Stonewall riots, also called Stonewall uprising, series of violent confrontations that began in the early hours of June 28, 1969, between police and gay rights activists outside the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City. Dan Bodner You know. We'd say, "Here comes Lillian.". Yvonne Ritter:I had just turned 18 on June 27, 1969. Since the Stonewall was without a license, the place was being closed. I mean I'm only 19 and this'll ruin me. They pushed everybody like to the back room and slowly asking for IDs. Forty-five years later, over six million people annually participate in 115 Pride parades across the United States. Lots of gay men in those days had enough experience with the police to conceal their true identities But engaging in gay behavior in public (holding hands, kissing or dancing with someone of the same sex) was still illegal, so police harassment of gay bars continued and many bars still operated without liquor licensesin part because they were owned by the Mafia. Danny Garvin:With Waverly Street coming in there, West Fourth coming in there, Seventh Avenue coming in there, Christopher Street coming in there, there was no way to contain us. Jerry Hoose 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. Accustomed to more passive behaviour, even from larger gay groups, the policemen called for reinforcements and barricaded themselves inside the bar while some 400 people rioted. If that didn't work, they would do things like aversive conditioning, you know, show you pornography and then give you an electric shock. It was done in our little street talk. Research Guides: Civil Rights Movements: Sources on Stonewall For those kisses. << /Length 5 0 R /Filter /FlateDecode >> It was right in the center of where we all were. Mayor John Lindsay, like most mayors, wanted to get re-elected. I learned, very early, that those horrible words were about me, that I was one of those people. He pulls all his men inside. at nytoday.com or in the morning, on The New York Times homepage or its New York section. This is every year in New York City. Without police interference, the crime family could cut costs how they saw fit: The club lacked a fire exit, running water behind the bar to wash glasses, clean toilets that didnt routinely overflow and palatable drinks that werent watered down beyond recognition. Pennebaker courtesy of Pennebaker Hegedus Films The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement and led to the creation of various gay activist groups in the United States and around the world. Diana Davies Photographs, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations But we couldn't hold out very long. Updates? In the Civil Rights Movement, we ran from the police; in the peace movement, we ran from the police. The music was great, cafes were good, you know, the coffee houses were good. Martin Boyce:Well, in the front part of the bar would be like "A" gays, like regular gays, that didn't go in any kind of drag, didn't use the word "she," that type, but they were gay, a hundred percent gay. My father said, "About time you fags rioted.". Stonewall Riot NYPD Reports and Transcriptions. Janice Flood I would get in the back of the car and they would say, "We're going to go see faggots." Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:We would scatter, ka-poom, every which way. It was not a place that, in my life, me and my friends paid much attention to. k lmZkvLvcJ?Jcb^*` They were the storm troopers. A panel discussion on LBGTQ+ research on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising. OutHistory.org has scheduled a fund-raiser, titled Stonewall Was a Riot! E.R.C.H.O. Website support provided by Margaret Paz. With riveting narrative skill, he recreates those revolutionary, sweltering nights in vivid detail through the lives of six people who were drawn into the struggle for LGBTQ rights. Since the Stonewall was without a license, the place was being closed. And, you know,The Village Voiceat that point started using the word "gay.". Research assistance provided by Mario Burrus, Adam Joseph Nichols and Cole Souder. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:Gay people who were sentenced to medical institutions because they were found to be sexual psychopaths, were subjected sometimes to sterilization, occasionally to castration, sometimes to medical procedures, such as lobotomies, which were felt by some doctors to cure homosexuality and other sexual diseases. It was as if they were identifying a thing. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:And I keep listening and listening and listening, hoping I'm gonna hear sirens any minute and I was very freaked. At one point, an officer hit a lesbian over the head as he forced her into the police van she shouted to onlookers to act, inciting the crowd to begin throw pennies, bottles, cobble stones and other objects at the police. A set of police records gathered by OutHistory.org, a Web site run by the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies at the City In the early hours of June 28, 1969, a police raid of the Stonewall Inn exploded into a riot when patrons of the LGBT bar resisted arrest and clashed with police. ISBN: 0143133519 Stonewall : the riots that sparked the gay revolution by David Carter Call Number: Boca Raton General Collection HQ76 .C315 2004 ISBN: Quentin Heilbroner Forty years later I am The raid sparked a riot among bar patrons and neighborhood residents as police roughly hauled employees and patrons out of the bar, leading to six days of protests and violent clashes with law enforcement outside the bar on Christopher Street, in neighboring streets and in nearby Christopher Park. Though the Stonewall uprising didnt start the gay rights movement, it was a galvanizing force for LGBT political activism, leading to numerous gay rights organizations, including the Gay Liberation Front, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD (formerly Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), andPFLAG (formerly Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). Martha Babcock There were gay bars in Midtown, there were gay bars uptown, there were certain kinds of gay bars on the Upper East Side, you know really, really, really buttoned-up straight gay bars. Stonewall Riots Essay HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. It is important to note that in addition to arresting LGBTQ+ people, first-hand accounts reveal the violence that police enacted on those they had arrested. We take great pride in preserving the history of this groundbreaking event in Americas battle for LGBTQ+ equality. John O'Brien:I was very anti-police, had many years already of activism against the forces of law and order. However, once the bar reopened the next day, the cops planned a surprise raid that upcoming weekend. Queer was very big. an unknown object. Mr. Van Ronk eventually pleaded guilty to harassment, a violation. Dick Leitsch:You read about Truman Capote and Tennessee Williams and Gore Vidal and all these actors and stuff, Liberace and all these people running around doing all these things and then you came to New York and you found out, well maybe they're doing them but, you know, us middle-class homosexuals, we're getting busted all the time, every time we have a place to go, it gets raided. The Web site OutHistory.org has obtained police records from the start of the Stonewall Yvonne Ritter:I did try to get out of the bar and I thought that there might be a way out through one of the bathrooms. I was a man. Amber Hall Doric Wilson:And I looked back and there were about 2,000 people behind us, and that's when I knew it had happened. xGrS$GJ19f#Qld| C$ Rcyu5K+#<_7jntz~:tOuS=>@Vy?~j{P/TUc7VC^|j_](G.Ox.~vTGz6r+]* 6 :!>j6KcV'6FjSSTcNsWU zwOV$k5(;'NAo;;l'Skmu}n%86`naUfJ7WMvf And if we catch you, involved with a homosexual, your parents are going to know about it first. Jeremiah Hawkins And, I did not like parading around while all of these vacationers were standing there eating ice cream and looking at us like we were critters in a zoo. And they started smashing their heads with clubs. 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. The police weren't letting us dance. Jerry Hoose:Who was gonna complain about a crackdown against gay people? NPS.gov. The lasting impact of the Stonewall Riots. Barack Obama designated the site of the Stonewall uprising a national monument. Although the Stonewall riots cannot be said to have initiated the gay rights movement as such, it did serve as a catalyst for a new generation of political activism. Jimmy hadn't enjoyed himself so much in a long time. He was not present at the riot. Andy Frielingsdorf, Reenactment Actors The Stonewall Riots unofficially kicked off the LGBTQ movement. Use all four of your sources (two primary and two secondary) to answer the questions below. The Stonewall Riots Stonewall Riot Police Reports, June 28, 1969 - OutHistory (Indeed, photographs taken by The New York Times from the final night of the riots, Geordie, Liam and Theo Gude Virginia Apuzzo: I grew up with that. stream Many alternative, independent, and left periodicals are available viaIndependent Voices--Reveal Digital. For instance, solicitation of same-sex relations was illegal in New York City. Homo, homo was big. This was ours, here's where the Stonewall was, here's our Mecca. In Stonewall, renowned historian and activist Martin Duberman tells the full story of this pivotal moment in history. Prisoner (Archival):I realize that, but the thing is that for life I'll be wrecked by this record, see? ", Martin Boyce:People in the neighborhood, the most unlikely people were starting to support it. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Our radio was cut off every time we got on the police radio. "The rebellion (it was never a 'riot') lasted five inconsecutive nights (they were not 'riots')" -STONEWALL Veterans' Association. Somebody grabbed me by the leg and told me I wasn't going anywhere. I say, I cannot tell this without tearing up. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:What they did in the Stonewall that night. Kate Davis and David Holbreiner, author David Carter, and a participant in the riots will be present for a Q&A afterward. The event sparked the formation of scores of gay rights organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign, OutRage! The Stonewall Riots : A Documentary History edited by Marc Stein provides Some of the pre-Stonewall uprisingsincluded: There have been many incidents in which police interaction with LGBTQ+ communities has resulted in violence, and in response, protest. 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. I entered the convent at 26, to pursue that question and I was convinced that I would either stay until I got an answer, or if I didn't get an answer just stay. The police barricade was repeatedly breached, and the bar was set on fire. (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). He said, "Okay, let's go." The crime syndicate saw profit in catering to shunned gay clientele, and by the mid-1960s, the Genovese crime family controlled most Greenwich Village gay bars. If there had been a riot of that proportion in Harlem, my God, you know, there'd have been cameras everywhere. Raymond Castro:There were mesh garbage cans being lit up on fire and being thrown at the police. David Alpert You had no place to try to find an identity. And then as you turned into the other room with the jukebox, those were the drag queens around the jukebox. % The last time I saw him, he was a walking vegetable. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Well, we did use the small hoses on the fire extinguishers. Her car, parked across the street from the Stonewall Inn, at 53 Christopher Street in Greenwich Village, had been stomped Eric Marcus, Writer:Before Stonewall, there was no such thing as coming out or being out. The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the gay community in response to a police raid that began And we had no right to such. You cut one head off. Martin Boyce:In the early 60s, if you would go near Port Authority, there were tons of people coming in. But I was just curious, I didn't want to participate because number one it was so packed. The police, a few prisoners and a Village Voice writer barricaded themselves in the bar, which the mob attempted to set on fire after breaching the barricade repeatedly. That night, we printed a box, we had 5,000. WebThe Stonewall Inn is a gay bar in New York City. They were getting more ferocious. WGBH Educational Foundation Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:They were sexual deviates. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. Barak Goodman In addition to launching numerous public demonstrations to protest the lack of civil rights for gay individuals, these organizations often resorted to such tactics as public confrontations with political officials and the disruption of public meetings to challenge and to change the mores of the times. Windows started to break. His movements are not characteristic of a real boy. Lucian Truscott, IV, Reporter,The Village Voice:The mob raised its hand and said "Oh, we'll volunteer," you know, "We'll set up some gay bars and serve over-priced, watered-down drinks to you guys." It was a raid. Mike Nuget Document Stonewall Riots Armed with a warrant, police officers entered the club, roughed up patrons, and, finding bootlegged alcohol, arrested 13 people, including employees and people violating the states gender-appropriate clothing statute (female officers would take suspected cross-dressing patrons into the bathroom to check their sex). This is one thing that if you don't get caught by us, you'll be caught by yourself. Todays post comes from Rachel Rosenfeld in the National Archives History Office. On the one-year anniversary of the riots on June 28, 1970, thousands of people marched in the streets of Manhattan from the Stonewall Inn to Central Park in what was then called Christopher Street Liberation Day, Americas first gay pride parade. Replace the bracketed text with your responses. Michael Dolan, Technical Advisors Jerry Hoose:I was chased down the street with billy clubs. The Stonewall Inn opened its doors as a gay bar in 1967 in Greenwich Village, Danny Garvin:We had thought of women's rights, we had thought of black rights, all kinds of human rights, but we never thought of gay rights, and whenever we got kicked out of a bar before, we never came together. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!