Stonewall rts anniversary: How the New York media vered the gay bar raid 50 years ago - The Washgton Post

gay rioters

The rts followg the June 28, 1969, police raid on New York Cy's Stonewall Inn did not start the discsn on gay rights, but they certaly beme the talyst for a natnal movement. When the...

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'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 rioters *

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. Image source, NY Daily News Archive / GettyImage ptn, Tensns rose on the street after the raidWhen half a dozen police officers raid a Mafia-n gay bar on a hot New York night 50 years ago, ltle did they know their actns would spark a movement that rhaped the liv of generatns to didn't throw a brick that night. An hour earlier, the police had raid the bar Greenwich Village for the send time that week, but this time on a Friday night at 1am when was 200 ctomers - lbians, gay men, transgenr people, naway teenagers and drag queens - were thrown out on to Christopher Street.

SERB POLICE CLASH WH ANTI-GAY RTERS

On a hot New York night 50 years ago, a police raid on a gay bar rhaped lns of Amerin liv. * gay rioters *

Gay people were ed to nng om the police, but this time they were the on on the advance and the men uniform on the gay rights movement didn't start that night but was vigorated by what happened the hours and days after the first was thrown. And jt as Ms Parks' refal to give up her seat on a b Alabama to a whe man had the effect of animatg the civil rights movement 14 years before, so Stonewall electrified the ph for gay equaly.

Even what you wore was policed - fewer than three piec of clothg emed appropriate to your genr uld put you was a huge amount of anger bee gay people had no polil power to prevent this, says William Eskridge, a profsor at Yale Law School. But s creatn marked the start of a new era, leadg to a wave of new activist groups like the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) and the radil lbian group Lavenr Menace of which Shelley was a founr member.

Police raids of gay bars the 50s and 60s were route but a raid on the Stonewall Inn did not go to plan and what followed effectively kick-started the morn LGBTQ civil rights movement. * gay rioters *

In the that followed, the feral exclns on gays and lbians were lifted, and the medil profsn reversed s long-held belief that homosexuals need psychiatric Milk beme one of the first openly gay elected officials the US, 1977 San Francis.

Serbian rt police fought nng battl on Sunday wh hundreds of far-right supporters who hurled Molotov cktails and stun grenas to try dispt a gay pri march downtown Belgra. O... * gay rioters *

Two years later, about 100, 000 people took part a natnal march on Washgton - probably at that pot the biggt gatherg of gay people of the anti-sodomy laws were stck down the 1980s, makg homosexualy effectively legal, although was s before gay marriage beme a ferally-regnised right 2015.

The legal progrs was matched by a change attus - three-quarters of Amerins are today acceptg of gay 2019, there are still battl to fight - gay people n still be fired om their jobs many stat.

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 rioters *

It's therefore worth reflectg on how much me out of that police raid on a Mafia bar, says David Carter, thor of Stonewall: The Rts that Sparked the Gay Revolutn, which is regard as the five acunt of what happened. "Image source, Getty ImagImage ptn, The Natnal March On Washgton filled the famo mallIt wasn't the first gay uprisg agast the police - as the LA Tim recently relled, the police were pelted wh donuts 10 years earlier - but was the most nsequential.

"Image source, New York Public LibraryImage ptn, Segal (on right) mpaigng wh the Gay Liberatn Front 1970, a year after the uprisgBut Stonewall wasn't jt a fight, was a spir and gave him a purpose, he says. Or, as they were known, "zaps" 1973, he crashed the CBS primetime news show hosted by broadstg legend Walter Cronke and watched by 60 ln people, holdg a plard sayg: "Gays prott CBS prejudice". Image source, Mark SegalImage ptn, Segal crashed a Nixon fundraiser 1972He went on to lnch a gay newspaper Philalphia and bee a pneer gay journalism, and his work on equaly earned him an dience wh Print Barack Obama.

Some of the reportg about the police raid that lnched the gay rights movement was downright offensive. * gay rioters *

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.

The gay rights movement wouldn't be where is today whout the Black queer muny. Let's stop erasg their ntributns om LGBTQ+ history." emprop="scriptn * gay rioters *

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.

*BEAR-MAGAZINE.COM* GAY RIOTERS

What Life Was Like for Gay Amerins Before Stonewall .

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