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Everything that led to Gay Pride being celebrated is more relevant now than it has been in decades. This celebration of LGBT rights in the United States was born out of a series of violent demonstrations by members of the gay community in response to a police raid.
The rights, every right, that the gay community has today started with these protests. Gays in the 50s and 60s faced a legal system that provided them no rights but a police system that targeted them.
Police raids on gay bars were frequent, occurring monthly even. It happened so frequently that many bars kept extra liquor in a secret panel behind the bar, or in a car down the block, to facilitate resuming business as quickly as possible if alcohol was seized.
During a typical raid, the lights were turned on, and customers were lined up and their IDs checked. Those without identification or dressed in full drag were arrested. Women were required to wear three pieces of feminine clothing, and would be arrested if found not wearing them
But on June 28, 1969, the police raid at the Stonewall Inn did not go as planned.
The police tried to restrain people at the bar by knocking people down (sound familiar?), which only incited others in the crowd more (sound familiar?). There were attempts to overturn the police wagon that had arrived with the raid, a few slashed tires, etc.
Backing up a bit, many gay bars were not owned by gay people, but by organized crime, who usually paid off the police to prevent raids.
Apparently, they weren’t paid this night.
Apparently, they weren’t paid this night.
In short, all hell broke loose. Beer cans were tossed at cops. It escalated outside of the bar, so much so that this riot started attracting people from other bars down the block. The crowd found bricks at a local construction site and started attacking the police.
See, the Stonewall Inn had become a very important place for social gathering. For those who were outcasts, not welcome in other areas, homeless, or otherwise, this was their life.
The police raid meant they had nothing left to lose (sound familiar?). So garbage cans, garbage, bottles, rocks, bricks, and more were hurled.
“A riot is the language of the unheard,” - Dr. Martin Luther King.
More police had been called in as things got so crazy, officers had now barricaded themselves inside the bar for protection. No group had forced the cops to retreat like that before. With extra police force on hand, they tried to contain things.
I kid you not, the mob literally mocked the police with an impromptu chorus line, with kicks and singing.
So the demonstrators met, organized, and continued. People came to see the now burned Stonewall Inn and that next night, more rioting occurred.
Many from the previous night which had already been attacked by the police. As with the night before, fires were started, and the police and the gay community continued to clash.
After the Stonewall riots, gay rights organizations were founded across the U.S. and the world. On June 28, 1970, the first gay pride marches took place in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
I am summarizing a lot here, but you get the gist.
I keep seeing memes of how MLK was a peaceful protestor. He was. What he accomplished was amazing. BUT THEY STILL KILLED HIM!
I keep seeing memes of how MLK was a peaceful protestor. He was. What he accomplished was amazing. BUT THEY STILL KILLED HIM!
So if you support gay people, their right to live, their right to marriage, a job, and equality, then stop telling those protesting right now to stop. If you’ve ever been to a gay bar or gay pride, then stop telling those protesting right now to stop.
You do not get to celebrate in the success of the LGBT community if you cannot acknowledge what it took to get here.
Class dismissed. Happy Pride!
Class dismissed. Happy Pride!
