<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
Contents:
- GAY RIGHTS
- THE HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN
- THE GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT
- THE 1960S AND GAY LIBERATN
- GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
- BARBARA GTGS HELPS LEAD FIRST 'ANNUAL REMR' PROTTSGGS WAS AN ACTIVIST BOTH THE PRE-STONEWALL HOMOPHILE MOVEMENT OF THE 50S AND 60S AND THE POST-STONEWALL GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT. SHE ANIZED THE NEW YORK CHAPTER OF THE DGHTERS OF BILIS AND, 1965 – ALONG WH FRANK KAMENY – GTGS WAS STMENTAL LEADG THE “ANNUAL REMR” PICKETS, WHICH WERE SOME OF THE VERY FIRST PRO-LGBTQ+ PROTTS VISIBLE TO THE AMERIN PUBLIC. ONE RNERSTONE OF HER WORK CLUD PRSURG THE AMERIN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATN TO CLASSIFY HOMOSEXUALY AS A MENTAL DISORR. FOR THREE NSECUTIVE YEARS BEGNG 1970, GTGS ANIZED PROTTS, STORMED TO, AND PARTICIPATED THE ASSOCIATN’S ANNUAL MEETG. IN 1972, GTGS ANIZED A PANEL ON HOMOSEXUALY ALONG WH AN ANONYMO PSYCHIATRIST WHO WAS MASKED AND ED A VOICE MODULATOR. FALLY 1973, THE ASSOCIATN ANNOUNCED S REMOVAL OF THE CLASSIFITN AND VED GTGS TO THE MEETG. COMPTON’S CAFETERIA RT CATALYZ TRANS COMMUNY POWER IN SAN FRANCIS
- WHEN PSYCHIATRY AND THE MEDIA COLLUD AGAST THE GAYS
- THIS IS WHAT GAY LIBERATN LOOKED LIKE IN THE '70S
- GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT
- A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
- THE STONEWALL RTS DIDN’T START THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
- PARTY AND PROTT: THE RADIL HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN, STONEWALL AND PRI
GAY RIGHTS
The gay rights movement the Uned Stat began the 1920s and saw huge progrs the 2000s, wh laws prohibg homosexual activy stck down and a Supreme Court lg legalizg same-sex marriage. * gay liberation in the 1960s *
Army service World War I, Gerber was spired to create his anizatn by the Scientific-Humanarian Commtee, a “homosexual emancipatn” group ’s small group published a few issu of s newsletter “Friendship and Freedom, ” the untry’s first gay-tert newsletter.
THE HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN
Gay rights movement, civil rights movement that advot equal rights for LGBTQ persons—that is, for lbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenr persons, and queer persons—and lls for an end to discrimatn agast LGBTQ persons employment, cred, hog, public acmodatns, and other areas of life. * gay liberation in the 1960s *
Ernment signated Gerber’s Chigo hoe a Natnal Historic Pk TriangleCorbis/Getty ImagHomosexual prisoners at the ncentratn mp at Sachsenhsen, Germany, wearg pk triangl on their uniforms on December 19, gay rights movement stagnated for the next few s, though LGBT dividuals around the world did e to the spotlight a few example, English poet and thor Radclyffe Hall stirred up ntroversy 1928 when she published her lbian-themed novel, The Well of Lonels.
Addnally, 1948, his book Sexual Behavr the Human Male, Aled Ksey proposed that male sexual orientatn li on a ntuum between exclively homosexual to exclively Homophile Years In 1950, Harry Hay found the Mattache Foundatn, one of the natn’s first gay rights group. ”Though started off small, the foundatn, which sought to improve the liv of gay men through discsn groups and related activi, expand after foundg member Dale Jenngs was arrted 1952 for solicatn and then later set ee due to a adlocked the end of the year, Jenngs formed another anizatn lled One, Inc., which weled women and published ONE, the untry’s first pro-gay magaze.
Post Office, which 1954 clared the magaze “obscene” and refed to liver Mattache Society Mattache Foundatn members rtctured the anizatn to form the Mattache Society, which had lol chapters other parts of the untry and 1955 began publishg the untry’s send gay publitn, The Mattache Review. That same year, four lbian upl San Francis found an anizatn lled the Dghters of Bilis, which soon began publishg a newsletter lled The Ladr, the first lbian publitn of any early years of the movement also faced some notable setbacks: the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn listed homosexualy as a form of mental disorr followg year, Print Dwight D.
THE GAY LIBERATN 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 liberation in the 1960s *
”In fear of beg shut down by thori, bartenrs would ny drks to patrons spected of beg gay or kick them out altogether; others would serve them drks but force them to s facg away om other ctomers to prevent them om 1966, members of the Mattache Society New York Cy staged a “sip-”—a twist on the “s-” protts of the 1960s— which they vised taverns, clared themselv gay, and waed to be turned away so they uld sue. They were nied service at the Greenwich Village tavern Juli, rultg much publicy and the quick reversal of the anti-gay liquor Stonewall Inn A few years later, 1969, a now-famo event talyzed the gay rights movement: The Stonewall clanste gay club Stonewall Inn was an stutn Greenwich Village bee was large, cheap, allowed dancg and weled drag queens and homels the early hours of June 28, 1969, New York Cy police raid the Stonewall Inn.
1 / 12: NY Daily News Archive/Getty ImagChristopher Street Liberatn Day Shortly after the Stonewall uprisg, members of the Mattache Society spl off to form the Gay Liberatn Front, a radil group that lnched public monstratns, protts and nontatns wh polil officials. Addnally, several openly LGBTQ dividuals secured public office posns: Kathy Kozachenko won a seat to the Ann Harbor, Michigan, Cy Council 1974, beg the first out Amerin to be elected to public Milk, who mpaigned on a pro-gay rights platform, beme the San Francis cy supervisor 1978, beg the first openly gay man elected to a polil office asked Gilbert Baker, an artist and gay rights activist, to create an emblem that reprents the movement and would be seen as a symbol of pri.
THE 1960S AND GAY LIBERATN
On June 28, 1969, NYPD raid a popular gay bar known as the <a href="; target="_blank">Stonewall Inn</a>. The ensug rts were a watershed moment for the gay liberatn movement and changed Ameri forever. * gay liberation in the 1960s *
In 1981, the Centers for Disease Control and Preventn published a report about five prevly healthy homosexual men beg fected wh a rare type of 1984, rearchers had intified the e of AIDS—the human immunoficiency vis, or HIV—and the Food and Dg Admistratn licensed the first mercial blood tt for HIV 1985.
GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
But after failg to garner enough support for such an open policy, Print Clton 1993 passed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) policy, which allowed gay men and women to serve the ary as long as they kept their sexualy a rights advot cried the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, as did ltle to stop people om beg discharged on the grounds of their 2011, Print Obama fulfilled a mpaign promise to repeal DADT; by that time, more than 12, 000 officers had been discharged om the ary unr DADT for refg to hi their sexualy.
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell was officially repealed on September 20, Marriage and Beyond In 1992, the District of Columbia passed a law that allowed gay and lbian upl to register as domtic partners, grantg them some of the rights of marriage (the cy of San Francis passed a siar ordance three years prr and California would later extend those rights to the entire state 1999) 1993, the hight urt Hawaii led that a ban on gay marriage may go agast the state’s nstutn. In 1994, a new anti-hate-crime law allowed judg to impose harsher sentenc if a crime was motivated by a victim’s sexual Matthew Shepard ActCourty of the Matthew Shepard FoundatnMatthew Shepard, who was btally killed a hate crime 2003, gay rights proponents had another b of happy news: the U. Gay rights proponents mt also ntent wh an creasg number of “relig liberty” state laws, which allow bs to ny service to LGBTQ dividuals due to relig beliefs, as well as “bathroom laws” that prevent transgenr dividuals om g public bathrooms that don’t rrpond to their sex at birth.
BARBARA GTGS HELPS LEAD FIRST 'ANNUAL REMR' PROTTSGGS WAS AN ACTIVIST BOTH THE PRE-STONEWALL HOMOPHILE MOVEMENT OF THE 50S AND 60S AND THE POST-STONEWALL GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT. SHE ANIZED THE NEW YORK CHAPTER OF THE DGHTERS OF BILIS AND, 1965 – ALONG WH FRANK KAMENY – GTGS WAS STMENTAL LEADG THE “ANNUAL REMR” PICKETS, WHICH WERE SOME OF THE VERY FIRST PRO-LGBTQ+ PROTTS VISIBLE TO THE AMERIN PUBLIC. ONE RNERSTONE OF HER WORK CLUD PRSURG THE AMERIN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATN TO CLASSIFY HOMOSEXUALY AS A MENTAL DISORR. FOR THREE NSECUTIVE YEARS BEGNG 1970, GTGS ANIZED PROTTS, STORMED TO, AND PARTICIPATED THE ASSOCIATN’S ANNUAL MEETG. IN 1972, GTGS ANIZED A PANEL ON HOMOSEXUALY ALONG WH AN ANONYMO PSYCHIATRIST WHO WAS MASKED AND ED A VOICE MODULATOR. FALLY 1973, THE ASSOCIATN ANNOUNCED S REMOVAL OF THE CLASSIFITN AND VED GTGS TO THE MEETG. COMPTON’S CAFETERIA RT CATALYZ TRANS COMMUNY POWER IN SAN FRANCIS
In the Uned Stat this greater visibily brought some backlash, particularly om the ernment and the police: the ernment often fired gay civil servants, the ary attempted to purge s ranks of gay soldiers (a policy enacted durg World War II), and police vice squads equently raid gay bars and arrted their patrons. In the Uned Stat the first major male anizatn, found 1950–51 by Harry Hay Los Angel, was the Mattache Society (s name reputedly rived om a medieval French society of masked players, the Société Mattache, to reprent the public “maskg” of homosexualy), while the Dghters of Bilis (named after the Sapphic love poems of Pierre Louÿs, Chansons Bilis), found 1955 by Phyllis Lyon and Del Mart San Francis, was a leadg group for women. In Bra 1957 a missn chaired by Sir John Wolfenn issued a groundbreakg report (see Wolfenn Report) remendg that private homosexual liaisons between nsentg adults be removed om the doma of crimal law; a later the remendatn was implemented by Parliament the Sexual Offenc Act.
Now headquartered Geneva and renamed the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn (ILGA World), plays a signifint role ordatg ternatnal efforts to promote human rights and fight discrimatn agast LGBTQ and tersex persons.
WHEN PSYCHIATRY AND THE MEDIA COLLUD AGAST THE GAYS
This support, along wh mpaigns by gay activists urgg gay men and women to “e out of the closet” (ed, the late 1980s, Natnal Comg Out Day was tablished, and is now celebrated on October 11 most untri), enuraged gay men and women to enter the polil arena as ndidat. Other issu of primary importance for the gay rights movement sce the 1970s clud batg the HIV/AIDS epimic and promotg disease preventn and fundg for rearch; lobbyg ernment for nondiscrimatory polici employment, hog, and other aspects of civil society; endg the ban on ary service for gay and lbian dividuals; expandg hate crim legislatn to clu protectns for gays, cludg transgenr dividuals; and securg marriage rights for same-sex upl (see same-sex marriage).
Ary’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy (1993–2011), which had permted gay and lbian dividuals to serve the ary if they did not disclose their sexual orientatn or engage homosexual activy; the repeal effectively end the ban on homosexuals the ary. 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, three members of the Mattache Society, an early anizatn dited to fightg for gay rights, staged a “sip-”—a twist on the “s-” protts of the 1960s. But between New York’s LGBTQ muny the 1960s beg forced to live on the outskirts of society and the Mafia’s disregard for the law, the two beme a profable, if uneasy, State Liquor Authory and the New York Police Department regularly raid bars that tered to gay patrons.
THIS IS WHAT GAY LIBERATN LOOKED LIKE IN THE '70S
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.
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.
GAY LIBERATN MOVEMENT
”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. In December 1963, a ont-page article the New York Tim began wh the newspaper’s equivalent of htg the panic button: “The cy’s most sensive open secret—the prence of what is probably the greatt homosexual populatn the world and s creasg openns—has bee the subject of growg ncern of psychiatrists, relig lears, and the police.
” This group ced “overwhelmg evince” om a ne-year study led by Irvg Bieber of New York Medil College that homosexuals are not born but ma—generally and advertently by overbearg mothers and weak-willed fathers—and that they uld be cured “by sophistited analytil and theraptic techniqu.
Mart Duberman’s g-of-age story, sharply, poignantly, and self-crilly reunted his 1991 memoir Cur: A Gay Man’s Odyssey, illtrat one of the most startlg featur of the era of gay reprsn: that many gay men accepted and ternalized the nmnatn and opprobrium directed their way.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS
The seri begs wh the headle “There are probably 2, 700 homosexuals at Cal”, and go to tail about how police officers have been crackg down on the "homosexual activy" on mp, cludg removg every other door the men’s rtroom, so that would stop people om drillg glory hol the stalls.
Durg this s- the stunts veloped a list of mands for the Universy which clud: the Universy support the repeal of sodomy laws, the Universy provi facili for the CGE, the Universy give permissn to hold the gay dance as planned, and the Universy enforce the rignatn of John Cox. In addn to the great event that was the dance, the CGE hosted many nscns raisg events the form of symposiums hop of exposg gays to their own opprsn and to te and raise awarens the straight muny about gays, their liftyle, and the acpanyg challeng.
Those who feel themselv to be homosexual or bisexual or who are uncerta about their sexual orientatn n expect sympathetic and nfintial nsiratn om most of the relig unselors and the staff of the Columbia Counsellg Service, as well as om the SHL [Stunt Homophile League] self. However, throughout 150 years of homosexual social movements (roughly om the 1870s to today), lears and anizers stggled to addrs the very different ncerns and inty issu of gay men, women intifyg as lbians, and others intifyg as genr variant or nonbary.
THE STONEWALL RTS DIDN’T START THE GAY RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Biblil terpretatn ma illegal for a woman to wear pants or a man to adopt female drs, and sensatnalized public trials warned agast “viants” but also ma such martyrs and hero popular: Joan of Arc is one example, and the chillg origs of the word “faggot” clu a stick of wood ed public burngs of gay men. This creasg awarens of an existg and vulnerable populatn, upled wh Senator Joseph McCarthy’s vtigatn of homosexuals holdg ernment jobs durg the early 1950s outraged wrers and feral employe whose own liv were shown to be send-class unr the law, cludg Frank Kameny, Barbara Gtgs, Allen Gsberg, and Harry Hay. Fstrated wh the male learship of most gay liberatn groups, lbians fluenced by the femist movement of the 1970s formed their own llectiv, rerd labels, mic ftivals, newspapers, bookstor, and publishg ho, and lled for lbian rights mastream femist groups like the Natnal Organizatn for Women.
PARTY AND PROTT: THE RADIL HISTORY OF GAY LIBERATN, STONEWALL AND PRI
The creasg expansn of a global LGBT rights movement suffered a setback durg the 1980s, as the gay male muny was cimated by the Aids epimic, mands for passn and medil fundg led to renewed alns between men and women as well as angry street theatre by groups like Aids Coaln to Unleash Power (ACT UP) and Queer Natn.