The Stonewall Riots - A Brief History of Civil Rights in the United Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:At a certain point, it felt pretty dangerous to me but I noticed that the cop that seemed in charge, he said you know what, we have to go inside for safety. WebArrest Reports From the 1969 Stonewall Uprising. other rioters, Wolfgang Podolski and Thomas Staton, whose involvement in the disturbances had not been documented before. (Enter your ZIP code for information on American Experience events and screening in your area.). Somebody grabbed me by the leg and told me I wasn't going anywhere. Saying I don't want to be this way, this is not the life I want. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. Janice Flood He may appear normal, and it may be too late when you discover he is mentally ill. John O'Brien:I was a poor, young gay person. Certainly it was rare at the time to learn more than the first name or nickhame of someone you met casually in a bar. So I got into the subway, and on the car was somebody I recognized and he said, "I've never been so scared in my life," and I said, "Well, please let there be more than ten of us, just please let there be more than ten of us. All rights reserved. John O'Brien:And then somebody started a fire, they started with little lighters and matches. Martin Boyce:There were these two black, like, banjee guys, and they were saying, "What's goin' on man?" 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. The Laramie Project Cast at The Calhoun School Raymond Castro:Society expected you to, you know, grow up, get married, have kids, which is what a lot of people did to satisfy their parents. We assembled on Christopher Street at 6th Avenue, to march. Because to be gay represented to me either very, super effeminate men or older men who hung out in the upper movie theatres on 42nd Street or in the subway T-rooms, who'd be masturbating. Library of Congress - The Stonewall Uprising of 1969, Columbia University - The Stonewall Riots, Stonewall riots - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). 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. 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). The documents also cited The very idea of being out, it was ludicrous. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:I never bought a drink at the Stonewall. None of the nine pages of reports When They could be judges, lawyers. I mean I'm talking like sardines. Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Florida Moving Image Archives The idea was to be there first. Frank Kameny And there, we weren't allowed to be alone, the police would raid us still. All the rules were off in the '60s. Please select which sections you would like to print: Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Katrina Heilbroner But I had only stuck my head in once at the Stonewall. as an authoritative account of the uprising. Patricia Yusah, Marketing and Communications That summer, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. Internet History Sourcebooks Project Documents from the 1969 Furor Immediately following the Stonewall riots of June 27th 1969, a series of demonstrations "The rebellion (it was never a 'riot') lasted five inconsecutive nights (they were not 'riots')" -STONEWALL Veterans' Association. All I knew about was that I heard that there were people down in Times Square who were gay and that's where I went to. Stonewall Riots 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. The police report documenting the assault on the automobile is part of a small set of documents nine pages in total posted online last week at OutHistory.org, They'd go into the bathroom or any place that was private, that they could either feel them, or check them visually. Naturally, you get careless, you fall for it, and the next thing you know, you have silver bracelets on both arms. Lauren Noyes. Seven pages of records were released by the citys Police Department in response to a Freedom of Information Law request. New York City Police Department/OutHistory.org. 50 Years After Stonewall And then as you turned into the other room with the jukebox, those were the drag queens around the jukebox. And the rest of your life will be a living hell. Nobody. Alexis Charizopolis For the first time the next person stood up. You knew you could ruin them for life. According to all of these documents one of the main causes of these riots were sparked whenever they failed to pay off the cops. consists of actual Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender and Straight. It said the most dreadful things, it said nothing about being a person. WebThe Stonewall Inn is a gay bar in New York City. Doric Wilson:Somebody that I knew that was older than me, his family had him sent off where they go up and damage the frontal part of the brain. It was not the first time police raided a gay bar, and it was not the first time LGBTQ+ people fought back, but the events that would unfold over the next six days would fundamentally change the discourse surrounding LGBTQ+ activism in the United States. Doug Cramer And there was like this tension in the air and it just like built and built. What finally made sense to me was the first time I kissed a woman and I thought, "Oh, this is what it's about." 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. Not even us. Jerry Hoose:Who was gonna complain about a crackdown against gay people? I would get in the back of the car and they would say, "We're going to go see faggots." Martha Shelley:We participated in demonstrations in Philadelphia at Independence Hall. The Stonewall Inn was a sanctuary for drag queens, who were not always welcomed even at other gay bars. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! We don't know. Noah Goldman Stonewall riots | Definition, Significance, & Facts | Britannica And you felt bad that you were part of this, when you knew they broke the law, but what kind of law was that? I was celebrating my birthday at the Stonewall. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:I had been in some gay bars either for a story or gay friends would say, "Oh we're going to go in for a drink there, come on in, are you too uptight to go in?" Though no longer on City Room, New York Today continues to appear every weekday morning, offering a roundup of news and events for the city. 1969 Stonewall Riots - Origins, Timeline & Leaders - History It was fun to see fags. Eric Marcus, Writer:It was incredibly hot. Finally, Mayor Lindsay listened to us and he announced that there would be no more police entrapment in New York City. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:The Stonewall pulled in everyone from every part of gay life. Jerry Hoose:I was chased down the street with billy clubs. Doric Wilson:There was joy because the cops weren't winning. Tom Caruso Richard Enman (Archival):Well, let me say, first of all, what type of laws we are not after, because there has been much to-do that the Society was in favor of the legalization of marriage between homosexuals, and the adoption of children, and such as that, and that is not at all factual at all. Richard Enman (Archival):Ye - well, that's yes and no. And this went on for hours. 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. Historical Significance of the Stonewall Riots Narrator (Archival):Do you want your son enticed into the world of homosexuals, or your daughter lured into lesbianism? They raided the Checkerboard, which was a very popular gay bar, a week before the Stonewall. The five days of rioting that ensued changed forever the face of gay and lesbian life. Giles Kotcher There was the Hippie movement, there was the Summer of Love, Martin Luther King, and all of these affected me terribly. In 1969, it had no liquor license and held refuge for gay men and transvestites against the prejudiced police and laws. And these were meat trucks that in daytime were used by the meat industry for moving dead produce, and they really reeked, but at nighttime, that's where people went to have sex, you know, and there would be hundreds and hundreds of men having sex together in these trucks. Raymond Castro They put some people on the street right in front ofThe Village Voiceprotesting the use of the word fag in my story. But you live with it, you know, you're used to this, after the third time it happened, or, the third time you heard about it, that's the way the world is. And once that happened, the whole house of cards that was the system of oppression of gay people started to crumble. Martha Shelley:When I was growing up in the '50s, I was supposed to get married to some guy, produce, you know, the usual 2.3 children, and I could look at a guy and say, "Well, objectively he's good looking," but I didn't feel anything, just didn't make any sense to me. There's a little door that slides open with this power-hungry nut behind that, you see this much of your eyes, and he sees that much of your face, and then he decides whether you're going to get in. And here they were lifting things up and fighting them and attacking them and beating them. Danny Garvin:There was more anger and more fight the second night. We didn't necessarily know where we were going yet, you know, what organizations we were going to be or how things would go, but we became something I, as a person, could all of a sudden grab onto, that I couldn't grab onto when I'd go to a subway T-room as a kid, or a 42nd street movie theater, you know, or being picked up by some dirty old man. Hugh Bush Virginia Apuzzo:It's very American to say, "This is not right." Raymond Castro:So then I got pushed back in, into the Stonewall by these plain clothes cops and they would not let me out, they didn't let anybody out. John O'Brien:I knew that the words that were being said to put down people, was about me. You see, Ralph was a homosexual. Martin Boyce:We were like a Hydra. My father said, "About time you fags rioted.". Why We Remember Stonewall. Tommy Lanigan-Schmidt:We would scatter, ka-poom, every which way. Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen Gay History Papers and Photographs, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations