Homosexuality was a dishonorable discharge in those days, and you couldn't get a job afterwards. Because as the police moved back, we were conscious, all of us, of the area we were controlling and now we were in control of the area because we were surrounded the bar, we were moving in, they were moving back. Dick Leitsch:And that's when you started seeing like, bodies laying on the sidewalk, people bleeding from the head. Our editors will review what youve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:Our radio was cut off every time we got on the police radio. I hope it was. Because that's what they were looking for, any excuse to try to bust the place. The ones that came close you could see their faces in rage. Dick Leitsch:So it was mostly goofing really, basically goofing on them. And as awful as people might think that sounds, it's the way history has always worked. Danny Garvin:And the cops just charged them. The Stonewall Inn opened its doors as a gay bar in 1967 in Greenwich Village, Article by a village voice reporter who was at Stonewall. Stonewall Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives Doric Wilson:And we were about 100, 120 people and there were people lining the sidewalks ahead of us to watch us go by, gay people, mainly. You had no place to try to find an identity. Use evidence from at least three of the documents in your response. David Carter Charles Harris, Transcriptions They were supposed to be weak men, limp-wristed. Americas first lesbian rights organization, The Daughters of Bilitis, was formed in San Francisco on September 21, 1955. You were alone. Susan Liberti Eric Marcus, Writer:Before Stonewall, there was no such thing as coming out or being out. 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 We'll put new liquor in there, we'll put a new mirror up, we'll get a new jukebox." Doric Wilson:In those days, the idea of walking in daylight, with a sign saying, "I'm a faggot," was horren--, nobody, nobody was ready to do that. Nonetheless, Stonewall Inn quickly became an important Greenwich Village institution. Very sleazy and colorful place I recall seeing boys walking around in silver jockstraps, etc. The first documented U.S. gay rights organization, The Society for Human Rights (SHR), was founded in 1924 by Henry Gerber, a German immigrant. Find out how the Stonewall uprising sparked a new era of LGBTQ activism, This article was most recently revised and updated by, Theres a Riot Goin On: Riots in U.S. History (Part Two), 5 Important Places in Global LGBTQIA+ History. Jerry Hoose:Who was gonna complain about a crackdown against gay people? Raymond Castro:So finally when they started taking me out, arm in arm up to the paddy wagon, I jumped up and I put one foot on one side, one foot on the other and I sprung back, knocking the two arresting officers, knocking them to the ground. Martin Boyce:It was another great step forward in the story of human rights, that's what it was. Well, little did he know that what was gonna to happen later on was to make history. In the Life Club attendees had to sign their names in a book upon entry to maintain the clubs false exclusivity. Like, "Joe, if you fire your gun without me saying your name and the words 'fire,' you will be walking a beat on Staten Island all alone on a lonely beach for the rest of your police career. But as visibility increased, the reactions of people increased. "Daybreak Express" by D.A. We didn't want to come on, you know, wearing fuzzy sweaters and lipstick, you know, and being freaks. Paul Bosche Martin Boyce Notably, an uncounted number of LGBTQ+ people have died as a result of police raids on gay spaces. New York papers tend to call it the Stonewall uprising, not the Stonewall riot, because it played out as six days of skirmishes between young gay, lesbian, and Vanessa Ezersky It was a horror story. Virginia Apuzzo: I grew up with that. In 1999 the U.S. National Park Service placed the Stonewall Inn on the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2016 Pres. According to the documents the police allowed the bars to operate, overlooking violations in return for a percentage of the take. In 1969, a series of riots over police action against The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City's Greenwich Village, changed the landscape of homosexual society quite literally overnight. It provides references for primary documents related to the materials reprinted inThe Stonewall Riots; most of the sources come from newspapers, magazines, and newsletters. Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution Susana Fernandes In fact, the NYPD had stormed Stonewall Inn just a few days before the riot-inducing raid. John O'Brien:They had increased their raids in the trucks. traumatic physicaL, emotional and financial personal experience of my own at the time, I nonetheless said a silent prayer for those who were brave enough to be fighting for freedom. They are taught that no man is born homosexual and many psychiatrists now believe that homosexuality begins to form in the first three years of life. That's it. The laws were made to specifically On June 28th, these police raided Stonewall, which was not uncommon. Naturally, you get careless, you fall for it, and the next thing you know, you have silver bracelets on both arms. And that, that was a very haunting issue for me. COMM 2081 - Chapter 8; The lasting impact of the Stonewall Riots. Geoff Kole Gay people were told we didn't have any of that. At least if you had press, maybe your head wouldn't get busted. The mirrors, all the bottles of liquor, the jukebox, the cigarette machines. Tires were slashed on police cars and it just went on all night long. have been published previously, Mr. Katz said. Replace the bracketed text with your responses. On June 24, 1969, the Public Morals squad of Manhattans First Police Division raided the Stonewall Inn. ITN Source A 1969 Account of the Stonewall Uprising - The Atlantic We were winning. 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). Jerry Hoose:The open gay people that hung out on the streets were basically the have-nothing-to-lose types, which I was. We had been threatened bomb threats. A sickness that was not visible like smallpox, but no less dangerous and contagious. With Stonewall, the spirit of 60s rebellion spread to LGBTQ people in New York and beyond, who for the first time found That this was normal stuff. 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. Raymond Castro:New York City subways, parks, public bathrooms, you name it. 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. I mean I'm only 19 and this'll ruin me. The last time I saw him, he was a walking vegetable. Since 1976, Metropolitan Diary has been a place for New Yorkers, past and present, to share odd fleeting moments in the city. We were going to propose something that all groups could participate in and what we ended up producing was what's now known as the gay pride march. You gotta remember, the Stonewall bar was just down the street from there. The police had a history of raiding the nightclub and targeting its patrons because of their sexual orientation. Danny Garvin:Bam, bam and bash and then an opening and then whoa. And I ran into Howard Smith on the street,The Village Voicewas right there. Updates? William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The Stonewall riots came at a central point in history. The Stonewall Riots - A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United Greg Shea, Legal %PDF-1.3 Home - Research Guides at Library of Congress Police raids and harassment were a common occurrence across the U.S. during this time, and amid the growing political activism of the 1960s,LGBTQ+ people began to mobilize and fight back. an unknown object. Mr. Van Ronk eventually pleaded guilty to harassment, a violation. Martin Boyce:And I remember moving into the open space and grabbing onto two of my friends and we started singing and doing a kick line. A couple of weeks before, friends in Yvonne Ritter:And then everybody started to throw pennies like, you know, this is what they were, they were nothing but copper, coppers, that's what they were worth. The Stonewall riots inspired gay Americans to fight for their rights. I mean they were making some headway. 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). The five days of rioting that ensued changed forever the face of gay and lesbian life. Raids were still a fact of life, but usually corrupt cops would tip off Mafia-run bars before they occurred, allowing owners to stash the alcohol (sold without a liquor license) and hide other illegal activities. 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. A police officer, Charles Holmes, was treated at St. Vincents Hospital after being bitten on the right wrist by a rioter. And that crowd between Howard Johnson's and Mama's Chik-n-Rib was like the basic crowd of the gay community at that time in the Village. Although there had been other protests by gay groups, the Stonewall incident was perhaps the first time lesbians, gays, and transgender people saw the value in uniting behind a common cause. It was a down at a heels kind of place, it was a lot of street kids and things like that. Doric Wilson:That's what happened Stonewall night to a lot of people. From theWikimedia Commons. Many of those bars were, however, subject to regular police harassment. They would bang on the trucks. Liz Davis Marjorie Duffield Pamela Gaudiano John O'Brien:It was definitely dark, it was definitely smelly and raunchy and dirty and that's the only places that we had to meet each other, was in the very dirty, despicable places. I guess they're deviates. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:The federal government would fire you, school boards would fire you. He brought in gay-positive materials and placed that in a setting that people could come to and feel comfortable in. Do you understand me?". More info at //www.nypl.org/calendar. Jerry Hoose:I was afraid it was over. 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. Some are only available in physical libraries and archives, but many have been digitized. 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. Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. In 2019, shortly before the 50th anniversary of the riots, New York Citys police commissioner, James P. ONeill, issued an apology on behalf of the police department saying, The actions taken by the N.Y.P.D. Daily News Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The Stonewall pulled in everyone from every part of gay life. Narrator (Archival):This involves showing the gay man pictures of nude males and shocking him with a strong electric current. It was a leaflet that attacked the relationship of the police and the Mafia and the bars that we needed to see ended. Slate:Boys Beware(1961) Public Service Announcement. An article in the Rat, Subterranean News entitled "Queen Power" chronicling the night of the Stonewall Uprising and the centrality of drag queens, trans, and gender non-conforming participants. And Howard said, "Boy there's like a riot gonna happen here," and I said, "yeah." (U.K.-based), GLAAD (formerly Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), PFLAG (formerly Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays), and Queer Nation. WebArrest Reports From the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. Doric Wilson It welcomed drag queens, who received a bitter reception at other gay bars and clubs. Fred Sargeant:Three articles of clothing had to be of your gender or you would be in violation of that law. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:As much as I don't like to say it, there's a place for violence. Dr. Socarides (Archival):Homosexuality is in fact a mental illness which has reached epidemiological proportions. when possible. 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.