What is Stonewall? The (hi)stories

What is Stonewall? The (hi)stories What is Stonewall? The (hi)stories [__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________]

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On Friday evening, June 27, 1969, the New York City tactical police force raided a popular Greenwich Village gay bar, the Stonewall Inn. Raids were not unusual in 1969; in fact, they were conducted regularly without much resistance. However, that night the street erupted into violent protest as the crowds in the bar fought back. The backlash and several nights of protest that followed have come to be known as the Stonewall Riots.

Prior to that summer there was little public expression of the lives and experiences of gays and lesbians. The Stonewall Riots marked the beginning of the gay liberation movement that has transformed the oppression of gays and lesbians into calls for pri de and action. In the past twenty-five years we have all been witness to an astonishing flowering of gay culture that has changed this country and beyond, forever.

Featured here are clippings from the local New York City press reporting the "melee" in 1969, along with firsthand accounts published in later years about that night.

The Popular Version:

From New York Pride Guide:
June 28, 1969: STONEWALL-During the early hours of June 28, 1969, The New York City Police and Alcoholic Beverage Control Board agents entered a gay bar The Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in New York City. Allegedly, there to look for violations of the alcohol control laws, they made the usual homophobic comments and then, after checking identifcation, threw the patrons out ofthe bar, one by one. Instead of quietly slipping away into the night, as we had done for years, drag queens and kings, many African-American and Latino, hustlers, students, gays and lesbians in the area held their ground and fought back, Someone uprooted a parking meter and used it to barricade the door. The agents and police were trapped inside. They wrecked the place and called in reinforcements. Their vehicles raced to the scene with lights glaring and sirens blaring. The crowd grew. Someone set a fire. More people came. People protested for thee days. And for the first time, after innumerable years of oppression, the chant, Gay Power, rang out!

The story of the Stonewall riot has grown over the years, evolving from a small but significant event in gay history to the major symbol of a movement. Is it the starting point of gay history? No. Is it the starting point of the gay rights movement? No. But it did create a rallying point for the movement, one that 25 years later brought over a million people together in New York City to commemorate the historic event with an international celebration and protest.

This collection of articles and excerpts does not attempt to find the ultimate truth about what the Stonewall riot meant in 1969, or what it means in 1994; rather, it is my hope that by exploring the various threads presented here, you will draw your own conclusions about the events, make your own meanings, and help to make a future that is as idealized in reality as the past is in memory...

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More History!

Last Up-Dated June 14 1997