Protts, boytt lls as anger grows over Rsia anti-gay laws | CNN

Contents:

• 50 YEARS AFTER THE STONEWALL RTS, IS NYC’S GAY-BAR CULTURE DYG?
• STONEWALL AND THE UNFISHED GAY REVOLUTN
• 9 MOVI ABOUT GAY ACTIVISM TO HONOR STONEWALL (THAT AREN’T ‘STONEWALL’)
• PROTTS, BOYTT LLS AS ANGER GROWS OVER RSIA ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA LAWS

50 YEARS AFTER THE STONEWALL RTS, IS NYC’S GAY-BAR CULTURE DYG?

The Stonewall Rts, also lled the Stonewall Uprisg, began the early hours of June 28, 1969 when New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn, a gay club loted Greenwich Village New York Cy.

For stance, solicatn of same-sex relatns was illegal New York such reasons, LGBT dividuals flocked to gay bars and clubs, plac of refuge where they uld exprs themselv openly and socialize whout worry. However, the New York State Liquor Authory penalized and shut down tablishments that served alhol to known or spected LGBT dividuals, argug that the mere gatherg of homosexuals was “disorrly.

STONEWALL AND THE UNFISHED GAY REVOLUTN

But engagg gay behavr public (holdg hands, kissg or dancg wh someone of the same sex) was still illegal, so police harassment of gay bars ntued and many bars still operated whout liquor licens— part bee they were owned by the Rights Before StonewallThe first documented U. In 1966, three years before Stonewall, members of The Mattache Society, an anizatn dited to gay rights, staged a “sip-” where they openly clared their sexualy at taverns, darg staff to turn them away and sug tablishments who did. When The Commissn on Human Rights led that gay dividuals had the right to be served bars, police raids were temporarily Stonewall Inn The crime syndite saw prof terg to shunned gay clientele, and by the mid-1960s, the Genove crime fay ntrolled most Greenwich Village gay bars.

And was one of the few—if not the only—gay bar left that allowed were still a fact of life, but ually rpt ps would tip off Mafia-n bars before they occurred, allowg owners to stash the alhol (sold whout a liquor license) and hi other illegal activi. Stonewall's LegacyThough the Stonewall uprisg didn’t start the gay rights movement, was a galvanizg force for LGBT polil activism, leadg to numero gay rights anizatns, cludg the Gay Liberatn Front, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD (formerly Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn), and PFLAG (formerly Parents, Fai and Friends of Lbians and Gays) the one-year anniversary of the rts on June 28, 1970, thoands of people marched the streets of Manhattan om the Stonewall Inn to Central Park what was then lled “Christopher Street Liberatn Day, ” Ameri’s first gay pri para.

”In 2016, then-Print Barack Obama signated the se of the rts—Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park, and the surroundg streets and siwalks—a natnal monument regnn of the area’s ntributn to gay Gallery The Stonewall Inn is a bar loted New York Cy’s Greenwich Village that served as a haven the 1960s for the cy’s gay, lbian and transgenr muny. Most gay bars and clubs New York at the time were operated by the Mafia, who paid rptible police officers to look the other way and blackmailed wealthy gay patrons by threateng to “out” them. After the Stonewall Rts, a msage was pated on the outsi of the board-up bar readg, "We homosexuals plead wh out people to please help mata peaceful and quiet nduct on the streets of the village.

9 MOVI ABOUT GAY ACTIVISM TO HONOR STONEWALL (THAT AREN’T ‘STONEWALL’)

”Over the next several nights, gay activists ntued to gather near the Stonewall, takg advantage of the moment to spread rmatn and build the muny that would fuel the growth of the gay rights movement. In 1966, when bars New York didn’t allow for LGBTQ people to get served bars, a group of gay men om the Mattache Society challenged thory by anizg a “sip-” at Juli at the Wt Village Tavern. When Harvey Milk, California’s first openly gay elected official, was assassated 1979, thoands of prottors rted San Francis’s Castro District due to the lenient sentencg of Dan Whe for Milk’s murr.

Inclive venu like Hoe of Y Brooklyn and Tim Square now offer the kd of clubby hookup culture and acceptg atmosphere that ed to be exclive to gay bars, while gay bars are often overn wh bachelorette parti for straight cisgenr women. Wh more than 100 police officers surroundg the thedral to prevent possible nontatn, groups of marchers chanted slogans prott of Archbishop John O'Connor's refal to sign a homosexual anti-discrimatn pledge required for cy social service ntracts.

(Michael Schwartz for New York Daily News)Gay Pri March, 2009 Jerry Hoose, who was at the Stonewall Inn durg the night of the raid 1969, stands ont of the famo buildg 40 years later 2009. (Mariela Lombard for New York Daily News)Gay Marriage Bill passed New York, 2011 People at the Stonewall Inn the Wt Village react after New York's Senate approved a gay marriage bill 2011, a pivotal moment the natnal gay rights movement. The popular tablishment was mafia-n: the mafia would ocsnally blackmail gay patrons who equented the bar exchange for hh money (bee beg outed uld get you fired, jt like still n many U.

PROTTS, BOYTT LLS AS ANGER GROWS OVER RSIA ANTI-GAY PROPAGANDA LAWS

But the Stonewall article tak a rather remarkable shift tone s send half when talkg to gay patrons of the bar who acce the ps of beg paid off — the police alleged swiped money om the sh register before stroyg — and ll the New York Daily News “anti-fag and pro-p. Acrdg to reports, the Stonewall Inn, a two-story stcture wh a sand pated brick and opaque glass fa, was a mec for the homosexual element the village who wanted nothg but a private ltle place where they uld ngregate, drk, dance and do whatever ltle girls do when they get together. Lord and Amanda Foreman and the femist thors Roxane Gay (a ntributg Opn wrer) and Gloria Steem, wh each of offerg ntext and mentary on Barbie’s place the past, prent and future of women’s liv.

In the 1960s, Ameri’s sexual revolutn marked a shift public awarens and acceptance for sexual and romantic relatnships outsi of the then tradnal heterosexual Stonewall Rts sometim lled the Stonewall Uprisg) is wily nsired the watershed event to transform the gay liberatn movement and the twentieth-century fight for LGBT+ rights the one-year anniversary, 1970, was dubbed Christopher Street Liberatn Day, wh the ensug para NYC beg the first Pri ftival the world.

Stonewall Rts, NYC, Stonewall Rts, sometim lled the Stonewall Uprisg, 1969 was a seri of spontaneo monstratns by members of the gay muny (then more of an umbrella term for all LGBTQ+ inti) and their alli fightg back agast ntued police btaly. Image: Diana Davi/The New York Public LibraryBackgroundThe Stonewall Rts began the early hours of June 28, 1969 when New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn, a gay club loted Greenwich Village New York raid sparked a rt among bar patrons and neighborhood rints as police roughly handled employe and patrons out of the bar, leadg to six days of protts and vlent clash wh law enforcement outsi the bar on Christopher Street, neighborg streets and nearby Christopher Park. Image: Diana Davi/The New York Public LibraryRaids were not unmon and how the mafia factors to all of this The 1960s and precedg s were not welg tim for lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr and queer Amerins.

In NYC, for stance, as wh many plac around the world, solicatn of same-sex relatns was is what ma so-lled ‘safe spac’ (gay bars and clubs) so tegral, bee they were plac of refuge where gay and queer folk uld exprs themselv openly and wh ls fear of harm.

However, the New York State Liquor Authory penalized and shut down tablishments that served alhol to known or spected LGBT dividuals, argug that the mere gatherg of homosexuals, due to our crimal stat, was “disorrly.

However engagg ‘gay behavr’ public (holdg hands, kissg or dancg wh someone of the same sex) was still illegal, so police harassment of gay bars ntued and many bars still operated whout liquor licens— part bee they were owned by the Mafia – which had a stranglehold on nightlife sce the end of Prohibn – spotted a gap the market.

“Sure, many mobsters had a homophobic bent and often exprsed their ntempt for gay patrons, but generally there was a benign tolerance for the LGBT+ muny based on fancial terts, and they separated their personal liv om bs affairs. “Ined, after the Stonewall protts, one of the prcipal goals of the activist groups such as Gay Activists Alliance and Gay Liberatn Front was to get anised crime out of the gay bars. ”Some UK activists were volved some of the key moments the US movement, and they me back to Bra to form a Brish chapter of the Gay Liberatn Front, meetg for the first time at the LSE library October 1970, wh the first UK Gay Pri Rally takg place a few years later on 1 July 1972, London Pri marchWhile muny march and monstratns had taken place prr to this date, the first officially ordated UK Gay Pri march was held London on 1 July took place soon after the Stonewall Rts New York Cy 1969, which were a rponse to ntued opprsn and harassment om the cy and police forc.

In Stonewall’s wake, a Gay Liberatn movement galvanized gay muni natnwi and s anniversary has bee a cultural touchstone, as LGBT muni across the untry stage Gay Pri events throughout June, displayg queerns all of s diversy. A "raid premis" sign, a mid-twentieth century police signatn signed to shame and revoke the liquor licens of stutns that served homosexual patrons, now hangs si the Stonewall Inn. In the rt’s immediate aftermath, a group of young activists New York anized the Gay Liberatn Front (GLF), which staged public protts and emphasized g out of the closet as a transformative act, both bee ma gay people publicly visible and bee allowed them to exprs their thentic selv.

GLF activists mand an end to police vlence and fought agast the stigma attached to homosexuals (a noteworthy rult of which was the Amerin Psychologil Associatn classifyg homosexualy as a mental illns 1973). In a return to the polics of cln, LGBT anizatns embarked on a ncerted and ultimately succsful mpaign to ga legal regnn of same-sex marriage, somethg once unimagable to even the most radil gay liberatnists. The Stonewall Rts, also known as the Stonewall Uprisg, began the early hours of June 28, 1969, when the police raid the Stonewall Inn, a gay club Greenwich Village New York Cy.

The Stonewall uprisg didn’t start the gay rights movement, was a galvanizg force for LGBT polil activism, leadg to numero gay rights anizatns, cludg the Gay Liberatn Front, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD (formerly Gay and Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn), and PFLAG (formerly Parents, Fai and Friends of Lbians and Gays). In 2016, then-Print Barack Obama signated the se of the rts—Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park, and the surroundg streets and siwalks—a natnal monument regnn of the area’s ntributn to gay rights.

A half-century after the New York Police Department raid the Stonewall Inn — promptg a rt creded wh sparkg the morn gay rights movement — New York Cy Police Commissner Jam O’Neill apologized. After his apology, there was extend the early morng hours of June 28, 1969, placloth police raid the Stonewall Inn, a Greenwich Village bar equented mostly by gay men, wh some lbians and transgenr people, as the patrons, raids and police harassment were nothg new. But s aftermath, two new groups emerged — the Gay Liberatn Front and the Gay Activists Alliance — that took a more -your-face, direct actn approach to LGBT rights than s precsors such as the Homophile Movement and the Mattache Society.

It is generally regard as the first Pri Segal, a gay man who participated the Stonewall rts, reacted to O’Neill’s apology on Facebook, sayg he hoped the missner would liver the apology personally at the NYC Pri March on June 30. That tersectn is as old as the morn fight for LGTBQ rights, and perhaps no moment illtrat that as well as the movement’s most famo turng pot: the 1969 Stonewall Rts, the uprisg sparked by a police raid at a gay bar New York Cy’s Greenwich Village neighborhood, and the tone to which Pri Month is pegged.

As they are today, members of the LGBTQ muny were disproportnately targeted by police durg the 1950s and 1960s, “the most homophobic perd Amerin history, ” says historian Hugh Ryan, thor of When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History.