On June 28th, 1969 a belligerent and diverse crowd led an uprisg at New York’s Stonewall Inn. The event has bee inic popular memory as the spark for a new radil lbian and gay activism.
Contents:
- US WHE SUPREMACISTS FOUND GUILTY OF GAY PRI RT PLOT
- INSI CHAOTIC MOMENTS THAT TRIGGERED STONEWALL RT WHEN PS STORMED GAY CLUB FOR THE ‘RAID OF ALL RAIDS’
- A BRIEF HISTORY OF ATTACKS AT GAY AND LBIAN BARS
- STONEWALL AND THE UNFISHED GAY REVOLUTN
- THE STONEWALL RTS WEREN’T NEW YORK CY’S ONLY QUEER UPRISGPAST PRESENTPHOTOFN/SHUTTERSTOCKTHE STONEWALL RTS WERE NOT ISOLATN. AS THEIR 50TH ANNIVERSARY APPROACH, WE SHOULD REMEMBER NEW YORK CY'S OTHER PS VS. QUEERS CLASH OF THE ERA, LIKE THE HAVEN RT.HUGH RYANUPDATED APR. 08, 2019 11:04AM EDT / PUBLISHED APR. 06, 2019 10:13PM EDT ON A HOT SUMMER NIGHT NEARLY 50 YEARS AGO, A GANG OF NEW YORK CY POLICE CID TO MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF A GAY CLUB GREENWICH VILLAGE. AN ELECTN WAS APPROACHG, AND THE POLICE HAD BEEN CRACKG DOWN ON QUEER PEOPLE ALL AROUND THE CY THE LEAD-UP TO . AFTER HLG THE PATRONS OUT TO THE STREET, THE POLICE TRASHED THE BAR. ACRDG TO A REPORT GAY FLAM (“A BULLET OF THE HOMOFIRE MOVEMENT”), THEY STROYED “7 TELEPHON, TWO 15-FOOT BARS, A DOZEN UCH, ELECTRIC NSOL, WIRG, STROBE LIGHTS, SPEAKERS AND AMPLIFIERS… [AND] ABOUT 3,000 SMASHED PHONOGRAPH RERDS”—A TOTAL OF SOME $20,000 DAMAG. THIS WAS FAIRLY ROUTE—PS HAVE BEEN BTG BARS THAT SERVE QUEER MEN NEW YORK CY SCE AT LEAST THE EARLY 1900S—BUT THAT NIGHT, SOMETHG WAS DIFFERENT. THE PATRONS FOUGHT BACK, AND SOON, PEOPLE ALL OVER THE VILLAGE JOED . CLASH WENT ON FOR HOURS (SOME SAY DAYS), AND BEFORE THE EVENG WAS OVER, A JEWELRY SHOP AND A RERD STORE HAD BEEN SMASHED AND LOOTED, TWO RS HAD BEEN OVERTURNED, A SRE OF PUBLIC TRASH NS WERE SET ON FIRE, MULTIPLE PEOPLE WERE CLUBBED BY THE PS, AND AT LEAST 10 WERE ARRTED. NO, I’M NOT TALKG ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AT THE STONEWALL INN THAT FAMO DAY JUNE, 1969. THIS WAS A 1970 RAID ON THE HAVEN, AN ALHOL-EE GAY AFTER-HOURS CLUB LOTED AT 1 SHERIDAN SQUARE. ALTHOUGH THE STONEWALL RT IS OFTEN THOUGHT OF AS A SGULAR EVENT, UNLIKE ANYTHG ELSE QUEER AMERIN HISTORY, WAS BUT THE FIRST OF A SERI OF CLASH BETWEEN PS AND QUEERS THE LATE 1960S AND EARLY 1970S—AT LEAST, THE FIRST NEW YORK. IN SAN FRANCIS, THE POLICE HAD EXPERIENCED SIAR QUEER RISTANCE WHEN THEY TRIED TO HASSLE TRANS WOMEN HANGG OUT AT THE COMPTON CAFETERIA 1966, SPARKG NIGHTS OF QUEER RISTANCE. SCE THE END OF WORLD WAR II, POLICE HARASSMENT OF THE QUEER MUNY AMERI HAD BEEN STEADILY LATG, AND AS AMERIN POLICS TURNED RADIL THE LATE 1960S, THE QUEER MUNY BEGAN TO RIST MORE VISIBLE, VOL, AND NONTATNAL WAYS.THIS WAS A PERD OF CREDIBLE ANCY AND DIRECT ACTN BY MARGALIZED MUNI AROUND THE UNTRY, CLUDG QUEER PEOPLE, BLACK POWER ACTIVISTS, WOMEN’S LIBERATNISTS, AND OTHERS. IN LOS ANGEL 1959, LGBT CTOMERS FOUGHT BACK AGAST POLICE HARASSMENT AT A POPULAR BRANCH OF COOPER DO-NUTS. IN 1961, A GROUP OF HOMOPHOBIC SERVICEMEN CID TO—FOOLISHLY—TARGET THE PATRONS OF THE BLACK NE BAR MILWKEE, WHO FOUGHT BACK. IN 1967, THERE WERE MONSTRATNS AFTER A VLENT POLICE RAID OF THE LGBT BLACK CAT TAVERN SILVER LAKE, LOS ANGEL.LOOKG AT OTHER ANTI-POLICE QUEER-LED PROTTS SHOWS THAT STONEWALL WAS NOT A UNIQUE HISTORIL OUTLIER, BUT THE EVABLE PRODUCT OF THE CLASH BETWEEN POST-WORLD-WAR-II HOMO/TRANSPHOBIA, AND THE GROWG STRENGTH OF THE NEWLY EMPOWERED QUEER MUNY. ADVERTISEMENT WHILE DIRECT ACTNS LIKE STONEWALL OBVLY HELPED CHANGE THE URSE OF QUEER LIFE AMERI, THEY DID SO NJUNCTN WH OTHER, MORE NCILIATORY FORMS OF QUEER RISTANCE. IN 1965, ACTIVISTS OM THE MATTACHE SOCIETY OPPOSED THE NEW YORK STATE LIQUOR AUTHORY’S POLICY OF SHUTTERG ANY BAR THAT SERVED OUT HOMOSEXUALS; SHORTLY THEREAFTER, THE NEW YORK STATE COMMISSN ON HUMAN RIGHTS WOULD PUBLICLY AGREE WH THEIR STANCE, CUTTG THE LEGAL LEGS OUT OM UNR THE POLICE WHO RAID QUEER TABLISHMENTS. BY 1967, GAY ACTIVISTS HAD NVCED MAYOR JOHN LDSAY TO ALSO OPPOSE THE ROUTE POLICE ENTRAPMENT OF QUEER MEN NEW YORK CY. THE EROSN OF THE STUTNAL HOMOPHOBIC POLICI SET THE STAGE FOR THE EXPANSN OF OUT QUEER MUNY THE MID-1970S, BUT TOOK THE MASS OF QUEER PEOPLE FIGHTG BACK THE STREETS TO GIVE REAL TEETH TO THIS CRIMALIZATN OF HOMOSEXUAL LIFE. BETWEEN 1969 AND 1972, GREENWICH VILLAGE WAS ROCKED BY A SERI OF QUEER UNTER REBELLNS, PROTT MARCH, AND BUILDG TAKE-OVERS—MANY OF THEM SPIRED BY, ON BEHALF OF, OR NJUNCTN WH, OTHER MARGALIZED MUNI. BY LOOKG WHAT HAPPENED AT THE HAVEN AUGT OF 1970 ’S POSSIBLE TO SEE JT HOW MUCH THE VAR LIBERATN MOVEMENTS OVERLAPPED AND FLUENCED ONE ANOTHER.ACRDG TO STEVEN F. DANSKY’S HOT AUGT NIGHT/1970: THE FOTTEN LGBT RT, BEFORE THE POLICE EVER ARRIVED AT THE CLUB THAT EVENG, QUEER PEOPLE AND FEMISTS OF ALL KDS HAD ALREADY GATHERED TIM SQUARE, TO PARTICIPATE A RALLY AGAST POLICE VLENCE. ADVERTISEMENT PLANNG FOR THE ACTN BEGAN WHEN TWO LATX ATTEN ME TO A GAY LIBERATN FRONT (GLF) MEETG JULY TO LET THE LARGELY WHE, DOWNTOWN CROWD KNOW ABOUT THE LATG VLENCE AGAST QUEER AND GENR NON-NFORMG PEOPLE TIM SQUARE (PRIMARILY, BUT NOT EXCLIVELY, PEOPLE OF LOR).A WHOLE HOST OF ANIZATNS WOULD PARTICIPATE THE RALLY SELF, CLUDG GLF, THE GAY ACTIVISTS ALLIANCE, THE 'RADILBIANS,' AND A ALN OF WOMEN’S LIBERATN GROUPS.FROM THE BEGNG, THE MARCHERS WERE PREPARED FOR POLICE HARASSMENT; ALONG WH CHANTS OF “GAY, GAY POWER TO THE GAY, GAY PEOPLE,” THEY LLED OUT “MALE CHVISTS YOU BETTER START SHAK’—TODAY’S PIG IS TOMORROW’S BAN,” ACRDG TO AN ARTICLE WRTEN BY PARTICIPANT MARTHA SHELLEY. AFTER MARCHG AROUND TIM SQUARE SEVERAL TIM, THE PROTTERS SPONTANEOLY CID TO MARCH DOWN TO CHRISTOPHER STREET—“THE SYMBOLIC BIRTHPLACE OF OUR MOVEMENT,” AS KENH PCHFORD SCRIBED AN ARTICLE HE LATER WROTE FOR DOUBLE-F, “A MAGAZE OF EFFEMISM.” “IF WE THOUGHT OUR RAGE HAD PEAKED BEFORE, NOW WE FELT SOMETHG NEW; THE HARD TIGHTENG OF SOMETHG FAL OUR GUTS” ALONG THE WAY, THE MARCHERS WERE ATTACKED BY STRAIGHT ONLOOKERS, WHO THREW BOTTL AND TRASH OM THE SAFETY OF APARTMENTS HIGH ABOVE THEIR HEADS. NOT ONLY DID THE POLICE FAIL TO TERVENE, ACRDG TO SHELLEY, THEY ALSO REFED TO BRG TWO WOUND MARCHERS TO THE HOSPAL, LEAVG MUNY MEMBERS TO BRG THEM BY TAXI STEAD. ADVERTISEMENT TH, THE CROWD WAS ALREADY ON EDGE BY THE TIME THEY CROSSED 14TH STREET; AS PCHFORD RELLED, “IF WE THOUGHT OUR RAGE HAD PEAKED BEFORE, NOW WE FELT SOMETHG NEW; THE HARD TIGHTENG OF SOMETHG FAL OUR GUTS.” WHEN THEY REACHED THE WOMEN’S HOE OF DETENTN—THE 11-STORY WOMEN’S PRISON THAT WAS ONCE LOTED AT THE TERSECTN OF 6TH AND GREENWICH AV— THEY FOUND THEMSELV JOED BY A LARGE NUMBER OF “STREET PEOPLE,” PCHFORD’S WORDS. THE AREA AROUND THE HOE OF DETENTN HAD A REPUTATN AS A MEETG POT FOR THE FAI AND IENDS OF THOSE ON THE SI (PARTICULARLY QUEER WOMEN), DATG BACK AT LEAST TO THE 1930S. JAY TOOLE, A MUNY ANIZER WHO WAS IMPRISONED AT THE HOE OF D MULTIPLE TIM OVER THE URSE OF THE 1960S, REMEMBERED THE PRISON WAS OCSNALLY REFERRED TO AS “THE PLAYGROUND” BY BUTCH. THE RNER OF 8TH STREET AND 6TH AVENUE, TOOLE TOLD ME, WAS “WHERE WE MET OUR GIRLS” AS THEY WENT TO OR LEFT THE HOE OF D. MOST LIKELY, THE WERE THE “STREET PEOPLE” THAT JOED THE PROTT OUTSI THE PRISON THAT NIGHT. ESTIMAT PUT THE SIZE OF THE CROWD AT ANYWHERE OM 250 TO 2,000 PEOPLE. ADVERTISEMENT JOAN NTLE, THE FOUNR OF THE LBIAN HERSTORY ARCHIV, LLED THE HOE OF DETENTN “A WARNG, A BEAN, A REMR AND A MOMENT OF MUNY,” WHICH WAS OMNIPRENT LBIAN LIFE THE 1960S.IN THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH OF THE STONEWALL RTS, THE NEWLY FORMED GAY LIBERATN FRONT HELPED ANIZE A WEEK OF 24/7 PROTTS OUTSI THE PRISON. IN MARCH OF 1970, A NUMBER OF WOMEN’S LIBERATN GROUPS ENGAGED A TENSE, AND AT TIM VLENT, STANDOFF WH POLICE OUTSI THE PRISON GAT (AND LATER THAT SAME NIGHT, THE POLICE, LED BY THE SAME OFFICER CHARGE DURG THE STONEWALL RAID, ATTACKED THE SNAKE P, A GAY BAR THE VILLAGE, PERHAPS RETRIBUTN). HOWEVER, ACRDG TO STONEWALL VETERAN JIM FOURATT, MOST OF THE OFFICIAL PROTTS DIRECTED AT THE HOE OF D, EVEN BY LGBTQ GROUPS, WERE OVER THE ILLEGAL ARRT AND TAMENT OF BLACK PANTHER PARTY LEARS. JOAN BIRD HAD JT BEEN RELEASED OM THE PRISON A MONTH BEFORE THE HAVEN RT, JULY OF 1970, AND ANGELA DAVIS WOULD BE HELD THERE FOR MONTHS STARTG THAT OCTOBER (ALTHOUGH DAVIS WOULDN’T PUBLICLY E OUT AS A LBIAN UNTIL THE LATE 1990S, HER TOBGRAPHYSHE SCRIBED HOMOSEXUALY AS “ONE OF THE CENTERS AROUND WHICH LIFE THE HOE OF DETENTN REVOLVED.”) THIS RELATNSHIP OF SUPPORT WAS NOT ONE WAY. JT A FEW MONTHS BEFORE THE HAVEN RAID, THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY’S MISTER OF DEFENSE, HUEY P. NEWTON, HAD ISSUED A STATEMENT LLG FOR THE PANTHERS TO “TRY TO FORM A WORKG ALN WH THE GAY LIBERATN AND WOMEN'S LIBERATN GROUPS” (MOST LIKELY FLUENCED BY HIS IENDSHIP WH CIVIL RIGHTS AND GAY POWER ACTIVIST KIYOSHI KUROMIYA). THE BPP HAD OBV, LONG-STANDG, AND WELL-DISCSED ISSU WH HOMOPHOBIA AND MISOGYNY (AS DID PRETTY MUCH THE ENTIRETY OF THE LEFT, AND THE UNTRY, AT THE TIME), BUT THE POSIVE RELATNSHIPS BETWEEN 1970S LIBERATNISTS RARELY GET THE SAME AMOUNT OF ATTENTN. ADVERTISEMENT THE WOMEN’S HOE OF DETENTN GREENWICH VILLAGE WAS ONE OF THE S WHERE THE NCERNS OF NEARLY EVERY LIBERATN MOVEMENT—BLACK, LATO, FEMIST, ANTI-RACIST, QUEER, THIRD WORLD, MARXIST, ETC.—NNECTED.AFTER PROTTG THE PRISON, THE MARCH BEGAN TO DISPERSE – AT WHICH POT, ACTIVISTS HEARD ABOUT WHAT WAS HAPPENG AT THE HAVEN. MANY BELIEVED THE PS KNEW THAT MOST QUEER ACTIVISTS WOULD BE AT THE RALLY TIM SQUARE THAT NIGHT, AND HAD RAID THE HAVEN ASSUMG THERE WOULD BE LTLE OPPOSN. BUT THE PS WERE WRONG. AS MARTHA SHELLEY WROTE, “MASS OF PEOPLE, MARCHERS AND CISERS, CROWD UP ONT OF THE HAVEN. A SISTER WHISPERED TO ME, ‘THERE’S GOG TO BE TROUBLE.’ SURE ENOUGH, THE PS STARTED SWGG THEIR NIGHTSTICKS, AND PEOPLE BEGAN TO N… WORD ME OM BEHD THAT THE WOMEN THE HOE OF DETENTN HAD BEGUN TO RT AND BURN THEIR MATTRS. WE TOOK THE CROWD BACK TO THE HOE OF D. SURE ENOUGH, FLAMG OBJECTS WERE SCENDG OM THE WDOWS.”(WHILE SHE WASN’T THERE THE NIGHT OF THE HAVEN RAID, ANGELA DAVIS SCRIBED THE EXPERIENCE OF BEG ON THE SI DURG A SIAR PROTT HER TOBGRAPHY. WOMEN THROUGHOUT THE BUILDG CHANTED ALONG WH THE PROTTERS AND REFED TO RETURN TO THEIR CELLS. AFTER 48 HOURS, THE GUARDS BEAT ONE IMPRISONED WOMAN SO LOUDLY THE RT ULD HEAR, AND THREW HER SOLARY NFEMENT, TO GET THE RT TO BEHAVE.)AS THE WOMEN THE HOE OF D BEGAN RTG, THE NIGHT SCEND TO A PCHED STREET BATTLE. ACRDG TO PCHFORD, ADVERTISEMENT THE WELL-ANIZED POLICE VLENCE BEGAN. FIRST MASSG, THEN MOVG OUT ON THE DOUBLE, CLUBBG ALL DIRECTNS, SEIZG PREY AT RANDOM, DRAGGG PEOPLE AWAY. ONE OF OUR BADLY BEATEN STREET-FIGHTERS, A YOUNG BLACK BROTHER WAS RRIED OFF UNNSC. PEOPLE KNELT DOWN AND DBED THEIR HANDS WH HIS BLOOD AND STREAKED OVER THEIR FAC LIKE WAR PAT… SIX PS WH CLUBS SURROUND A PTIVE FAGGOT (A WHE BROTHER, THIS TIME) ONT OF A STORE WDOW GRATG AND SLAMMED HIM AGAST AGA AND AGA, HIS HEAD BATTERED, HIS GRO PRODD WH CLUBS. HIS SCREAMS PULLED TOWARD HIM – UNTIL A HEAVY LE OF CLUB-SWGG POLICE RERCEMENTS DROVE BACK…THEY SAID AFTERWARD THAT TWO RS HAD BEEN OVERTURNED, SEVEN PS HURT (ONE SUPPOSEDLY KNIFED, ACRDG TO THE DAILY NEWS), 18 OF OUR PEOPLE ARRTED, AND (HOPEFULLY) INSPECTOR MICHAEL LONERGAN OF THE THIRD DIVISN KNEED THE GRO… LBIANS AND FAGGOTS FOUND A NEW PRI AND ANGER THEMSELV, AND STEPPED OUT OM BEHD ALL SORTS OF BRA-DAMAGG PHEMISMS AND BEGAN TO LEARN HOW TO FIGHT THE VIC GENOCIDAL SYSTEM THAT OPPRS AS MUCH AS ANY OTHER UN-AMERIKAN PEOPLE THE WORLD.BY DAWN, SEEMED THE PROTTS HAD SUBSID, ALTHOUGH A FEW PEOPLE REMEMBER ISOLATED CINTS BETWEEN QUEER PEOPLE AND PS OVER THE NEXT TWO DAYS. THE WEEKEND PAPERS WERE FILLED WH ACUNTS OF THE GAY VLENCE GREENWICH VILLAGE—AS WELL AS STORI OF THREE POLICE RAIDS ON BLACK PANTHER PARTY OFFIC PHILALPHIA, WHICH END GUN FIGHTS, CLOUDS OF TEAR GAS, FIFTEEN ARRTS, AND THREE WOUND OFFICERS. “HAD STONEWALL NOT OCCURRED, WE WOULD HAVE IMMORTALIZED A DIFFERENT MOMENT OF QUEER RISTANCE” UNLIKE STONEWALL, HOWEVER, THE HAVEN RAID AND THE HOE OF DETENTN PROTT WERE QUICKLY FOTTEN. A GENERAL AMNIA ABOUT QUEER ANCY—AND THE NNECTNS BETWEEN VAR LIBERATN AND POWER MOVEMENTS—SET QUICKLY. STONEWALL WOULD BE MORE LIKELY TO BE REFERENCED NNECTN WH THE ATH OF JUDY GARLAND THAN NNECTN WH THE OTHER UPRISGS THAT TOOK PLACE THE EARLY 1970S. ADVERTISEMENT STONEWALL OBVLY SPIRED MUCH OF THE URAGEO ACTIVISM THAT ME AFTERWARDS—CLUDG THAT ON THE NIGHT OF THE HAVEN RAID—BUT ALMOST CERTALY, HAD STONEWALL NOT OCCURRED, WE WOULD HAVE IMMORTALIZED A DIFFERENT MOMENT OF QUEER RISTANCE. AS WE TAKE THIS TIME TO IMMORTALIZE STONEWALL, WE SHOULD ALSO REMEMBER MATTACHE AND 'RADILBIANS'; THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY AND THE WOMEN’S HOE OF DETENTN; THE HAVEN RAID, THE SNAKE P RAID, AND EVERY OTHER FOTTEN (OR NOT-YET-REMEMBERED) MOMENT OF QUEER RISTANCE. HUGH RYAN
- PARTY AND PROTT: THE RADIL HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN, STONEWALL AND PRI
US WHE SUPREMACISTS FOUND GUILTY OF GAY PRI RT PLOT
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 club riot *
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.
INSI CHAOTIC MOMENTS THAT TRIGGERED STONEWALL RT WHEN PS STORMED GAY CLUB FOR THE ‘RAID OF ALL RAIDS’
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 club riot *
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. Image source, North Country Off Grid/Youtube/via RtersImage ptn, Photos shared on social at the time allegedly showed dozens of the hate group's members beg arrted near the pri eventFive members of a whe supremacist hate group nvicted of plottg to rt at a gay pri event will spend three days jail, a urt has men and dozens other members of the Patrt Front group were arrted last June after a rint spotted them wh masks and shields gettg to a were lled and found rt gear and a smoke grena the lorry was stopped near where the North Idaho Pri Alliance was holdg an event the cy of Cor d'Alene.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ATTACKS AT GAY AND LBIAN BARS
In what is now regard as history’s first major prott on behalf of equal rights for LGBTQ people, a police raid of the Stonewall Inn—a popular gay club loted on New York Cy's Christopher Street—turns vlent as patrons and lol sympathizers beg rtg agast the police. * gay club riot *
Stonewall rts, also lled Stonewall uprisg, 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.
STONEWALL AND THE UNFISHED GAY REVOLUTN
Gay and lbian bars and clubs have often been sanctuari. Sometim those sanctuari have e unr siege. * gay club riot *
Olr groups such as the Mattache Society, which was found southern California as a discsn group for gay men and had flourished the 1950s, soon ma way for more radil groups such as the Gay Liberatn Front (GLF) and the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA).
In addn to lnchg numero public monstratns to prott the lack of civil rights for gay dividuals, the anizatns often rorted to such tactics as public nontatns wh polil officials and the disptn of public meetgs to challenge and to change the mor of the tim. Photo Cred: NY Daily News Archive/Getty ImagSometime after midnight on June 28, 1969, what is now regard by many as history’s first major prott on behalf of equal rights for LGBTQ people, a police raid of the Stonewall Inn—a popular gay club loted on New York Cy's Christopher Street—turns vlent as patrons and lol sympathizers beg rtg agast the thori.
THE STONEWALL RTS WEREN’T NEW YORK CY’S ONLY QUEER UPRISGPAST PRESENTPHOTOFN/SHUTTERSTOCKTHE STONEWALL RTS WERE NOT ISOLATN. AS THEIR 50TH ANNIVERSARY APPROACH, WE SHOULD REMEMBER NEW YORK CY'S OTHER PS VS. QUEERS CLASH OF THE ERA, LIKE THE HAVEN RT.HUGH RYANUPDATED APR. 08, 2019 11:04AM EDT / PUBLISHED APR. 06, 2019 10:13PM EDT ON A HOT SUMMER NIGHT NEARLY 50 YEARS AGO, A GANG OF NEW YORK CY POLICE CID TO MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF A GAY CLUB GREENWICH VILLAGE. AN ELECTN WAS APPROACHG, AND THE POLICE HAD BEEN CRACKG DOWN ON QUEER PEOPLE ALL AROUND THE CY THE LEAD-UP TO . AFTER HLG THE PATRONS OUT TO THE STREET, THE POLICE TRASHED THE BAR. ACRDG TO A REPORT GAY FLAM (“A BULLET OF THE HOMOFIRE MOVEMENT”), THEY STROYED “7 TELEPHON, TWO 15-FOOT BARS, A DOZEN UCH, ELECTRIC NSOL, WIRG, STROBE LIGHTS, SPEAKERS AND AMPLIFIERS… [AND] ABOUT 3,000 SMASHED PHONOGRAPH RERDS”—A TOTAL OF SOME $20,000 DAMAG. THIS WAS FAIRLY ROUTE—PS HAVE BEEN BTG BARS THAT SERVE QUEER MEN NEW YORK CY SCE AT LEAST THE EARLY 1900S—BUT THAT NIGHT, SOMETHG WAS DIFFERENT. THE PATRONS FOUGHT BACK, AND SOON, PEOPLE ALL OVER THE VILLAGE JOED . CLASH WENT ON FOR HOURS (SOME SAY DAYS), AND BEFORE THE EVENG WAS OVER, A JEWELRY SHOP AND A RERD STORE HAD BEEN SMASHED AND LOOTED, TWO RS HAD BEEN OVERTURNED, A SRE OF PUBLIC TRASH NS WERE SET ON FIRE, MULTIPLE PEOPLE WERE CLUBBED BY THE PS, AND AT LEAST 10 WERE ARRTED. NO, I’M NOT TALKG ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED AT THE STONEWALL INN THAT FAMO DAY JUNE, 1969. THIS WAS A 1970 RAID ON THE HAVEN, AN ALHOL-EE GAY AFTER-HOURS CLUB LOTED AT 1 SHERIDAN SQUARE. ALTHOUGH THE STONEWALL RT IS OFTEN THOUGHT OF AS A SGULAR EVENT, UNLIKE ANYTHG ELSE QUEER AMERIN HISTORY, WAS BUT THE FIRST OF A SERI OF CLASH BETWEEN PS AND QUEERS THE LATE 1960S AND EARLY 1970S—AT LEAST, THE FIRST NEW YORK. IN SAN FRANCIS, THE POLICE HAD EXPERIENCED SIAR QUEER RISTANCE WHEN THEY TRIED TO HASSLE TRANS WOMEN HANGG OUT AT THE COMPTON CAFETERIA 1966, SPARKG NIGHTS OF QUEER RISTANCE. SCE THE END OF WORLD WAR II, POLICE HARASSMENT OF THE QUEER MUNY AMERI HAD BEEN STEADILY LATG, AND AS AMERIN POLICS TURNED RADIL THE LATE 1960S, THE QUEER MUNY BEGAN TO RIST MORE VISIBLE, VOL, AND NONTATNAL WAYS.THIS WAS A PERD OF CREDIBLE ANCY AND DIRECT ACTN BY MARGALIZED MUNI AROUND THE UNTRY, CLUDG QUEER PEOPLE, BLACK POWER ACTIVISTS, WOMEN’S LIBERATNISTS, AND OTHERS. IN LOS ANGEL 1959, LGBT CTOMERS FOUGHT BACK AGAST POLICE HARASSMENT AT A POPULAR BRANCH OF COOPER DO-NUTS. IN 1961, A GROUP OF HOMOPHOBIC SERVICEMEN CID TO—FOOLISHLY—TARGET THE PATRONS OF THE BLACK NE BAR MILWKEE, WHO FOUGHT BACK. IN 1967, THERE WERE MONSTRATNS AFTER A VLENT POLICE RAID OF THE LGBT BLACK CAT TAVERN SILVER LAKE, LOS ANGEL.LOOKG AT OTHER ANTI-POLICE QUEER-LED PROTTS SHOWS THAT STONEWALL WAS NOT A UNIQUE HISTORIL OUTLIER, BUT THE EVABLE PRODUCT OF THE CLASH BETWEEN POST-WORLD-WAR-II HOMO/TRANSPHOBIA, AND THE GROWG STRENGTH OF THE NEWLY EMPOWERED QUEER MUNY. ADVERTISEMENT WHILE DIRECT ACTNS LIKE STONEWALL OBVLY HELPED CHANGE THE URSE OF QUEER LIFE AMERI, THEY DID SO NJUNCTN WH OTHER, MORE NCILIATORY FORMS OF QUEER RISTANCE. IN 1965, ACTIVISTS OM THE MATTACHE SOCIETY OPPOSED THE NEW YORK STATE LIQUOR AUTHORY’S POLICY OF SHUTTERG ANY BAR THAT SERVED OUT HOMOSEXUALS; SHORTLY THEREAFTER, THE NEW YORK STATE COMMISSN ON HUMAN RIGHTS WOULD PUBLICLY AGREE WH THEIR STANCE, CUTTG THE LEGAL LEGS OUT OM UNR THE POLICE WHO RAID QUEER TABLISHMENTS. BY 1967, GAY ACTIVISTS HAD NVCED MAYOR JOHN LDSAY TO ALSO OPPOSE THE ROUTE POLICE ENTRAPMENT OF QUEER MEN NEW YORK CY. THE EROSN OF THE STUTNAL HOMOPHOBIC POLICI SET THE STAGE FOR THE EXPANSN OF OUT QUEER MUNY THE MID-1970S, BUT TOOK THE MASS OF QUEER PEOPLE FIGHTG BACK THE STREETS TO GIVE REAL TEETH TO THIS CRIMALIZATN OF HOMOSEXUAL LIFE. BETWEEN 1969 AND 1972, GREENWICH VILLAGE WAS ROCKED BY A SERI OF QUEER UNTER REBELLNS, PROTT MARCH, AND BUILDG TAKE-OVERS—MANY OF THEM SPIRED BY, ON BEHALF OF, OR NJUNCTN WH, OTHER MARGALIZED MUNI. BY LOOKG WHAT HAPPENED AT THE HAVEN AUGT OF 1970 ’S POSSIBLE TO SEE JT HOW MUCH THE VAR LIBERATN MOVEMENTS OVERLAPPED AND FLUENCED ONE ANOTHER.ACRDG TO STEVEN F. DANSKY’S HOT AUGT NIGHT/1970: THE FOTTEN LGBT RT, BEFORE THE POLICE EVER ARRIVED AT THE CLUB THAT EVENG, QUEER PEOPLE AND FEMISTS OF ALL KDS HAD ALREADY GATHERED TIM SQUARE, TO PARTICIPATE A RALLY AGAST POLICE VLENCE. ADVERTISEMENT PLANNG FOR THE ACTN BEGAN WHEN TWO LATX ATTEN ME TO A GAY LIBERATN FRONT (GLF) MEETG JULY TO LET THE LARGELY WHE, DOWNTOWN CROWD KNOW ABOUT THE LATG VLENCE AGAST QUEER AND GENR NON-NFORMG PEOPLE TIM SQUARE (PRIMARILY, BUT NOT EXCLIVELY, PEOPLE OF LOR).A WHOLE HOST OF ANIZATNS WOULD PARTICIPATE THE RALLY SELF, CLUDG GLF, THE GAY ACTIVISTS ALLIANCE, THE 'RADILBIANS,' AND A ALN OF WOMEN’S LIBERATN GROUPS.FROM THE BEGNG, THE MARCHERS WERE PREPARED FOR POLICE HARASSMENT; ALONG WH CHANTS OF “GAY, GAY POWER TO THE GAY, GAY PEOPLE,” THEY LLED OUT “MALE CHVISTS YOU BETTER START SHAK’—TODAY’S PIG IS TOMORROW’S BAN,” ACRDG TO AN ARTICLE WRTEN BY PARTICIPANT MARTHA SHELLEY. AFTER MARCHG AROUND TIM SQUARE SEVERAL TIM, THE PROTTERS SPONTANEOLY CID TO MARCH DOWN TO CHRISTOPHER STREET—“THE SYMBOLIC BIRTHPLACE OF OUR MOVEMENT,” AS KENH PCHFORD SCRIBED AN ARTICLE HE LATER WROTE FOR DOUBLE-F, “A MAGAZE OF EFFEMISM.” “IF WE THOUGHT OUR RAGE HAD PEAKED BEFORE, NOW WE FELT SOMETHG NEW; THE HARD TIGHTENG OF SOMETHG FAL OUR GUTS” ALONG THE WAY, THE MARCHERS WERE ATTACKED BY STRAIGHT ONLOOKERS, WHO THREW BOTTL AND TRASH OM THE SAFETY OF APARTMENTS HIGH ABOVE THEIR HEADS. NOT ONLY DID THE POLICE FAIL TO TERVENE, ACRDG TO SHELLEY, THEY ALSO REFED TO BRG TWO WOUND MARCHERS TO THE HOSPAL, LEAVG MUNY MEMBERS TO BRG THEM BY TAXI STEAD. ADVERTISEMENT TH, THE CROWD WAS ALREADY ON EDGE BY THE TIME THEY CROSSED 14TH STREET; AS PCHFORD RELLED, “IF WE THOUGHT OUR RAGE HAD PEAKED BEFORE, NOW WE FELT SOMETHG NEW; THE HARD TIGHTENG OF SOMETHG FAL OUR GUTS.” WHEN THEY REACHED THE WOMEN’S HOE OF DETENTN—THE 11-STORY WOMEN’S PRISON THAT WAS ONCE LOTED AT THE TERSECTN OF 6TH AND GREENWICH AV— THEY FOUND THEMSELV JOED BY A LARGE NUMBER OF “STREET PEOPLE,” PCHFORD’S WORDS. THE AREA AROUND THE HOE OF DETENTN HAD A REPUTATN AS A MEETG POT FOR THE FAI AND IENDS OF THOSE ON THE SI (PARTICULARLY QUEER WOMEN), DATG BACK AT LEAST TO THE 1930S. JAY TOOLE, A MUNY ANIZER WHO WAS IMPRISONED AT THE HOE OF D MULTIPLE TIM OVER THE URSE OF THE 1960S, REMEMBERED THE PRISON WAS OCSNALLY REFERRED TO AS “THE PLAYGROUND” BY BUTCH. THE RNER OF 8TH STREET AND 6TH AVENUE, TOOLE TOLD ME, WAS “WHERE WE MET OUR GIRLS” AS THEY WENT TO OR LEFT THE HOE OF D. MOST LIKELY, THE WERE THE “STREET PEOPLE” THAT JOED THE PROTT OUTSI THE PRISON THAT NIGHT. ESTIMAT PUT THE SIZE OF THE CROWD AT ANYWHERE OM 250 TO 2,000 PEOPLE. ADVERTISEMENT JOAN NTLE, THE FOUNR OF THE LBIAN HERSTORY ARCHIV, LLED THE HOE OF DETENTN “A WARNG, A BEAN, A REMR AND A MOMENT OF MUNY,” WHICH WAS OMNIPRENT LBIAN LIFE THE 1960S.IN THE IMMEDIATE AFTERMATH OF THE STONEWALL RTS, THE NEWLY FORMED GAY LIBERATN FRONT HELPED ANIZE A WEEK OF 24/7 PROTTS OUTSI THE PRISON. IN MARCH OF 1970, A NUMBER OF WOMEN’S LIBERATN GROUPS ENGAGED A TENSE, AND AT TIM VLENT, STANDOFF WH POLICE OUTSI THE PRISON GAT (AND LATER THAT SAME NIGHT, THE POLICE, LED BY THE SAME OFFICER CHARGE DURG THE STONEWALL RAID, ATTACKED THE SNAKE P, A GAY BAR THE VILLAGE, PERHAPS RETRIBUTN). HOWEVER, ACRDG TO STONEWALL VETERAN JIM FOURATT, MOST OF THE OFFICIAL PROTTS DIRECTED AT THE HOE OF D, EVEN BY LGBTQ GROUPS, WERE OVER THE ILLEGAL ARRT AND TAMENT OF BLACK PANTHER PARTY LEARS. JOAN BIRD HAD JT BEEN RELEASED OM THE PRISON A MONTH BEFORE THE HAVEN RT, JULY OF 1970, AND ANGELA DAVIS WOULD BE HELD THERE FOR MONTHS STARTG THAT OCTOBER (ALTHOUGH DAVIS WOULDN’T PUBLICLY E OUT AS A LBIAN UNTIL THE LATE 1990S, HER TOBGRAPHYSHE SCRIBED HOMOSEXUALY AS “ONE OF THE CENTERS AROUND WHICH LIFE THE HOE OF DETENTN REVOLVED.”) THIS RELATNSHIP OF SUPPORT WAS NOT ONE WAY. JT A FEW MONTHS BEFORE THE HAVEN RAID, THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY’S MISTER OF DEFENSE, HUEY P. NEWTON, HAD ISSUED A STATEMENT LLG FOR THE PANTHERS TO “TRY TO FORM A WORKG ALN WH THE GAY LIBERATN AND WOMEN'S LIBERATN GROUPS” (MOST LIKELY FLUENCED BY HIS IENDSHIP WH CIVIL RIGHTS AND GAY POWER ACTIVIST KIYOSHI KUROMIYA). THE BPP HAD OBV, LONG-STANDG, AND WELL-DISCSED ISSU WH HOMOPHOBIA AND MISOGYNY (AS DID PRETTY MUCH THE ENTIRETY OF THE LEFT, AND THE UNTRY, AT THE TIME), BUT THE POSIVE RELATNSHIPS BETWEEN 1970S LIBERATNISTS RARELY GET THE SAME AMOUNT OF ATTENTN. ADVERTISEMENT THE WOMEN’S HOE OF DETENTN GREENWICH VILLAGE WAS ONE OF THE S WHERE THE NCERNS OF NEARLY EVERY LIBERATN MOVEMENT—BLACK, LATO, FEMIST, ANTI-RACIST, QUEER, THIRD WORLD, MARXIST, ETC.—NNECTED.AFTER PROTTG THE PRISON, THE MARCH BEGAN TO DISPERSE – AT WHICH POT, ACTIVISTS HEARD ABOUT WHAT WAS HAPPENG AT THE HAVEN. MANY BELIEVED THE PS KNEW THAT MOST QUEER ACTIVISTS WOULD BE AT THE RALLY TIM SQUARE THAT NIGHT, AND HAD RAID THE HAVEN ASSUMG THERE WOULD BE LTLE OPPOSN. BUT THE PS WERE WRONG. AS MARTHA SHELLEY WROTE, “MASS OF PEOPLE, MARCHERS AND CISERS, CROWD UP ONT OF THE HAVEN. A SISTER WHISPERED TO ME, ‘THERE’S GOG TO BE TROUBLE.’ SURE ENOUGH, THE PS STARTED SWGG THEIR NIGHTSTICKS, AND PEOPLE BEGAN TO N… WORD ME OM BEHD THAT THE WOMEN THE HOE OF DETENTN HAD BEGUN TO RT AND BURN THEIR MATTRS. WE TOOK THE CROWD BACK TO THE HOE OF D. SURE ENOUGH, FLAMG OBJECTS WERE SCENDG OM THE WDOWS.”(WHILE SHE WASN’T THERE THE NIGHT OF THE HAVEN RAID, ANGELA DAVIS SCRIBED THE EXPERIENCE OF BEG ON THE SI DURG A SIAR PROTT HER TOBGRAPHY. WOMEN THROUGHOUT THE BUILDG CHANTED ALONG WH THE PROTTERS AND REFED TO RETURN TO THEIR CELLS. AFTER 48 HOURS, THE GUARDS BEAT ONE IMPRISONED WOMAN SO LOUDLY THE RT ULD HEAR, AND THREW HER SOLARY NFEMENT, TO GET THE RT TO BEHAVE.)AS THE WOMEN THE HOE OF D BEGAN RTG, THE NIGHT SCEND TO A PCHED STREET BATTLE. ACRDG TO PCHFORD, ADVERTISEMENT THE WELL-ANIZED POLICE VLENCE BEGAN. FIRST MASSG, THEN MOVG OUT ON THE DOUBLE, CLUBBG ALL DIRECTNS, SEIZG PREY AT RANDOM, DRAGGG PEOPLE AWAY. ONE OF OUR BADLY BEATEN STREET-FIGHTERS, A YOUNG BLACK BROTHER WAS RRIED OFF UNNSC. PEOPLE KNELT DOWN AND DBED THEIR HANDS WH HIS BLOOD AND STREAKED OVER THEIR FAC LIKE WAR PAT… SIX PS WH CLUBS SURROUND A PTIVE FAGGOT (A WHE BROTHER, THIS TIME) ONT OF A STORE WDOW GRATG AND SLAMMED HIM AGAST AGA AND AGA, HIS HEAD BATTERED, HIS GRO PRODD WH CLUBS. HIS SCREAMS PULLED TOWARD HIM – UNTIL A HEAVY LE OF CLUB-SWGG POLICE RERCEMENTS DROVE BACK…THEY SAID AFTERWARD THAT TWO RS HAD BEEN OVERTURNED, SEVEN PS HURT (ONE SUPPOSEDLY KNIFED, ACRDG TO THE DAILY NEWS), 18 OF OUR PEOPLE ARRTED, AND (HOPEFULLY) INSPECTOR MICHAEL LONERGAN OF THE THIRD DIVISN KNEED THE GRO… LBIANS AND FAGGOTS FOUND A NEW PRI AND ANGER THEMSELV, AND STEPPED OUT OM BEHD ALL SORTS OF BRA-DAMAGG PHEMISMS AND BEGAN TO LEARN HOW TO FIGHT THE VIC GENOCIDAL SYSTEM THAT OPPRS AS MUCH AS ANY OTHER UN-AMERIKAN PEOPLE THE WORLD.BY DAWN, SEEMED THE PROTTS HAD SUBSID, ALTHOUGH A FEW PEOPLE REMEMBER ISOLATED CINTS BETWEEN QUEER PEOPLE AND PS OVER THE NEXT TWO DAYS. THE WEEKEND PAPERS WERE FILLED WH ACUNTS OF THE GAY VLENCE GREENWICH VILLAGE—AS WELL AS STORI OF THREE POLICE RAIDS ON BLACK PANTHER PARTY OFFIC PHILALPHIA, WHICH END GUN FIGHTS, CLOUDS OF TEAR GAS, FIFTEEN ARRTS, AND THREE WOUND OFFICERS. “HAD STONEWALL NOT OCCURRED, WE WOULD HAVE IMMORTALIZED A DIFFERENT MOMENT OF QUEER RISTANCE” UNLIKE STONEWALL, HOWEVER, THE HAVEN RAID AND THE HOE OF DETENTN PROTT WERE QUICKLY FOTTEN. A GENERAL AMNIA ABOUT QUEER ANCY—AND THE NNECTNS BETWEEN VAR LIBERATN AND POWER MOVEMENTS—SET QUICKLY. STONEWALL WOULD BE MORE LIKELY TO BE REFERENCED NNECTN WH THE ATH OF JUDY GARLAND THAN NNECTN WH THE OTHER UPRISGS THAT TOOK PLACE THE EARLY 1970S. ADVERTISEMENT STONEWALL OBVLY SPIRED MUCH OF THE URAGEO ACTIVISM THAT ME AFTERWARDS—CLUDG THAT ON THE NIGHT OF THE HAVEN RAID—BUT ALMOST CERTALY, HAD STONEWALL NOT OCCURRED, WE WOULD HAVE IMMORTALIZED A DIFFERENT MOMENT OF QUEER RISTANCE. AS WE TAKE THIS TIME TO IMMORTALIZE STONEWALL, WE SHOULD ALSO REMEMBER MATTACHE AND 'RADILBIANS'; THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY AND THE WOMEN’S HOE OF DETENTN; THE HAVEN RAID, THE SNAKE P RAID, AND EVERY OTHER FOTTEN (OR NOT-YET-REMEMBERED) MOMENT OF QUEER RISTANCE. HUGH RYAN
* gay club riot *
Although the police were legally jtified raidg the club, which was servg liquor whout a license, New York’s gay muny had grown weary of the police partment targetg gay clubs, many of which had already been closed. To get around state regulatns that prohibed gay people om beg served alholic beverag, mafso “Fat Tony” Lria operated the Stonewall Inn as a private club, takg s name om the prev bar-rtrant so he wouldn’t have to change the sign. Loted Greenwich Village, the heart of gay life New York at the time, s patrons were among the most margalized members of New York’s LGBTQ muny—cludg unraged and unhoed dividuals, people of lor, and drag performers.
PARTY AND PROTT: THE RADIL HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN, STONEWALL AND PRI
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. * gay club riot *
The movement stoked by the police raid Greenwich Village soon spread to ci across the 1970, a year after the raid, activists led by Craig Rodwell memorated s anniversary wh what they lled Christopher Street Liberatn Day, now regnized as the first gay pri march. Unr the guise of New York State’s liquor laws that barred “disorrly” premis, the State Liquor Authory and the New York Police Department often raid bars that tered to gay patrons, the majory of which were owned by one of New York's five ma mob fai.
AdvertisementSKIP Thornell/Associated PrsJune 13, 2016The lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr muny is no stranger to the 1969 police raid at the Stonewall Inn New York Cy that set off rts and helped touch off the morn gay-rights movement to the 1998 murr of Matthew Shepard to near-epimic levels of vlence agast transgenr women, the muny has been marked by flash of the massacre at a gay club Orlando, Fla., that left 49 ad and 53 others jured, Richard Kim, the executive edor of The Natn, wrote on Sunday that gay bars and clubs have often been sanctuari. ViotranscripttranscriptA Day of Mourng for the Gay CommunyIn support of the victims of the massacre at a gay nightclub Orlando, Fla., hundreds gathered outsi the Stonewall Inn New York, where a rt 1969 helped lnch the gay rights support of the victims of the massacre at a gay nightclub Orlando, Fla., hundreds gathered outsi the Stonewall Inn New York, where a rt 1969 helped lnch the gay rights movement.
<strong>The long read</strong>: A police raid on a gay bar New York led to the birth of the Pri movement half a century ago – but the fight for LGBTQ+ rights go back much further than that * gay club riot *
Stonewall Inn, 2010 and 2016The Stonewall Inn played a central role the morn gay rights movement, but has also seen antigay and anti-transgenr vlence recent men attacked another man the rtroom 2010 after he rmed them that they were a gay bar.
“The realy is, if people are lookg to perpetrate anti-gay bias and vlence, there are very few plac this world that are safe once that tent has formed, ” Sharon Stapel, the former executive director of the New York Cy Anti-Vlence Project, said at the time of the March this year, a transgenr woman said she was sexually asslted the unisex rtroom. 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. 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.
Acrdg to a report Gay Flam (“A Bullet of the Homofire Movement”), they stroyed “7 telephon, two 15-foot bars, a dozen uch, electric nsol, wirg, strobe lights, speakers and amplifiers… [and] about 3, 000 smashed phonograph rerds”—a total of some $20, 000 damag. Lookg at other anti-police queer-led protts shows that Stonewall was not a unique historil outlier, but the evable product of the clash between post-World-War-II homo/transphobia, and the growg strength of the newly empowered queer muny. In 1965, activists om the Mattache Society opposed the New York State Liquor Authory’s policy of shutterg any bar that served out homosexuals; shortly thereafter, the New York State Commissn on Human Rights would publicly agree wh their stance, cuttg the legal legs out om unr the police who raid queer tablishments.