The Stonewall Uprising on June 28, 1969, is considered the major turning point in the history of gay rights - not only in the USA, but internationally - with it's propelling of the issue of gay rights into the spotlight forcing previous ignorance to be undermined.
New York during the 1960s was far from a place of freedom for LGBT people - however, it was a place of refuge for many, with gay bars being popular places of gathering; of which the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village became the prevailing option for many LGBT people, although the establishment was a long way from being a high standard, upper class bar. Conducted by the Mafia, the bar operated without a liquor license and served perfunctory drinks that were often watered down - although this was due to the State Liquor Authority refusing to grant gay bars licenses, thus constraining them to run illegally. The Inn consisted of two dark rooms, with no running water able to be utilized - the dirty glasses were simply rinsed in a tub before they were deemed adequate for reuse. Despite this lack of functionality and quality in the Inn, it was one of the few places that LGBT people could socialize in New York and therefore provided a sanctum for people; a place where they could be themselves.
With this popularity, however, came numerous events of police harassment, and when a crackdown on bars operating without liquor licenses began, this persecution took a turn for the worse. Police raids occurred around once a month, in which people in gay bars were lined up and told to show some form of identification. If one failed to provide identification - or if someone was dressed in full drag - they were arrested while the other people were granted to leave the premises. Employees of the bars were commonly arrested regardless, and women inside were required to be wearing at least three items of 'feminine' clothing; if not, this warranted them an arrest also. Early Saturday morning, on June 28, 1969, nine policemen, led by Deputy Seymour Pine, undertook a raid in the Stonewall Inn due to suspicion that it lacked a liquor license. 205 people were occupying the bar that night, and assuming that this raid would come easy and be met with relatively insignificant protests as per usual, the police were caught by surprise when the crowd inside the bar did not disperse, but rather accumulated more people and increased in size. In the early stages of the raid, the instructions of the police were followed to an extent - but when one of the people arrested yelled "Why don't you guys do something!" to the gathering crowd, a more discomforted, enraged group of people began to emerge from the spectators. The Village Voice portrayed this infuriation, stating how once paddy wagons began to arrive, the atmosphere began to change. "Three of the more blatant queens - in full drag -were loaded inside, along with the bartender and doorman, to a chorus of catcalls and boos from the crowd. A cry went up to push the paddy wagon over, but it drove away before anything could happen. With its exit, the action waned momentarily. The next person to come out was a dyke, and she put up a struggle—from car to door to car again." After this brutal demonstration of forcing unwilling people into the paddy wagons, the crowd began to act more violent, jeering at the police and hurling debris such as beer bottles at them. The crowd soon numbered around 400 people, and the police were forced to call for back up from the Tactical Police Force (TPF) - barricading themselves inside the Inn in order to avoid the outraged rioters outside. Further debris including garbage cans, bottles, bricks, and rocks, were thrown with force at the Inn, and street queen Sylvia Rivera states how "[they've] been treating us like shit all these years? Uh-uh. Now it's our turn! It was one of the greatest moments in my life." The crowd eventually lit some of the debris on fire, shoving it through the smashed windows, and impromptu chants started up including one that heard the crowd singing "We are the Stonewall girls / We wear our hair in curls / We don't wear underwear / We show our pubic hair." By 4am, the crowd had mostly dispersed - 13 people were arrested, with numerous people hospitalized and four policemen injured.
New York during the 1960s was far from a place of freedom for LGBT people - however, it was a place of refuge for many, with gay bars being popular places of gathering; of which the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village became the prevailing option for many LGBT people, although the establishment was a long way from being a high standard, upper class bar. Conducted by the Mafia, the bar operated without a liquor license and served perfunctory drinks that were often watered down - although this was due to the State Liquor Authority refusing to grant gay bars licenses, thus constraining them to run illegally. The Inn consisted of two dark rooms, with no running water able to be utilized - the dirty glasses were simply rinsed in a tub before they were deemed adequate for reuse. Despite this lack of functionality and quality in the Inn, it was one of the few places that LGBT people could socialize in New York and therefore provided a sanctum for people; a place where they could be themselves.
With this popularity, however, came numerous events of police harassment, and when a crackdown on bars operating without liquor licenses began, this persecution took a turn for the worse. Police raids occurred around once a month, in which people in gay bars were lined up and told to show some form of identification. If one failed to provide identification - or if someone was dressed in full drag - they were arrested while the other people were granted to leave the premises. Employees of the bars were commonly arrested regardless, and women inside were required to be wearing at least three items of 'feminine' clothing; if not, this warranted them an arrest also. Early Saturday morning, on June 28, 1969, nine policemen, led by Deputy Seymour Pine, undertook a raid in the Stonewall Inn due to suspicion that it lacked a liquor license. 205 people were occupying the bar that night, and assuming that this raid would come easy and be met with relatively insignificant protests as per usual, the police were caught by surprise when the crowd inside the bar did not disperse, but rather accumulated more people and increased in size. In the early stages of the raid, the instructions of the police were followed to an extent - but when one of the people arrested yelled "Why don't you guys do something!" to the gathering crowd, a more discomforted, enraged group of people began to emerge from the spectators. The Village Voice portrayed this infuriation, stating how once paddy wagons began to arrive, the atmosphere began to change. "Three of the more blatant queens - in full drag -were loaded inside, along with the bartender and doorman, to a chorus of catcalls and boos from the crowd. A cry went up to push the paddy wagon over, but it drove away before anything could happen. With its exit, the action waned momentarily. The next person to come out was a dyke, and she put up a struggle—from car to door to car again." After this brutal demonstration of forcing unwilling people into the paddy wagons, the crowd began to act more violent, jeering at the police and hurling debris such as beer bottles at them. The crowd soon numbered around 400 people, and the police were forced to call for back up from the Tactical Police Force (TPF) - barricading themselves inside the Inn in order to avoid the outraged rioters outside. Further debris including garbage cans, bottles, bricks, and rocks, were thrown with force at the Inn, and street queen Sylvia Rivera states how "[they've] been treating us like shit all these years? Uh-uh. Now it's our turn! It was one of the greatest moments in my life." The crowd eventually lit some of the debris on fire, shoving it through the smashed windows, and impromptu chants started up including one that heard the crowd singing "We are the Stonewall girls / We wear our hair in curls / We don't wear underwear / We show our pubic hair." By 4am, the crowd had mostly dispersed - 13 people were arrested, with numerous people hospitalized and four policemen injured.
Stonewall veterans explain what occurred on the night in 1969, when the police undertook a raid at the Stonewall Inn
As Dick Leitsch, the director of the Mattachine Society, explains, many of the rioters were young people of the LGBT community who relied on the Stonewall Inn to be a source of comfort and a place of solace in a time of hardship and rejection. "There are hundreds of young homosexuals in New York who literally have no home. Many of them are running away from unhappy homes - one boy told us 'My father called me cocksucker so many times, I thought it was my name.' Another said his parents fought so much over which one of them 'made' him a homosexual that he left so that they could learn to live together. Some were even thrown out of their homes with only the clothes on their backs by ignorant, intolerant parents who'd rather see their kid dead than homosexual... for $3.00 admission, one could stay inside [Stonewall] all night long. It saved the kids from spending the night in a doorway or from getting arrested as vagrants. The Stonewall became home to these kids. When it was raided, they fought for it. That, and the fact that they had nothing to lose other than the most tolerant and broadminded gay place in town." Over the next five days, the riots outside the Stonewall Inn continued to be sustained, with news of the rebellion attracting more and more gay activists of all aspects of life to the scene. Through till July 2, the vehemence of the gay activists could be seen outside the Stonewall Inn, with the police returning each night in an attempt to redeem their broken egos; ashamed that they were being stigmatized and taunted by what they saw as a "bunch of queers." However, their efforts saw no avail, with the LGBT community of Stonewall refusing to give up their chance for not only vengeance against the people who had caused them harassment over the past years, but also the chance to gain visibility and have their voices heard in society. While Deputy Pine recounts the riots by saying that "there was never any time that I felt more scared than I felt that night," Allen Ginsburg, a gay Beat poet, explains the changed atmosphere that occurred with the Stonewall Uprising with a more positive outlook, stating that "the guys there were so beautiful - they've lost that wounded look that fags all had 10 years ago." Demonstrated in this is the significance of the Stonewall Uprising - no other event had rallied together the LGBT community quite as much as the riots of 1969 had done, and the consequential amassment of activists proved the riots to be the catalyst of the gay rights movement that ultimately transformed the relatively passive campaign into a militant crusade.
The aftermath of the uprisings saw more militant groups emerging, gay pride parades take place, and ultimately a stronger community forming. Inspired by the riots, members of the Mattachine Society created the Gay Liberation Front, with flyers being distributed announcing the revolution of gay activists. "Do You Think Homosexuals Are Revolting? You Bet Your Sweet Ass We Are!" Soon after the Gay Liberation Front came the Gay Activists Alliance, who aimed to work more within the political structure in order to obtain gay rights. Gay Pride parades were first held after the riots also - one year later, on June 28, 1970, the first Gay Pride Parade marches were undertaken in commemoration of the Stonewall riots, in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The parade in New York was titled "Christopher Street Liberation Day", and covered 51 blocks - from the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street to Central Park. Little defiance was seen by bystanders, with the New York Times stating that "there was little open animosity, and some bystanders applauded when a tall, pretty girl carrying a sign 'I am a lesbian' walked by." Stonewall is considered to be the end of the homophile movement and birth of the gay liberation movement - historian David Carter explains in his article "What Made Stonewall Different" why he believes the uprising was so historically significant. These reasons include the fact that the riots involved thousands of people, they lasted for six days which is a relatively lengthy period of time; he also acknowledges that the uprising was the first event to obtain extensive media coverage, and that out of the riots came the development of gay rights organizations. The Stonewall riots also are believed to have abolished previous characteristics of the LGBT culture, such as the secrecy that came with being gay. As historian Martin Duberman states, "the decades preceding Stonewall continue to be regarded by most gays and lesbians as some vast neolithic wasteland" - conveying that activities prior to Stonewall could somewhat be disregarded as part being an important aspect of the gay rights movement. Author Michael Bronski reaffirms this also, accentuating the fact that before Stonewall, being gay was often thought of in conjunction with living a depressed, deficient lifestyle - Bronski writes that "gay liberation was a youth movement whose sense of history was defined to a large degree by rejection of the past."
The true legacy and significance of Stonewall, according to David Carter, is the "ongoing struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual equality." Many other historians also agree with this statement; the Stonewall riots have been compared by historian Nicholas Edsell to the incident in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Alabama, which ignited the flame of the civil rights movement - likewise, in the months following Stonewall, a movement was sparked that began the gay liberation movement. Historians Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney wrote that before Stonewall, homosexuals "were invisible... but that night, for the first time, the usual acquiescence turned into violent resistance... from that night the attitude toward them of the larger culture in which they lived began to change rapidly. People began to appear in public as homosexuals, demanding respect." Though LGBT history did not begin with Stonewall, by beginning to utilize militant and belligerent tactics after the riots, gay rights activists asserted their rights and equality to be as important as that of other oppressed groups in society.
The aftermath of the uprisings saw more militant groups emerging, gay pride parades take place, and ultimately a stronger community forming. Inspired by the riots, members of the Mattachine Society created the Gay Liberation Front, with flyers being distributed announcing the revolution of gay activists. "Do You Think Homosexuals Are Revolting? You Bet Your Sweet Ass We Are!" Soon after the Gay Liberation Front came the Gay Activists Alliance, who aimed to work more within the political structure in order to obtain gay rights. Gay Pride parades were first held after the riots also - one year later, on June 28, 1970, the first Gay Pride Parade marches were undertaken in commemoration of the Stonewall riots, in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. The parade in New York was titled "Christopher Street Liberation Day", and covered 51 blocks - from the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street to Central Park. Little defiance was seen by bystanders, with the New York Times stating that "there was little open animosity, and some bystanders applauded when a tall, pretty girl carrying a sign 'I am a lesbian' walked by." Stonewall is considered to be the end of the homophile movement and birth of the gay liberation movement - historian David Carter explains in his article "What Made Stonewall Different" why he believes the uprising was so historically significant. These reasons include the fact that the riots involved thousands of people, they lasted for six days which is a relatively lengthy period of time; he also acknowledges that the uprising was the first event to obtain extensive media coverage, and that out of the riots came the development of gay rights organizations. The Stonewall riots also are believed to have abolished previous characteristics of the LGBT culture, such as the secrecy that came with being gay. As historian Martin Duberman states, "the decades preceding Stonewall continue to be regarded by most gays and lesbians as some vast neolithic wasteland" - conveying that activities prior to Stonewall could somewhat be disregarded as part being an important aspect of the gay rights movement. Author Michael Bronski reaffirms this also, accentuating the fact that before Stonewall, being gay was often thought of in conjunction with living a depressed, deficient lifestyle - Bronski writes that "gay liberation was a youth movement whose sense of history was defined to a large degree by rejection of the past."
The true legacy and significance of Stonewall, according to David Carter, is the "ongoing struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual equality." Many other historians also agree with this statement; the Stonewall riots have been compared by historian Nicholas Edsell to the incident in 1955 when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Alabama, which ignited the flame of the civil rights movement - likewise, in the months following Stonewall, a movement was sparked that began the gay liberation movement. Historians Dudley Clendinen and Adam Nagourney wrote that before Stonewall, homosexuals "were invisible... but that night, for the first time, the usual acquiescence turned into violent resistance... from that night the attitude toward them of the larger culture in which they lived began to change rapidly. People began to appear in public as homosexuals, demanding respect." Though LGBT history did not begin with Stonewall, by beginning to utilize militant and belligerent tactics after the riots, gay rights activists asserted their rights and equality to be as important as that of other oppressed groups in society.
Stonewall, today, is payed homage to in multiple ways all across the world. Along with the annual gay pride parades, a LGBT rights charity in the United Kingdom was set up in 1989, named Stonewall after the uprising. The 'Stonewall Awards' is an annual ceremony held by this charity, in order to recognize people who have positively impacted the lives of LGBT people in the UK. In June 1999, Christopher Street and it's neighbouring streets were classified by the Department of the Interior to be National Historical Landmarks; at the celebration, the assistant secretary John Berry exclaimed "Let it forever be remembered that here - on this spot - men and women stood proud, they stood fast, so that we may be who we are, we may work where we will, live where we choose and love whom our hearts desire." The next year, the Stonewall Inn itself was designated to be a National Historical Landmark also. In later years, the riots were still being called the pinnacle of the gay liberation movement - US president Barack Obama, in 2009, dedicated the month of June to be known as LGBT Pride month, adducing the Stonewall riots as a cause to "commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans." During his second inaugural address in 2013, Obama again referred to Stonewall, stating that "we, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths - that all of us are created equal - is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall... Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law - for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well." Many media portrayals of the riots have been released, from the first documentary coming out in 1984, to a fictional film titled 'Stonewall' being released in cinemas in 2015.