Fifty years ago, a gay bar New York Cy lled The Stonewall Inn was raid by police, and what followed were days of rebelln where protters and police clashed. Today, that event is seen as the start of the gay civil rights movement, but gay activists and anizatns were standg up to harassment and discrimatn years before. On this episo, the fight for gay rights before Stonewall.
Contents:
- 'THEY BEAT YOU WH THEIR BATON': A VETERAN OF THE STONEWALL RTS AND THE FIRST PRI MARCH SHAR WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE FOR GAY AMERINS BEFORE THE UPRISG
- HOW THE STONEWALL RTS CHANGED THE COURSE OF THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
- THE STONEWALL RTS DIDN’T START THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
'THEY BEAT YOU WH THEIR BATON': A VETERAN OF THE STONEWALL RTS AND THE FIRST PRI MARCH SHAR WHAT LIFE WAS LIKE FOR GAY AMERINS BEFORE THE UPRISG
The 1969 Stonewall Rts marked a historic turng pot for gay rights, but several smaller uprisgs preced Stonewall as LGBTQ muni phed back agast harassment and equaly. * gay riots before stonewall *
1965: Philalphia – Dewey’s Rtrant S-InDewey's rtrant Philalphia, Pennsylvania as appeared May April 25, 1965, the 17th Street lotn of Dewey’s rtrant Philalphia nied service to approximately 150 people who appeared to be gay or genr non-nformg.
McDarrah/Getty ImagAfter pourg their drks, a bartenr Juli's Bar ref to serve John Timms, Dick Lesch, Craig Rodwell, and Randy Wicker, members of the Mattache Society who were prottg New York liquor laws that prevented servg gay ctomers, 1966. McDarrah/Getty Imag)In sprg 1966, members of the early gay rights anizatn Mattache Society staged a “sip-”—a twist on “s-” prott— which they vised taverns, clared themselv gay, and waed to be turned away so they uld sue. 1966–1967: Los Angel – Black Cat Tavern Protts, Los AngelOpened November 1966, Black Cat Tavern was a haven for Silver Lake’s queer muny, who were subjected to harassment om police enforcg anti-homosexualy laws.
In a letter to Hirschfeld, she said: "It is a tragedy, I feel, that people of a different sexual type are ught a world which shows so ltle unrstandg for homosexuals and is so crassly different to the var gradatns and variatns of genr and their great signifince life. Amelia Earhart and openly gay reporter Lorena Hickok are jt two of the women wh whom former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt was mored to have had closeted affairs, the latter wh whom she exchanged more than 3, 300 letters over a 30-year perd; Roosevelt and Hickok allegedly began an affair om 1932 to 1938.
HOW THE STONEWALL RTS CHANGED THE COURSE OF THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
NPR's Ari Shapiro speaks wh Eric Marc of Makg Gay History about his llectn of oral histori on the Stonewall rts, which happened 50 years ago this week. * gay riots before stonewall *
There has been extensive speculatn about the former first lady's sexualy over the years, however, some have argued 's irrelevant when discsg her ntributn to the gay rights movement, particularly given her posn of power. "Durg the Twentieth Century, no one dividual did more to brg homosexualy to the public fom than Aled Charl Ksey, " wrote Jam Alan Branch, profsor of Christian ethics at Midwtern Baptist Theologil Semary.
What began as a safe space for women to meet whout the risk of police raids at gay bars quickly morphed to a full-blown polil anizatn that created other polil offshoots cludg The Ladr—the first natnally distributed lbian publitn—which enuraged women to "take off their masks.
THE STONEWALL RTS DIDN’T START THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
The Stonewall Rts, also lled the Stonewall Uprisg, took place on June 28, 1969, New York Cy, after police raid the Stonewall Inn, a lol gay club. The raid sparked a rt among bar patrons and neighborhood rints as police hled employe and patrons out of the bar, leadg to six days of protts and vlent clash. The Stonewall Rts served as a talyst for the gay rights movement. * gay riots before stonewall *
The lg occurred 1958 when the high urt overturned a feral district urt's cisn to label gay magaze ONE: The Homosexual Magaze as "obscene" and ban om beg distributed through the Uned Stat Postal Service. The monstratns occurred after the nfintialy of a gay man's draft rerd was broached, promptg an activist named Randy Wicker to anize the prott to speak out agast the ary's anti-gay polici. After pla-clothed police officers raid the Black Cat Tavern Los Angel on New Year's Day 1967, beatg up staff and patrons alike, a group of gay rights prottors began monstratg out ont.
But there were pickets, protts—even rts— the years before June 28, 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall rts, when a raid on a New York Cy gay bar led to rto prott by people fed up wh beg harassed, discrimated agast and jailed simply for who they were or who they the 1960s, New York Cy stepped up efforts to close gay bars and entrap homosexual men.
* gay riots before stonewall *
Army Buildg at 39 Whehall Street Downtown New York, which had been an Armed Forc Examatn and Entrance Statn sce group, led by Randy Wicker and members of the Sexual Freedom League, monstrated agast the ary's discrimatory polici and the outg of homosexual men rejected for would be 47 years before the U. Other ECHO monstratns that sprg took place ont of the Pentagon and the State May 21, Armed Forc Day, 35 people walked a send picket le at the Whe Hoe, prottg the excln of homosexuals om the ary, the dishonorable discharg given to those who were disvered and the "ntug refal by the Departments of Defense, Army, Navy, and Air Force to meet wh spokmen for the homosexual muny to engage nstctive discsn of the polici and procr at issue.
Established 1964 to foster a dialogue between clergy and gays, the Council on Relign and the Homosexual held a lavish drag ball at San Francis's California Hall on New Year's Day 1965.
Stonewall rts, seri of vlent nontatns that began the early hours of June 28, 1969, between police and gay rights activists outsi the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar the Greenwich Village sectn of New York Cy. As the rts progrsed, an ternatnal gay rights movement was born. * gay riots before stonewall *
But after an enunter wh rowdy genr-nonnformg teens, employe began refg service to any ctomers they believed to be gay or who otherwise challenged genr April 25, 1965, 150 people were refed service at the eatery. Four years before Stonewall, Frank Kameny, Barbara Gtgs and 38 other activists picketed outsi Philalphia's Inpennce Hall to mand equaly, what was the largt gay rights monstratn of s rried signs readg "No society n be great whout all of s cizens" and "15 ln homosexual Amerins ask for equaly, opportuny, digny.
Before Stonewall: Directed by Greta Schiller, Robert Rosenberg. Wh Ra Mae Brown, Bce Nugent, Henry Otis, Donna Smh. The history of the Gay and Lbian muny before the Stonewall rts began the major gay rights movement." data-id="ma * gay riots before stonewall *
To monstrate agast this discrimatory policy, members of the Mattache Society took a page om the civil rights movement: They walked to Juli' New York's Wt Village, announced they were homosexuals and asked to be bar had been raid a few days earlier, and a uniformed p was statned outsi the door. They were met by squadrons of armed officers, but ntued their peaceful Black Cat raid and subsequent monstratns spired Richard Mch and Bill R to turn a lol gay rights newsletter to The Los Angel Advote, which soon beme The Advote, the natn's first natnal LGBT 2008, The Black Cat was signated as the first Los Angel Historic-Cultural Monument landmarked for s signifint role LGBT history.
" He then led ctomers prott chants and told them he'd ver their legal sts if they got men were taed for "lewd nduct" but, unlike other clash between gay bargoers and police, the Patch remaed open that night.
"For the first time memory, a gay bar not only survived the aftermath of a police raid after so many failed before, but thrived, thanks to the bar manager's takg on the police on their home turf, " Box Car Bullet wrote 2016.