Stonewall - Forty Years After

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joequinn
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Stonewall - Forty Years After

Post by joequinn » 06-23-2009 09:24 AM

Well, folks, Pride Weekend is coming up, and you’d better act as queer as a three dollar bill over the next few days if you know what’s good for you! (You can always be as homophobic as you please the remaining fifty-one weeks of the year, BUT. NOT. THIS. WEEK!) What makes this eminently solemn occasion even more eminently solemn is the fact that the fortieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots is upon us, and I think that it might be a good idea to review some of the facts behind this epochal event in planetary history. Actually, the whole thing happened less than two miles, as the crow flies, from where I was living at the time, and I never heard about it at all until several years later (when, boy-oh-boy, I learned a very great deal about it, real fast and real hard). But then, given my fundamentally conservative temperament, I probably would have completely missed the Crucifixion if I were celebrating Passover in Jerusalem on Friday, 5 April 30 CE. “Why has the sky suddenly become so dark?,” I would muse, as I gnawed on the unleavened bread, “I bet that we are going to have a thunderstorm any minute now.” That’s me, you know. Always on the scene, and never understanding what’s happening right in front of my eyes until it’s already turned into something else…

The subject of the Stonewall Riots is highly controversial, as none of you could possibly be so obtuse as to forget, and this thread probably will turn out to be the battleground du jour in The Fantastic Forum. Fine! Here, as everywhere else, let all the poisons that lurk in the mud hatch out! Just let me lay my cards down on the subject, up-front and as the first order of business. I do not hate gay people. I do not hate straight people. I hate everybody, and I apologize to you, up-front and as the second order to business, if, by the time that the moderators suppress this thread to save The Fantastic Forum from thermonuclear combustion, I have not driven you (regardless of your position on gay issues) absolutely mad with rage and shrieking for my head to be placed on a stick, its blood dripping to the ground like a leaky faucet, as a warning to evil-doers (whether of the radical or the reactionary persuasion, as you see it).

We need to “deconstruct” (ah, that’s a real twentieth-century word, huh?) the Stonewall Riots. If gay people are correct in saying that they are not insane monsters but just ordinary people (like you and me, of course), then gay history has turn out to be as sad, as pathetic and as profoundly disenchanting as any other kind of history, no? We need to revisit Stonewall, and we need to confront, yet again, the fact that, while history is intensely violent, intensely insane and intensely unfair, sometimes, just sometimes, when the wind is right, some good, some temporary, superficial, transient good, can arise out of that tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. And this is all that I hope to do in this thread.

I will be back in a while with some historical information that I hope will be profoundly offensive to anybody who reads it, but while I am rummaging around in the sewer collecting my facts, please feel free to chime in on the subject. Let the games begin, oh ye radicals and reactionaries! :D :D :D
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Post by Shirleypal » 06-23-2009 10:24 AM

Interesting to revisit this...Gay Pride, I attended four Gay Pride Parades in San Francisco in the nineties, amazing to be there, I will tell you no one does it better, rather be there then at Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, I know poor analogy.:eek:

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Post by SETIsLady » 06-23-2009 11:07 AM

Joe Quinn, I look forward to reading this thread as I was 6 yrs old when this all took place.

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Post by joequinn » 06-23-2009 11:42 AM

An excellent place to start is the Wikipedia article on the Stonewall Riots:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots

I would suggest that you read the article more than once because, regardless of your view on gay rights, it will distress you. I myself felt quite uneasy reading this article, but what of it? I have never really been able to come to terms with the violence of history, and reading about the Stonewall Riots makes me realize just how inadequate I myself am to ponder, seriously ponder, the real facts about history.
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Post by Shirleypal » 06-23-2009 01:17 PM

The movement has come a long way since those days but not far enough, if hopefully they will one day get treated equally under the law it won't change the fact that there will still be homophobias out there.

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Post by racehorse » 06-23-2009 01:54 PM

Shirleypal wrote: The movement has come a long way since those days but not far enough, if hopefully they will one day get treated equally under the law it won't change the fact that there will still be homophobias out there.


Countless hearts and minds are being opened every day and I have no doubt the laws will change to reflect the enlightened thinking in society. This will happen sooner than many think.
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Post by SETIsLady » 06-23-2009 02:10 PM

racehorse wrote: Countless hearts and minds are being opened every day and I have no doubt the laws will change to reflect the enlightened thinking in society. This will happen sooner than many think.
So true Race, and we do have a new generation that is more open minded.

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Post by joequinn » 06-23-2009 06:08 PM

On a more prosaic note, I would like comment on two items in the Wikipedia story: the criminal nature of The Stonewall Inn itself and the extent to which The Stonewall Riots were ignored, if not suppressed, by the media after the fact.

The years between 1964 and 1970 were especially grim for gay people seeking a night out on the town in New York City. In 1964, the opening of The World’s Fair in Flushing Meadow, Queens, inspired Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. to order a heavy program of gay bar raids, ostensibly to spruce up the City’s public image for this global-attention-getting event. The reign of terror against gay people lasted well after the closing of The World’s Fair into the administration of Wagner’s successor, John F. Lindsay (although Lindsay himself attempted, with only limited success, to reign the police in). Indeed, as late as March of 1970, nine months after The Stonewall Riots, the New York Police Department raided two gay clubs: The Zodiac and 17 Barrow Street.

Because of these problems, gays flocked to bars that were owned, not by gay or gay-friendly people, but by organized crime. It is a fact that members of the Genovese crime family invested $3,500 in the premises at 51-53 Christopher Street, previously a mainstream restaurant, and opened it up as The Stonewall Inn in 1966. The bar had no liquor license, in spite of the fact that liquor was served there. But the liquor itself was of inferior quality, watered down in the glasses, and grossly overpriced. Beyond that, the glasses themselves were unclean, since there was no running water behind the bar, which means that used glasses were run through tubs of water and then immediately reused. The Stonewall Inn had no fire exits; the toilets overran constantly; and while there is some disagreement over whether gay soliciting was conducted on the premises, the place was an easy place to score drugs. To get into the place, you had to pass inspection by a bouncer, who viewed you through a peephole in the door, just like a Jazz Age speakeasy. You never knew whether the person next to you at the bar was an uncover cop, who was called by the regulars there Lily Law, Alice Blue Gown, or Betty Badge. Whenever a police raid occurred --- and the Tuesday before the riot broke out, there appears to have been one at The Stonewall Inn --- the lights went on and everybody suddenly had to start acting as straight as possible (to keep up the appearance of a Village Irish bar). Every man who lacked ID or who was caught wearing drag was arrested, and women too were arrested if they were not wearing three pieces of female clothing. Such being the occupational hazards of frequenting The Stonewall Inn, you might ask why anybody would chose to go thee.

The answer was that The Stonewall Inn was the only gay bar in New York City where you could dance: in fact, there were two rather large dance rooms for the patrons. But drinking and dancing were not the only things going on in The Stonewall Inn. Did any of you people catch one of the footnotes at the bottom of the Wikipedia article on the riots? There is some reason to believe that the police raid at 1:40 AM on the morning of Saturday, 28 June 1969, was no accident. It appears that the Mafia was using the bar to shake down some of the higher heeled clientele who used to party there after quitting time on Wall Street. Remember, this is a little more than five months after Nixon had been inaugurated, and the f**kin’ capitalist pigs on Wall Street had been informed: let the good times roll, as the Amerikan Empire began its final lurch into fascism, now nakedly on display all around us. There was a lot going on in Wall Street at the time that doesn’t appear in your high school Amerikan History textbook; the Mafia knew about it; and the Mafia wanted a cut. So the Mafia would blackmail the Wall Street junior executives who would come to the Stonewall Inn to unwind, to get a little reefer or blow, or to pick up some rough trade for the weekend. Cash payments from the blackmailed were always welcome, of course, but the best payoffs were in the form of stolen negotiable bonds. There is some reason to believe that the police raided The Stonewall Inn on the night of 28 June 1969 because the NYPD realized that it was not getting its proper share of the loot, especially of the negotiable bonds. So the Boys in Blue, as the story goes, intended to shut down the bar for good as a way to punish the Mafia for holding out on them. As they did, since The Stonewall Riots were so wild that the bar itself was destroyed by dawn the next morning. I never knew about this hypothesis --- did you? --- and I would like to investigate it further.

Almost as shocking was the lack of mass media coverage of the violence. Yes, all three major New York City dailies covered the story the next day, Sunday, 29 June 1969, but neither The New York Times nor The New York Post, for all of their allegedly liberal bias, put the story on the front page. The New York Daily News, which I always regarded at the time as a fascist rag, did put the story on its front page, but it characterized the riot as merely a hot-summer-night rumble between the police and “street kids.” But by the time that the decent and respectable people of New York City were reading this story with their coffee and toast, things had escalated wildly out of control. On the evening of the 28th, after sundown, enormous numbers of people began to converge on Christopher Street for round #2 of the riots. Buoyed up by stories of how gay mobs hunted the police through the streets of Greenwich Village before dawn that morning, people were keyed up for a little bit of the old ultra-violence, as Anthony Burgess would put it. The early hours of June 28th may have been riotous, but the late hours of June 28th were definitely taking a turn towards the revolutionary. At this point, the mob would surround buses and cars, harassing the occupants until they admitted either that they were gay or that they supported the riots.

By this time The Village Voice, which many now consider to be the quintessence of commie pinko faggotism, began to take a serious interest. Actually, a Voice reporter named Howard Smith had been trapped in the bar the night before when the cops burst in and later had been sucked back into the bar when those same cops had retreated into the bar as the mob outside began to throw Molotov cocktails through the windows and to use an uprooted parking meter as a battering ram to break down the door to get at the them. Smith was a witness to the final standoff between the mob and the cops, when the cops, insane with fury that these pansies were finally standing up to them, drew their weapons and prepared to fire as the mob began to torch the bar. Somehow, Smith survived what followed, and the next night, another Voice reporter, ex-West Pointer and future novelist Lucian Truscott, arrived in the company of no less than Allan Ginsberg to watch what would happen. Truscott was not disappointed, since it took many police from three police precincts to withstand the crowd. His associate Ginsberg was ecstatic: “You know, the guys there were so beautiful --- they’ve lost that wounded look that fags all had ten years ago!” He was most certainly right: all was changed, changed utterly, and a terrible beauty was born.

On Monday and Tuesday, things calmed down somewhat because of some rather heavy rain, but on Wednesday, 2 July 1969, The Village Voice published Smith and Truscott’s account of what went on at The Stonewall Inn over the weekend. The resulting article, which depicted the events as little more than “Sunday fag follies,” almost triggered an attempt on Wednesday evening to burn The Voice’s premises to the ground. Gay author Edmund White, who happened to be in the Village at the time, said that Smith and Truscott adopted such a condescending tone in order to assert their own heterosexuality by harping on the effeminacy of many of the protestors. In any case, The Village Voice almost went up in smoke over it.

Oddly enough, The Voice did not seem to learn anything from the experience. Six months later, in January of 1970, members of the dying Gay Liberation Front (GLF), which was set up in the wake of the riots, decided to create their own city-wide newspaper named Gay. Why? Because The Village Voice had refused to print the word “gay” in GLF advertisements for volunteers and members. Even more surprising were the reactions of assimilationist gays, many of them members of The Mattachine Society, who thought that The Stonewall Riots were nothing more than just hooliganism and who were delighted that The Stonewall Inn was finally out of business. But The Mattachine Society found out, real fast, that there was a new kid in town, so to speak. On Friday, 4 July 1969, The Mattachine Society conducted its annual picket in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, equipped with decorous picket signs and dressed in a style that even J. Edgar Hoover would have approved. But not this year. This demonstration was far more militant and “out” than these assimilationist gays wanted to believe, and the power of The Mattachine Society over the gay movement was broken less than one week after The Stonewall Riots had broken out. The new generation of gays were highly political and highly adept at working the levers of political power. When the first Gay Pride parade, covering a full fifty-one blocks from Christopher Street to Central Park in New York City on 28 June 1970, the first anniversary of the riots, The New York Times made sure that it was front-page news. And in June of 1999, the U.S. Department of the Interior designed 51-53 Christopher Street, the entire street itself, and the streets surrounding it, as a National Historic Landmark, the first such landmark to be selected as being of significance to gays and lesbians. And at the dedication ceremony, the Assistant Secretary of The Department of the Interior uttered the words that I will quote in closing this post: “Let it forever be remembered that here --- on this spot --- men and women stood proud, they stood fast, so that we may be who we are, we may work where we will, live where we choose, and love whom our hearts desire.”

I don’t know about you, but I get real nervous when I read what actually went on in Paris in the summer of 1789, what actually went on in Saint Petersburg in the winter of 1917, and what actually went on through Christopher Street in late June 1969. Out of such sordid beginnings do great things, of enormous import to all human kind, emerge. In fact, when you think about it, the passage from history to mythology is one hell of a damn scary ride. What do you think?
Last edited by joequinn on 06-23-2009 06:13 PM, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Joolz » 06-23-2009 10:19 PM

I'm glad you started this thread, Joe. I'll be back later to read what you've written. I'll search my archives, too. I did research on Stonewall (and the gay pride movement in general) for a paper I wrote a few years back for a grad-level course on gender and religion/spirituality. *IF* I can find what I'm looking for, I'll post it.
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Post by Kaztronic » 06-23-2009 10:48 PM

Hi Joe,

Very interesting thread and posts. You have really hit in deep detail the events of that evening, and in many aspects have brought a different time and place to life for everyone here. I hardly know how to respond to the thread in fact.

Stonewall has a special place in my heart, as my first excursion and public step forward as a Gay man came during the Gay Pride march to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. It was a momentous occasion in my life, and I have realized over time that the word "Stonewall" represents so much more today than the actual history of the bar itself. The term "Stonewall" is a call to arms for the Gay community, a word separate from pride, equality, rights, etc. Like many other Gay teens just finding their way in the world, I had no idea what Stonewall was, only that it was important and was something I wished to be a part of.

What I take away from Stonewall is this, those who have the least to lose will almost always be the ones to stand up first and fight. The fact that the patrons of that bar might be defined as "undesirables" is incredibly important in that regard, and it helps in many ways to frame the current state of the Gay Rights movement, which is far more muted today than at any time in the past 40 years. Another ideal example of this point is "Act-Up". Again, those with nothing to lose standing up and fighting on behalf of all of us.

I suppose the best way I can respond to your posts here is by sharing a video from YouTube that I think perfectly encapsulates the legacy of those undesirable misfits who finally grew tired of that label and fought back. It shows how far we have come, and also how far we still have to go - and also that the flames of that evening are still glowing.

Here is the true legacy of Stonewall:

YouTube
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Post by Kaztronic » 06-23-2009 11:11 PM

joequinn wrote: in June of 1999, the U.S. Department of the Interior designed 51-53 Christopher Street, the entire street itself, and the streets surrounding it, as a National Historic Landmark, the first such landmark to be selected as being of significance to gays and lesbians. And at the dedication ceremony, the Assistant Secretary of The Department of the Interior uttered the words that I will quote in closing this post: “Let it forever be remembered that here --- on this spot --- men and women stood proud, they stood fast, so that we may be who we are, we may work where we will, live where we choose, and love whom our hearts desire.”

I don’t know about you, but I get real nervous when I read what actually went on in Paris in the summer of 1789, what actually went on in Saint Petersburg in the winter of 1917, and what actually went on through Christopher Street in late June 1969. Out of such sordid beginnings do great things, of enormous import to all human kind, emerge. In fact, when you think about it, the passage from history to mythology is one hell of a damn scary ride. What do you think?


Joe, you should also know that the spirit, and call of Stonewall is gearing up once again - for the first time in a long time. Plans are afoot to take to the streets, people are organizing, their is an undercurrent of desired action that is building to a boil.

The word is being spread Joe, through the bars, in quietly whispered conversations, on the internet, and most notably, outside of the big corporate Gay Rights organizations.

The spirit of Stonewall, of Act-Up, is coming back to life and we will be marching on the White House this fall & tentatively in the fall of 2010, prior to the midterm elections.

This time, the focus is not on the community using it's money, it's lawyers, it's media contacts. The focus is on the youth, and those who are running out of time - who like their Stonewall bretheren of 40 years ago have little to lose. The objective is to pass on the torch of Stonewall to the kids, so that they too may act up and state clearly that "not now" is no longer acceptable when it comes to our rights and full equality.

The whispered words are those of anger, of outrage, and of conviction. Hearing & watching them spread through the crowd just this past Sunday at a bar I frequent chilled me to my core in a most exciting way. Hearing these words come from people I have known for so long, who have never been active in this manner was stunning, it stopped me in my tracks. For the first time in a long time, it's not about just the legacy of Stonewall, it's about the call to arms that Stonewall represtent, and it is about unfinished business.

My friends have drafted me, I'm driving. Need a lift to D.C.?
Last edited by Kaztronic on 06-24-2009 12:22 AM, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Joolz » 06-23-2009 11:59 PM

ACT UP/New York Act Up was a part of my research, too, Kaz. The link to them was easy to find in my archives. ;)

The paper I wrote was dedicated to my late brother, who was trying to survive as a gay man (a gay pagan man, to be exact) in central Arkansas (not easy, as you'd guess). I was researching gay spirituality for my class, and a group called the Radical Faeries -- in part because I lived near their Short Mountain Sanctuary in Tennessee (and my daughter was conceived on a farm that is now another of their sanctuaries called Ida), and I knew some of them in the 70s and 80s. Anyhow, just wanted to say that the topic is one that, for my own reasons, also holds a "special place" in my own heart.
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Post by Kaztronic » 06-24-2009 12:31 AM

That's awesome Joolz, glad you shared the connection :)

Your mention of your Brother being a Gay Pagan man (and yeah, I can imagine that was not at all easy in Central Arkansas and took quite a bit of courage) brought a smile to my face as I had the sincere pleasure of marching with an organization of Gay Pagans during a past Pride Parade in NYC (back in the 90's when I was still a rather wild club kid who wasn't quite jaded yet). The energy of the group was wonderful to say the least, we were following a fun gospel choir, and it was probably the best parade experience I have ever had.

Please forgive my language below as I recount a memory from that particular parade.

That year also marked the parade where I got in to a bit of a confrontation with a Skinhead who was protesting the parade near St. Patricks Cathedral. The parade had momentarily stopped, and we were right alongside the protest barricades. This cute young skinhead had a sign that simply said "You are what you eat". I thought it particularly stupid, so I walked on over to the barricade (much to the horror of my friends), pointed to his sign and simply said: "Hey, what does that mean?" He responded, "it means you are what you eat - in other words you're a dickhead." I laughed and said, "Oh, so I guess that makes you a pussy", smiled at him (the look on his face was priceless) and the cop who burst out laughing and went right on back to marching in the parade, hehe :D
Last edited by Kaztronic on 06-24-2009 12:38 AM, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Lastmartian » 06-24-2009 02:18 AM

That was a great comeback Kaz!:D
Perhaps the next time that skin will think through what he puts on a sign...or maybe not...:rolleyes:

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Post by SETIsLady » 06-24-2009 07:52 AM

I bet he looked like a deer caught in headlights Kaz ! :D

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