June 28th, 1969. While this seems like a random date, this marks the date of one of the most influential uprisings in the queer liberation movement. The Stonewall Riot. Many don't like to call it that, it was an uprising and was warranted. People needed to fight back. So, what is Stonewall?
The Stonewall Inn was one of the most popular gay bars in New York City by 1969. During this time, homosexuality was considered a criminal offense. Due to this criminalization, many gay establishments operated without a liquor license which opened the door for raids and police brutality. Many gay bars, including Stonewall, were owned by the mafia. As long as the mafia was getting paid, they didn’t care what happened to the clientele. This meant they often adjusted to the raids as they were often tipped off about them ahead of time.
Leading up to June 28th, 1969, The Stonewall Inn was raided about once a month and even during the same week the uprising fell on. Police raids were extremely common during this time and during the activism of the 1960s (and 50s). This led queer people to start mobilizing and fighting back.
The police raid came as a surprise on June 28th, the bar was not tipped off. With a warrant in hand, police began their search and roughed up patrons in the process. Thirteen people were arrested as they found bootlegged alcohol. These 13 included people violating the gender-appropriate clothing statute. This meant officers were taking possible cross-dressing customers into the bathrooms to have their sexes checked.
Finally becoming fed up with police harassment and discrimination, patrons and people in the surrounding neighborhood began hanging around outside the bar instead of dispersing. As a police officer was forcing a lesbian into the police van, he hit her over the head. She yelled for onlookers to act, encouraging people to start throwing pennies, bottles, stones, and many other surrounding objects at the officers. Within minutes, the riot was in full swing with hundreds participating.
Protests, with almost thousands of people participating, continued for five more days. A whole giant community working together after being pushed down for too long.
Note: It is important to mention the other pre-stonewall uprisings that don’t get as much coverage. I will be writing about these more in depth in a separate article.
Pepper Hill Club Raid, Baltimore, Maryland in 1955
Hazel's (Hazel's Inn), Sharp Park, California February 1956
Coopers Do-Nut Raid, Los Angeles, California, 1959
Black Nite Brawl, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, August 5, 1961
Compton's Cafeteria Raid, San Francisco, California, 1966
Black Cat Raid, Los Angeles, California, 1967
-Dylan
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