Stonewall Riots: 40 Years Ago This Month

The Stonewall Inn as it looks today

It is important for the LGBT community of today to understand how the gay rights movement began, and to realize that 1969 was only four decades ago. Since then our country has made some huge strides, but that’s not to say there have not been setbacks along the way as well.

Picture it, June 28, 1969 (I was only a year old then) at 1:20 a.m. This is when eight New York City police officers raided the Stonewall Inn and little did they know at the time, would ultimately give birth to the gay rights movement.

It is 40 years later. Take a look back with me at the historical significance of the Stonewall Riots.

Since the end of World War I, the Greenwich Village area of New York had been home to a sizeable gay and lesbian population. By the 1960s the city had instituted laws against homosexuality in public and private businesses, and a campaign was in effect by order of the current mayor to rid the city of gay bars. Undercover officers entrapped as many homosexual men as possible, and bars with gay customers were stripped of their liquor licenses.

Other than bars in Greenwich Village, very few places existed at the time where gays and lesbians were able to socialize in public. One of these places was the Stonewall.  The only bay for gay men in New York City where dancing was allowed.

It was a common occurrence for police to raids gay bars in the ‘60s, but the raid of the Stonewall Inn in the Greenwich Village of New York City was not as routine as the police would find out.

On Saturday, June 28, 1969, eight police officers showed up at the Stonewall’s entrance and announced they would be raiding the bar. Once inside, it was standard procedure to line everyone up to check their identification, and any men dressed as women were to be arrested.  But, on this night, however, a stand was finally taken when those men who were dressed as women refused to go with police or refused to show their identification. The police quickly lost control of the situation, causing the crowd to riot.  Within minutes, many people had met outside the bar.  Most of them were gay and lesbian residents of the village.  Chaos ensued, and when the streets were finally cleared around 4 a.m. , 13 people had been arrested, some in the crowd were hospitalized, and four police officers were injured. The next night there was more demonstrations ensued. Many returned from the previous night, joined by onlookers and tourists. One witness described how remarkable it was to see public homosexual affection: “From going to places where you had to knock on a door and speak to someone through a peephole in order to get in. We were just out. We were in the streets.” Once again, a street battle ensued until 4 a.m. Yet another riot took place, after the Village Voice had run unflattering reports of the riots, mentioning “limp wrists” and “Sunday fag follies.” A mob of people took over once again and threatened to burn down the publication’s offices. This  incident lasted around an hour.  Activist groups were organized by the area’s residents within a matter of weeks, and The Gay Liberation Front was officially created within a month. Three newspapers were also founded shortly after to promote gay and lesbian issues.

By 1970, simultaneous gay pride marches took place in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago. In 1971, Boston, Dallas, Milwaukee, London, Paris, Berlin, and Stockholm followed suit. Within two or three years, cities throughout the world celebrated gay liberation.

On June 1, 2009, President Barack O’Bama declared June 2009 Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, citing the riots as a reason to “commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans”.

Well, I am certain that somehow, someway, someday, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgender individuals will have equal rights.

Until Next Time!

Michael Queenstown

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