Stonewall Riots

The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous and violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place the night of 28 June 1969 in New York , the Stonewall Inn (in the neighborhood of Greenwich Village ). These events are often considered the first example of the struggle of gays and lesbians against a system supported by the authorities and persecuting homosexuals. These riots are the symbolic moment marking the beginning of the civil rights movement for homosexuals, the United States and around the world.

In the 1950s and 1960s, gay Americans face a legal system very homophobic. Earlier, already American homophile groups sought to prove that homosexuals could be assimilated into society and have promoted coexistence between homosexuals and heterosexuals. However, the late 1960s was very conflictual in many social movements were active with the civil rights movement against racial segregation, the counterculture of the 1960s and the anti-war demonstrations. These influences combined with the liberal environment of Greenwich Village were the catalysts of the Stonewall riots.

Very few facilities openly gay in the years 1950 and 1960. Those who did were often bars whose managers were rarely gay themselves. The Stonewall Inn was owned by the mafia. It was aimed at all types of customers but was famous for its popularity among the most marginalized in the gay community: the transsexual, transgender, transvestites, effeminate young men, prostitutes and homeless youth. The raids were commonplace at the time but the police quickly lost control of the situation at the Stonewall Inn because of a rebellious crowd that drew police raids. Tensions between police and residents of New York gay Greenwich Village took on even greater significance on the following evening and again several days later. In a few weeks, local residents organized themselves into groups of activists setting up places where gays and lesbians could find themselves without fear of arrest.

After the Stonewall riots, gays and lesbians in New York crossed the moat gender, generational and class to form a unified community. Within six months, two gay organizations were created in New York to organize activism and three newspapers were founded to promote the rights of gays and lesbians. In recent years, civil rights for homosexuals have emerged in the United States and worldwide. On June 28, 1970, the first gay pride parades were held in Los Angeles and New York to commemorate the anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Similar marches were held in other cities and now the Gay pride parades are held annually around the world, towards the end of June to commemorate the riots.

Background

Background and political repression

In New York in the 60s, it is forbidden to serve alcohol to homosexuals, dancing men or to dress up. Police raids in bars frequented by suspected homosexuals were commonplace in the United States. It was commonplace for the police, before 1965, meet the identities of people in these bars. The police justify these measures by the indecent assault when kissing, wearing clothing traditionally reserved for the opposite sex, or simply prohibited the sale of alcohol to homosexuals.

Activism homophilic

One of the few movements homophilic the moment is the Mattachine Society , which works quietly to give more rights to homosexuals. After the election in 1965 of John Lindsay as New York mayor , a Republican who presented a program of reforms, and that of Dick Leitsch as president of the Mattachine Society in New York, police step up its raids avoided between 1965 to 1969.

However, the tone hardened in 1969 during the municipal elections. John Lindsay had lost the primaries of his party and wanted to "make clean" in the illegal bars.

In addition, Judy Garland died on June 22 and his funeral took place June 28 in the day, in Manhattan. This would have contributed to the gay community on edge, and was probably one of the causes of the riots.

Greenwich Village

New York neighborhoods of Greenwich Village and Harlem hosted a large gay population where, after the First World War, many men who served in the army took advantage of the opportunity to settle in large cities. Neighborhoods of gays and lesbians have developed a subculture in the next two decades. Prohibition of the 1920s has unintentionally benefited the gay since alcohol consumption was marginalized as well as other behavior deemed immoral. The City of New York had passed laws against homosexuality in public and private companies, but authorities could not control all the institutions, because of the increased demand for alcohol and many illegal taverns proliferated.

Social repression of the 1950s led to a cultural revolution in Greenwich Village. A cohort of poets (known then "Beat Poets") wrote the lawlessness, drugs and hedonistic pleasures. Among them, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs (both residents of Greenwich Village) also wrote about homosexuality. Their writings have attracted both open-minded liberals and homosexuals looking for a community.

In the early 1960s, a campaign to rid the town of gay bars has led to an order of Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr., who was concerned about the image of the city at the approach of the Universal Exhibition of 1964. The city has banned alcohol in all bars and plainclothes officers are used to trap as many homosexuals as possible. The incentive was that a police undercover agent commits a conversation with a man in a bar or a public park: it was clear from the conversation the two men could go out together or that the officer could get paid a drink, man was arrested for solicitation. A story published in the New York Post talks about a servant who, in the locker room of a gym, was hit in the crotch, moaning and arrested a man because he asked if everything was fine. Few lawyers willing to defend cases as undesirable.

The Stonewall Inn

Stonewall Inn

At 53 Christopher Street in the heart of Greenwich Village , the Stonewall Inn is one of the few bars where gays can meet, despite frequent police raids. Run by the Mafia (his boss Tony "Fat Tony" Lauria reverse revenue evening Matty the Horse), the target voluntarily Stonewall gay clientele, because the money is great ^Riots

The police raid

The raid took place on June 28 was different from previous interventions. Usually, the owners of "Stonewall Inn" were warned in advance by a mole of the arrival of the police, and these raids often took place early in the evening to allow a quick reopening of the bar. Around 30 am 1 hour later than usual, eight plainclothes officers entered the bar. Most customers were able to leave unmolested, since the only people interpeles were those without identity cards or wearing clothing usually reserved for the opposite sex, as well as employees of the bar.

It is not known exactly how the riot began, but the crowd at the scene began to fight against the police. The story goes that a transgender, Sylvia Rivera, had thrown the first bottle at police. Surprised and understaffed, they took refuge in the bar. Heterosexual folk singer Dave Van Ronk , who was passing by, was forcibly taken by police and beaten in the bar. The crowd continued its attacks. Some tried unsuccessfully to set fire to the bar. Others grabbed a parking meter and blocked the police inside. Neighborhood residents and bar patrons began to arrive around.

During the night, many transgender men and being too "effeminate" were attacked by police and beaten. The first night, thirteen people were arrested and four policemen and an unknown number of protesters injured. The crowd, estimated at 2,000 people, throwing bottles and stones at the 400 police officers arrived on the scene.

The police eventually send the Tactical Patrol Force, a unit of riot police then used to fight against the opponents of the Vietnam War. However, these men were unable to disperse the crowd continued to throw their stones and all sorts of projectiles.

Craig Rodwell , who was created in 1967 in the first Christopher Street Gay bookshop authors in the world, Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop, stirred up the press. Journalists attend several days of fighting that continues in the street. Indeed, June 28, riots subsided, but the crowd returned the following days. The clashes lasted five days, all the bullying of homosexual victims previously had been resurfacing.

The aftermath of riots

The Gay Liberation Front

On July 4 , after a very restless night, Craig Rodwell participates at the Capitol in Washington to the traditional Independence Day parade organized in recent years by the Mattachine Society. Noting that during this event Mattachine leaders separate the pairs of women or homosexuals too showy, Craig Rodwell decided it will host the following year an event in honor of the events of Christopher Street.

He participates with Brenda Howard to New York to the creation of the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), then in December 1969 of the Gay Activist Alliance (GAA), and founded the organization committee of the Christopher Street Liberation Day.

The Gay Pride

After a legal battle to obtain the right to protest, the first demonstration of a few hundreds of gays and lesbians held under the slogan "Come Out," "Gay Pride", "Gay is Good" and chanting "Gay Power".

The Stonewall Riots and the event triggered by Craig Rodwell mark a milestone in the emancipation of homosexuals. They are the forerunners of what would become the gay pride (gay pride).

As a tribute to the Stonewall riot that many Pride events around the world have held the last weekend of June.

Notes

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