Narrator (Archival):This is one of the county's principal weekend gathering places for homosexuals, both male and female. Mayor John Lindsay, like most mayors, wanted to get re-elected. WebStonewall Riot praxis one paper pcs 215 03 praxis the stonewall riots in 1969, people responded to violence from officers at police raid at the stonewall inn in Skip to document Ask an Expert Sign inRegister Sign inRegister Home Ask an ExpertNew My Library Discovery Institutions Southern New Hampshire University Harvard University It was a down at a heels kind of place, it was a lot of street kids and things like that. Don't fire until I fire. National Archives and Records Administration Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:The moment you stepped out that door there would be hundreds facing you. Dick Leitsch:Very often, they would put the cops in dresses, with makeup and they usually weren't very convincing. Anger erupted after New York City police arrested 13 people during a raid at the Stonewall Inn, a bar and safe space for the LGBTQ+ community. And Dick Leitsch, who was the head of the Mattachine Society said, "Who's in favor?" They call them hotels, motels, lovers' lanes, drive-in movie theaters, etc. WebLast Friday the privacy of the Stonewall was invaded by police from the First Division. They can be anywhere. WebView informativespeechoutline.docx from COMM MISC at Texas State University. Producers Library We didn't necessarily know where we were going yet, you know, what organizations we were going to be or how things would go, but we became something I, as a person, could all of a sudden grab onto, that I couldn't grab onto when I'd go to a subway T-room as a kid, or a 42nd street movie theater, you know, or being picked up by some dirty old man. In the Life Martin Boyce:I wasn't labeled gay, just "different." Raymond Castro:There were mesh garbage cans being lit up on fire and being thrown at the police. But we had to follow up, we couldn't just let that be a blip that disappeared. The 7.7-acre (3.1-hectare) monument included the Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park, and the surrounding streets and sidewalks. The parades official chant was: Say it loud, gay is proud.. Maybe the guys name was real (parents do name their kids after saints) but maybe it was just given at the time of arrest. Martha Shelley:If you were in a small town somewhere, everybody knew you and everybody knew what you did and you couldn't have a relationship with a member of your own sex, period. Martin Boyce:Oh, Miss New Orleans, she wouldn't be stopped. Many of those bars were, however, subject to regular police harassment. rebellion in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969. https://www.britannica.com/event/Stonewall-riots. John O'Brien:Our goal was to hurt those police. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:But there were little, tiny pin holes in the plywood windows, I'll call them the windows but they were plywood, and we could look out from there and every time I went over and looked out through one of those pin holes where he did, we were shocked at how big the crowd had become. TV Host (Archival):That's a very lovely dress too that you're wearing Simone. A set of police records gathered by OutHistory.org, a Web site run by the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the City Homosexuals do not want that, you might find some fringe character someplace who says that that's what he wants. Not even us. Patricia Yusah, Marketing and Communications But instead of responding with the routine compliance the NYPD expected, Martha Shelley:They wanted to fit into American society the way it was. John O'Brien:There was one street called Christopher Street, where actually I could sit and talk to other gay people beyond just having sex. At least if you had press, maybe your head wouldn't get busted. The Stonewall Inn site was declared And, you know,The Village Voiceat that point started using the word "gay.". Dana Gaiser In Stonewall, renowned historian and activist Martin Duberman tells the full story of this pivotal moment in history. Even non-gay people. Carters book is a terrific read for anyone interested in gay history At the time of the Stonewall uprising I had just turned 19 and was essentially a virgin. Danny Garvin:We were talking about the revolution happening and we were walking up 7th Avenue and I was thinking it was either Black Panthers or the Young Lords were going to start it and we turned the corner from 7th Avenue onto Christopher Street and we saw the paddy wagon pull up there. Charles Harris, Transcriptions In short, on the morning of June 28, the Stonewall was full of people who had every reason not to want to show their IDs. And the first gay power demonstration to my knowledge was against my story inThe Village Voiceon Wednesday. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We didn't have the manpower, and the manpower for the other side was coming like it was a real war. It said the most dreadful things, it said nothing about being a person. This time the people milling outside the bar did not retreat or scatter as they almost always had in the past. Jerry Hoose:The bar itself was a toilet. This is one thing that if you don't get caught by us, you'll be caught by yourself. But I was just curious, I didn't want to participate because number one it was so packed. In 1924, the first gay rights organization is founded by Henry Gerber in Chicago. Historians have noted that the shift in activism, if Stonewall truly represented one at all, was a shift primarily for white cisgender people, as people of color and gender non-conforming people never truly had the benefit of concealing their marginalized identities. If anybody should find out I was gay and would tell my mother, who was in a wheelchair, it would have broken my heart and she would have thought she did something wrong. They had a warrant. On June 28, 1969, the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York's Greenwich Village, was raided by police. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The Stonewall riots came at a central point in history. I told the person at the door, I said "I'm 18 tonight" and he said to me, "you little SOB," he said. Use all four of your sources (two primary and two secondary) to answer the questions below. I learned, very early, that those horrible words were about me, that I was one of those people. Tires were slashed on police cars and it just went on all night long. You needed a license even to be a beautician and that could be either denied or taken away from you. Introduction: Newly Obtained Documents Reveal Names Slate:Perversion for Profit(1965), Citizens for Decency Through Law. It was also a favorite haunt of underage and homeless members of the LGBTQ community. The organization with the largest donation to Christopher Street Liberation Day 1970 was the Queens Liberation Front, donating $50 (CSLDC Bulletin and Reports External, Cash Receipts Journal). For such reasons, LGBT individuals flocked to gay bars and clubs, places of refuge where they could express themselves openly and socialize without worry. Noah Goldman In particular, he cited the naming of Ms. Fowler as significant because some writers had questioned the extent or even existence of womens involvement at the inception of the uprising. Danny Garvin:Everybody would just freeze or clam up. You had no place to try to find an identity. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. We'll put new liquor in there, we'll put a new mirror up, we'll get a new jukebox." Danny Garvin:Something snapped. Interviewer (Archival):What type of laws are you after? Except for the few mob-owned bars that allowed some socializing, it was basically for verboten. It must have been terrifying for them. Pamela Gaudiano And there was tear gas on Saturday night, right in front of the Stonewall. Gay people were not powerful enough politically to prevent the clampdown and so you had a series of escalating skirmishes in 1969. None of the nine pages of reports We don't know. The Chicago riots, the Human Be-in, the dope smoking, the hippies. Historical Significance of the Stonewall Riots And I said to myself, "Oh my God, this will not last.". WebThe Stonewall Inn is a gay bar in New York City. One such well-known gathering place for young gay men, lesbians, and transgender people was the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, a dark, seedy, crowded bar, reportedly operating without a liquor license. John O'Brien:We had no idea we were gonna finish the march. Martha Shelley But it's serious, don't kid yourselves about it. He said, "Okay, let's go." WGBH Educational Foundation David Carter morning and a round-up in Monday's print edition. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:In states like New York, there were a whole basket of crimes that gay people could be charged with. Because its all right in the Village, but the minute we cross 14th street, if there's only ten of us, God knows what's going to happen to us.". Perhaps the man in question was having a bit of fun at the arresting officers expense. . Eric Marcus, Recreation Still Photography The ones that came close you could see their faces in rage. This was the first time I could actually sense, not only see them fearful, I could sense them fearful. Martin Boyce:There were these two black, like, banjee guys, and they were saying, "What's goin' on man?" woman, whose identity was not known, was arrested. A panel discussion on LBGTQ+ research on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. The Mafia owned the jukeboxes, they owned the cigarette machines and most of the liquor was off a truck hijacking. And the rest of your life will be a living hell. Jay Fialkov Occurring as it did in the context of the civil rights and feminist movements, the Stonewall riots became a galvanizing force. Because to be gay represented to me either very, super effeminate men or older men who hung out in the upper movie theatres on 42nd Street or in the subway T-rooms, who'd be masturbating. He is the founder of Mattachine Society of New York. Raymond Castro:So then I got pushed back in, into the Stonewall by these plain clothes cops and they would not let me out, they didn't let anybody out. Lance Douglass- StonewallRiots part 2.pdf - Document A: New Kate Davis and David Holbreiner, author David Carter, and a participant in the riots will be present for a Q&A afterward. I grew up in a very Catholic household and the conflict of issues of redemption, of is it possible that if you are this thing called homosexual, is it possible to be redeemed? William Eskridge, Professor of Law:At the peak, as many as 500 people per year were arrested for the crime against nature, and between 3- and 5,000 people per year arrested for various solicitation or loitering crimes. Gay people were never supposed to be threats to police officers. (The original inn closed soon after the riots, and the new bar, which occupies only part of the original space, has no other connection to the original establishment.) The police barricade was repeatedly breached, and the bar was set on fire. Absolutely, and many people who were not lucky, felt the cops. Use all four of your sources (two primary and two secondary) to answer the questions below. ABCNEWS VideoSource Stonewall Jerry Hoose:And we were going fast. Police reinforcements arrived in time to extinguish the flames, and they eventually dispersed the crowd. Stonewall Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:There were complaints from people who objected to the wrongful behavior of some gays who would have sex on the street. Remember everything. Slate:In 1969, homosexual acts were illegal in every state except Illinois. Aaron Lecklider Journal of American History, Volume 107, Issue 3, December 2020, Pages 794796, https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jaaa438 Published: 01 December 2020 PDF Split View Cite If there had been a riot of that proportion in Harlem, my God, you know, there'd have been cameras everywhere. Gay Pride Week and March, was meant to give the community a chance to gather together to, "commemorate the Christopher Street Uprisings of last summer in which thousands of homosexuals went to the streets to demonstrate against centuries of abuse.from government hostility to employment and housing discrimination, Mafia control of Gay bars, and anti-Homosexual laws" (Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee Fliers, Franklin Kameny Papers). And they were having a meeting at town hall and there were 400 guys who showed up, and I think a couple of women, talking about these riots, 'cause everybody was really energized and upset and angry about it. All I knew about was that I heard that there were people down in Times Square who were gay and that's where I went to. And I hadn't had enough sleep, so I was in a somewhat feverish state, and I thought, "We have to do something, we have to do something," and I thought, "We have to have a protest march of our own." The "Stonewall Era" corresponds with the opening of the Stonewallin January 1966 until it closed in December 1969. Stonewall Riots Paper, $35.00.) And some people came out, being very dramatic, throwing their arms up in a V, you know, the victory sign. Then during lunch, Ralph showed him some pornographic pictures. When Martha Shelley, 25, climbed on top of a water fountain in a park near Stonewall exactly one month after the riot, she feared for her life. John O'Brien:The election was in November of 1969 and this was the summer of 1969, this was June. The day is now celebrated globally to honor the brave individuals who stood up to the system and protested for equality in 1969. First you gotta get past the door. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. It was as if an artist had arranged it, it was beautiful, it was like mica, it was like the streets we fought on were strewn with diamonds. Forty-five years later, over six million people annually participate in 115 Pride parades across the United States. I hope it was. If you came to a place like New York, you at least had the opportunity of connecting with people, and finding people who didn't care that you were gay.