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Background to stonewall riots
StoneWall riots of the 1960's
StoneWall riots of the 1960's
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The Stonewall Rebellion of 1969 was a series of riots counteracting a violent police raid at Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York City, New York. Resulting from the years of mistreatment towards members of the LGBT community, the uprising was a work in progress that would heavily effect the way many viewed the community. The rebellion demonstrated the immense conflict between the LGBT community and the rest of society, setting the stage for future political and social compromises. The Stonewall Rebellion of 1969 had a significant effect on the United States socially, politically and religiously and was a catalyst for the future of the
United States’ Gay Rights Movement.
Mistreatment of the 20th Century
When the LGBT community began
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The Stonewall Uprising
In the early morning of June 28th, 1969, the unthinkable finally occurred in the open community of Greenwich, Manhattan. Deputy Inspector Seymour Pine of Manhattan's First
Division of Public Morals had set two male and two female officers undercover in the bar on 13 the night of Friday, June 27th under suspicions of illegal dispensing of liquor. As Pine’s plan to 14 gather intel continued through the night and his two male officers returned, he anxiously awaited the return of the female officers. However, as time passed and Pine’s worry for the two officers began to grow, Pine could wait no longer and decided to directly raid the bar. At about 1:20 15
a.m., in the early morning of June 28th, 1969, the police raid on the Stonewall Inn had begun.
Once inside, the officers phoned in the incident to their precinct and requested backup. 16
As word of the raid spread within the club, many panicked customers sought their friends and an exit. Many feared losing their jobs, being outed, arrested, and paramount to that–their safety.
As the officers continued their arrests, the patrons of the Stonewall Inn were sneering and using profane language towards the officers, unsettled by the treatment towards their
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As 22 the riots ensued after these arrests and the Tactical Police Force (TPF) of Manhattan arrived, hundreds of LGBT members in Greenwich Village continued to flood the streets, and resisted all attempts made by the police to calm the riots. Drag queens would line up along the street, shoulder to shoulder chanting things such as, “We are the Village Queens. We always wear blue jeans. We wear our hair in curls. Because we think we’re girls.” 23
“The Stonewall Riots Explained.” Youtube, uploaded by Hip Hughes, 2 July 2015. 17
Faderman, Lillian. The Gay Revolution; The Story of the Struggle. New York, New York, Simon & 18 Schuster, 2015.
“Laverne Cox, Candis Cayne & More on Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera | Trailblazer Honors | 19 Logo.” Youtube, uploaded by Logo, 7 July 2016.
Grabianowski, Ed. “How the Stonewall Riots Worked.” How Stuff Works. 20
Hevesi, Dennis. “Seymour Pine Dies at 91; Led Raid on Stonewall Inn.” The New York Times, 7 Sept. 21 2010.
Arrest Reports From the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. 28 June 1969. The New York Times. 22
Bausum, Ann. Stonewall Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights. New York, New York, Penguin 23 Group,
...protest movements throughout America and the world.” Among the gay community Stonewall has become the word for freedom, for fighting, for equality. It became a turning point in Gay history, so much so that most books on the subject refer to “pre-Stonewall” and “post-Stonewall” as the lines of demarcation. Of course the journey is still long and fight has not been won. At the turn of the century there were still 20 states that made homosexual sex illegal , any only a few states would recognize the love and companionship of gays through marriage or civil unions. The military policy of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is still active and prejudices continue to exist. But, as exemplified by any other civil rights movement, it is through the constant grind of activists and lay-people constantly protesting and educating, that change occurs, even if only one person at a time.
The activating occasion of the Los Angeles riots occurred one spring evening when Rodney King was driving, neglectfully and inebriated, on the Foothill Freeway. At the point when two officers timed King speeding, and started to seek after him, a fast auto pursue followed. Rodney King was on parole, and was concerned a speeding ticket, joined with his blood liquor level, would cost him his opportunity. When King was at long last cornered, numerous squad cars were included. After one officer let go two tasers into King, King professedly opposed capture and four cops started utilizing their rod to beat King into accommodation. The battle that took after included a severe beating, more than 50 hits from the cudgel, kicks from the
In Vicki L. Eaklor’s Queer America, the experiences of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people in the years since the 1970s gay liberation movement are described as a time of transformation and growth. The antigay movement, threatened, now more than ever, created numerous challenges and obstacles that are still prevalent today. Many of the important changes made associated with the movement were introduced through queer and queer allied individuals and groups involved in politics. Small victories such as the revision of the anti discrimination statement to include “sexual orientation”, new propositions regarding the Equal Rights Amendment and legalized abortion, were met in turn with growing animosity and resistance from individuals and groups opposed to liberal and
Gilbert, Ben W. Ten blocks from the White House: Anatomy of the Washington Riots of 1968. FA Praeger, 1968.
The stonewall riots happened june 28, 1969. It took place in the the Stonewall inn which is located in Greenwich Village which is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. “The stonewall inn is widely known as the birthplace of the modern LGBT rights movement and holds a truly iconic place in history” (gaycitynews). This means that the Stonewall riots was the event that started the gay rights movement. This is saying that The Stonewall is where the gay rights movement started for gay people to have same rights has anyone else. It all started with A number of incidents that were happening simultaneously. “There was no one thing that happened or one person, there was just… a flash of group, of mass anger”(Wright). This means that everything was happening at once and a bunch of people were angry. People in the crowd started shouting “Gay Power!” “And as the word started to spread through Greenwich Village and across the city, hundreds of gay men and lesbians, black, white, Hispanic, and predominantly working class, converged on the Christopher Street area around the Stonewall Inn to join the fray”(Wright). So many gay and lesbian people were chanting “gay power” . “The street outside the bar where the rebellion lasted for several day and night in june”(gaycitynews). so the stonewall riot lasted many days and
Morris, R. (2012, April 28). LA riots: How 1992 changed the police. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-17878180
Even though many of the protesters were severely beaten, they still stood their stance and got the message out. What is a Riot? According to Encyclopedia.gov a riot “is a social occasion involving relatively spontaneous collective violence directed at property, persons, or authority.” There are five main
...series of meeting set up by, U.S. Attorney David M. Satz. According to police the riots took 26 lives, 24 of them were African American. The two white victims were a police detective, who was reportedly shot by a sniper, and a fireman, who was killed by gunfire while responding to an alarm on Central Avenue. Eighteen of the 26 people killed during the riot were shot by police or National Guard troops. Several people, like Eloise Spellman, and Elizabeth Artis, were fatally wounded in their own homes by a combination of National Guard/Police bullets aimed at suspected snipers. According to New Jersey state police reported 725 injuries (according to Newark City Hospital over 1000), 1500 arrest, and $10 million in property damage. After the riots Newark tried to encourage racial equality. However, today, housing, employment, and education are remaining huge problems.
The media considers the1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City the spark of the modern gay rights movement. This occurred after the police raided the Stonewall bar, a popular gay bar in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. Allyn argues that the new energy and militancy generated by the riot played a crucial role in creating the gay liberation movement. Arguably, the Stonewall Riots have come to resemble the pivotal moment in gay rights history largely because it provided ways for the gay community to resist the social norms. In fact, the riots increased public awareness of gay rights activism (Allyn 157). Gay life after the Stonewall riots, however, was just as varied and complex as it was before. In the following era, ho...
On the night of August 11, 1965 the Watts community of Los Angeles County went up in flames. A riot broke out and lasted until the seventeenth of August. After residents witnessed a Los Angeles police officer using excessive force while arresting an African American male. Along with this male, the police officers also arrested his brother and mother. Twenty-seven years later in 1992 a riot known as both the Rodney King riots and the LA riots broke out. Both share the similar circumstances as to why the riots started. Before each riot there was some kind of tension between police officers and the African American people of Los Angeles. In both cases African Americans were still dealing with high unemployment rates, substandard housing, and inadequate schools. Add these three problems with policemen having a heavy hand and a riot will happen. Many of the primary sources I will you in this analysis for the Watts and the LA riots can be found in newspaper articles written at the time of these events. First-hand accounts from people living during the riots are also used.
The Stonewall Riots marked the start of the gay rights movement, and inspired members of the gay community to fight for their rights instead of being condemned for their sexuality. Even today, gay people in the US use the incident at Stonewall to educate younger members of the gay community. "The younger generation should know about Stonewall so that they will realize it is possible to make change. It is possible to overcome entrenched, institutionalized prejudice, discrimination, and bigotry. And that they can live full equal lives." (Frank Kameny, aarp.org) This is the message that many members of the gay community continue to spread after the incident at the Stonewall Inn.
The history of the gay rights movement goes as far back as the late 19th century. More accurately, the quest by gays to search out others like themselves and foster a feeling of identity has been around since then. It is an innovative movement that seeks to change existing norms and gain acceptance within our culture. By 1915, one gay person said that the gay world was a "community, distinctly organized" (Milestones 1991), but kept mostly out of view because of social hostility. According to the Milestones article, after World War II, around 1940, many cities saw their first gay bars open as many homosexuals began to start a networking system. However, their newfound visibility only backfired on them, as in the 1950's president Eisenhower banned gays from holding federal jobs and many state institutions did the same. The lead taken by the federal government encouraged local police forces to harass gay citizens. "Vice officers regularly raided gay bars, sometimes arresting dozens of men and women on a single night" (Milestones). In spite of the adversity, out of the 1950s also came the first organized groups of gays, including leaders. The movement was small at first, but grew exponentially in short periods of time. Spurred on by the civil rights movement in the 1960s, the "homophile" (Milestones) movement took on more visibility, picketing government agencies and discriminatory policies. By 1969, around 50 gay organizations existed in the United States. The most crucial moment in blowing the gay rights movement wide open was on the evening of July 27, 1969, when a group of police raided a gay bar in New York City. This act prompted three days of rioting in the area called the Stonewall Rio...
Bawer, Bruce. A Place at the Table: The Gay Individual in American Society. New York: Poseidon, 1993. Print.
There were several causes which led to this riot and the immediate cause was racial tension. Racism tends to persist most readily when there are obvious physical differences among groups e.g. “Black” and “white” differences. This no doubt results in attempts to limit economic opportunities, to preserve status, to deny equal protection under law and to maintain cheap labor. Discrimination was represented ...