, "I can go in with you?" Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We didn't have the manpower, and the manpower for the other side was coming like it was a real war. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:A rather tough lesbian was busted in the bar and when she came out of the bar she was fighting the cops and trying to get away. It was not a place that, in my life, me and my friends paid much attention to. Police violence and bar raids did not end after Stonewall. Police raids and harassment were a common occurrence across the U.S. during this time, and amid the growing political activism of the 1960s,LGBTQ+ people began to mobilize and fight back. WebArrest Reports From the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. In 2019, shortly before the 50th anniversary of the riots, New York Citys police commissioner, James P. ONeill, issued an apology on behalf of the police department saying, The actions taken by the N.Y.P.D. Slate:In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. Stonewall Riots It is important to note that in addition to arresting LGBTQ+ people, first-hand accounts reveal the violence that police enacted on those they had arrested. But the protests, sometimes involving thousands of people, continued in the area for five more days, flaring up at one point after the Village Voice published its account of the riots. A lot of them had been thrown out of their families. ( New York : New York University Press , 2019 . Older groups such as the Mattachine Society, which was founded in southern California as a discussion group for gay men and had flourished in the 1950s, soon made way for more radical groups such as the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA). We take great pride in preserving the history of this groundbreaking event in Americas battle for LGBTQ+ equality. Virginia Apuzzo:It was free but not quite free enough for us.
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