Stonewall Inn History

Life as a member of the LGBTQ+ community is not an easy life. In the early morning of June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn, located in the Greenwich Village of New York City, a series of violent, spontaneous demonstrations in the LGBT community began against a police raid. That moment in history, the brick that started it all, is considered the most important event leading to the fight for LGBTQ+ Americans.
Background
After the social mayhem that was World War II, Americans felt a severe need to restore social order and hold off on change. Senator Joseph McCarthy conducted hearings searching for communists in the U.S. government, the Army, and many other government-funded agencies and organizations. This leads to national paranoia. Communists,

anarchists, and anyone else deemed ‘un-American’ were considered security risks.
Members of the LGBTQ+ community were included in this list made by the State Department. The theory was that they were more susceptible to blackmail. A Senate investigation chaired Clyde R. Hoey conveyed in a report, “It is generally believed that those who engage in overt acts of perversion lack the emotional stability of normal persons.”, and said all of the government’s intelligence agencies “are in complete agreement that sex perverts in Government constitute security risks.” Just for being suspected of homosexuality, between 1947 and 1950, 1,700 federal job applications were denied, 4,380 people were discharged from the military, and 420 were fired from government jobs.
In the 1950’s and 1960’s the FBI and police kept lists of known homosexuals, where they and their friends went; the Post Office kept track of addresses where material pertaining to homosexuality was mailed. Cities performed “sweeps” to rid neighborhoods, parks, bars, and beaches of gay people. Cross-dressing and dressing in drag was outlawed. Thousands were fired, humiliated, harassed, jailed and placed in mental hospitals. This led to many living double lives. In 1952, the American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality as a mental disorder; it remained that way until 1973.Social repression in the 1950’s resulted in a cultural revolution in Greenwich Village. This revolution created a community for those who had nowhere else to go.
In the early 1960’s a campaign to rid New York City, of gay bars was, in effect, by order of Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. The city began revoking liquor licenses of the bars, and undercover cops worked to trap homosexual men.
Stonewall
The Stonewall Inn, among several other establishments in the city, was owned by the Genovese Family.

In 1966, three members of the Mafia invested $3,500 to turn Stonewall into a gay bar. Once a week a police officer would collect cash as a payoff; Stonewall had no liquor license. There was no running water behind the bar, no fire exits, and the toilets barely worked.
Patrons of the club had to sign their names in a book, but they rarely signed their real names. Stonewall had two dance floors; the interior was painted black with black lights. If regular lights were on it meant that everyone should stop dancing or touching and that police were there. The diversity of the club made it known as “the gay bar” leading to many raids.
Raids were already frequent in gay bars – averaging once a month for each bar. Stashing alcohol where the police couldn’t find was common, so the business could resume quickly if alcohol was seized. Due to police payoffs the bar management usually knew about raids before they happened; if they happened early enough in the night business could continue

after.
During a raid music stopped, the lights were turned on and patrons would line up by gender. If your clothes didn’t match your gender you were arrested. Without identification you were arrested. If you weren’t a feminine woman you were arrested. Employees were often checked as well. The weeks leading up to the riots were filled with frequent raids of the local bars. Stonewall was raided the Tuesday before the riots began.
The Riots
Saturday, June 28, 1969 at 1:20 AM, four policemen in dark cases, two patrol officers in uniform, detective Charles Smythe and Deputy Inspector Seymour Pine arrived at Stonewalls double doors and announced “Police!

We’re taking the place!” The employees who were tipped off to raids never were informed of this one. Some say that the raid was ordered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, although this was never confirmed.
Earlier in the night two undercover policewomen and two undercover policemen entered the bar to gather visual evidence, and the Public Morals Squad waited outside for the signal. The undercover police officers called for backup using the bar’s pay phone.
Roughly 205 people were in the bar that night. Man of the patrons had never experienced a raid and were confused. Others who realized what was happening ran for doors and windows in the bathrooms; the police had barred the doors. The bar was already entering chaos.
Michael Fader remembered, “Things happened so fast you kind of got caught not knowing. All of a sudden there were police there and we were told to all get in lines and to have our identification ready to be led out of the bar.” The raid was not going to the police’s plan. The procedure was to line up the patrons, check identification, and have the female officers take customers dressed as women to the bathroom to ‘verify’ their sex; many men in drag were

arrested.
This night was different. Women refused to go with the officers, men refused to show identification. The police were going to take everyone to the station after separating those in drag from the rest first. Transwomen Maria Ritter, then known as Steve to the world, has said "My biggest fear was that I would get arrested. My second biggest fear was that my picture would be in a newspaper or on a television report in my mother's dress! The discomfort was sensed by police and patrons alike. Police began assaulting some of the lesbians by "feeling some of them up inappropriately" while frisking them.
The police grabbed the bars alcohol, but had to wait for the patrol cars to get. This caused the patrons to wait about 15 minutes. Those not arrested were discharged from custody out the front threshold; they didn’t leave quickly which was distinctive. A crowd began to grow outside. In ten minutes about 150 people had congregated outside Stonewall, some of the bar, but many from seeing the crowd and police cars.
As the first patrol car arrived the crowd had grown ten times larger than those arrested, and they were becoming very quiet. Radio communication delayed the second patrol car. Bystanders began shouting “Gay Power!” and singing “We Shall Overcome”. The crowd had grown and intense hostility. Rumors went through the crowd that those still inside were being beaten, and possibly killed.
A woman in handcuffs was escorted out of the bar to a waiting police wagon. She ran away repeatedly and fought four police officers, screaming and swearing. Eventually she was hit over the head with a baton, for saying her cuffs were too tight. This woman identified by many, including herself, was Stormé DeLarverie yelled to the crowd, “why don’t you guys do something?” She was forced into the back of the patrol car. This was the moment the scene became dangerous for everyone, this was the moment that started a movement.
These riots have a legacy which is celebrated every year, Pride. Christopher Street Liberation Day on June 28, 1970 marked the first anniversary of the Stonewall; the first pride, with marches in LA and Chicago. These have continued to grow and grow. The battle was won, but the war is still far from over. Gay rights are still a major topic, and members of the LGBTQ+ community still have less rights than straight Americans; we just won the right to marry.
Stonewall Inn, a dirty gay club in Greenwich Village, started a moment. In a time where being out could be a death sentence, where being different was the worst you could be, a community was formed. Members of this community celebrate our pride in who we are every year. The first Pride was violent, and a result of a community tired of hiding and being torn down because of who they were. If you can’t be controlled they try to force you into the background and hide you away. That night, those riots were the fight to be heard, to exist without fear. Life as a member of the LGBTQ+ community is not an easy life, but it will get better. Stonewall proves that much.