Bella In the City

Know your LGBTQ History!

June 28th, 2009 Bella Posted in Food (For Thought), My 2 cents, News, Some LGBTQ Stuff |

Historic Stonewall Inn

It’s important for us as a community to know our history. I’m ashamed that I didn’t know anything about this prior to today, and it has incited a thirst for more knowledge on my part. Today is an important day in LGBTQ history, and I hope you will take the time out to read the following passage that explains the importance of the day:

The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. They are frequently cited as the first instance in American history when people in the homosexual community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities, and they have become the defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

American gays and lesbians in the 1950s and 1960s faced a legal system more anti-homosexual than those of some Warsaw Pact countries. Early homophile groups in the U.S. sought to prove that gay people could be assimilated into society, and they favored non-confrontational education for homosexuals and heterosexuals alike. The last years of the 1960s, however, were very contentious, as many social movements were active, including the African American Civil Rights Movement, the Counterculture of the 1960s, and antiwar demonstrations. These influences, along with the liberal environment of Greenwich Village, served as catalysts for the Stonewall riots.

Very few establishments welcomed openly gay people in the 1950s and 1960s. Those that did were often bars, although bar owners and managers were rarely gay. The Stonewall Inn, at the time, was reportedly owned by the Mafia. It catered to an assortment of patrons, but it was known to be popular with the most marginalized people in the gay community: transvestites, effeminate young men, hustlers, and homeless youth. Police raids on gay bars were routine in the 1960s, but officers quickly lost control of the situation at the Stonewall Inn, and attracted a crowd that was incited to riot. Tensions between New York City police and gay residents of Greenwich Village erupted into more protests the next evening, and again several nights later. Within weeks, Village residents quickly organized into activist groups to concentrate efforts on establishing places for gays and lesbians to be open about their sexual orientation without fear of being arrested.

After the Stonewall riots, gays and lesbians in New York City faced gender, class, and generational obstacles to becoming a cohesive community. Within six months, two gay activist organizations were formed in New York, concentrating on confrontational tactics, and three newspapers were established to promote rights for gays and lesbians. Within a few years, gay rights organizations were founded across the U.S. and the world. On June 28, 1970, the first Gay Pride marches took place in Los Angeles and New York commemorating the anniversary of the riots. Similar marches were organized in other cities. Today, Gay Pride events are held annually throughout the world toward the end of June to mark the Stonewall riots.

-courtesy of Wikipedia.com

As a proud lesbian who is making the rounds around the country to celebrate her Pride, I think it’s important for us to realize that Pride isn’t just about parties and traveling. It’s really about us showing respect for those who paved the way for us to be accepted and respected in society (I encourage you to read the entire article - It’s truly eye opening). I realize we have a long way to go, but could you even imagine being arrested just for being gay? I know I couldn’t imagine it. HAPPY PRIDE!!!

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Tags: gay, gay pride, know your history, lgbtq history, pride, stonewall inn, stonewall riots

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Know your LGBTQ History!

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