Friday, February 21, 2020

Stonewall Riots


The 1969 police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay club in Greenwich Village of New York City, sparked an unlikely resistance and became one of the catalysts for the gay rights movement to follow. To preface, it was not a good time to be gay in the United States. In all states except for Illinois, it was illegal to participate in “homosexual acts.” Although gay people were now legally allowed to be served alcohol, police still patrolled bars in an attempt to catch illegal acts and break up disorderly gatherings of LGBT communities. Therefore, it was not exactly surprising that the police decided to raid Stonewall on June 28th, 1969, what was surprising was the response from the patrons.  
The Stonewall Inn was a seedy place run by members of the Mafia, the Genovese family, and it operated without a proper liquor license. The crime family was able to get away with a lot of questionable business strategies to cut costs. They were also known to blackmail some wealthy patrons with the threat of outsing their sexuality. As a result, the nine police who raided the bar first arrested thirteen employees for selling alcohol without a license. The police also took into custody patrons who were cross-dressing because of the law that forced people to always wear “at least three articles of gender-appropriate clothing.”
In response to the police manhandling the patrons, the people outside the bar became increasingly angry. They threw bottles, coins, stones, and other objects at the police as they were arresting other people. They slashed the tires of police vehicles and continued to yell and harass the officers. Eventually, the police had to call for reinforcement and barricade themselves inside the bar for their own safety. The protestors set the bar on fire and firefighters had to put out the flames while the police disappeared into the crowd. For the next five days, riots centered around the inn continued as LGBT activists came to unify the community and spread more awareness about gay rights. There were a few more police skirmishes but none as large as the first confrontation. 
The Stonewall riots became a national symbol of the fight for gay rights against discrimination by police and other officials. After the uprising, numerous gay rights organizations sprung up to continue the fight. Notable ones include the Gay Liberation Front and Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. The year after the riot, the first gay pride parade embarked from Stonewall and marched for fifteen blocks. This spurred the creation of more parades in other cities across the United States. More recently, in 2016, President Obama made the inn and surrounding areas into a national monument to solidify the influence that the riots had on the gay rights movement. 

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1 comment:

  1. Your post reminded me of the pride parade that happens every year in San Francisco. As you mentioned at the end of your blog, the first pride parade occurred on June 28, 1970, a year after the Stonewall Riots. When it first started, it was known as the Christopher Street Liberation Day March, named after the street on which Stonewall Inn was located. The first parades were planned by Brenda Howard, who decided to abandon the old restrictions of the previous Reminder marches that started in 1965. This new tactic was extremely successful, with marches lasting until current day and 2020 being Pride Marches's 50th anniversary.

    Source:
    https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/first-pride-marches-photos-1-180972379/

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