The : How They Broke Barriers In LGBT+ Activism

Claire Winter

Junior Division Historical Paper Student-composed Words: 1646

Process Paper: 334 words

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The gay rights movement is often overlooked in its role as a crucial civil rights movement. The movement’s first stirrings began as early as 1924, but the Stonewall Riots are arguably one of the most well-known and most influential events in the fight for LGBT+ rights. On June 28, 1969, police raided

Stonewall Inn1 (a gay bar) in , New York. The patrons of the Inn, some of whom were arrested, began to riot at the unfair treatment. These riots continued for five more days, and became a major turning point marking the more modern change of LGBT+ rights, with the first taking place on the one-year anniversary of the raid on the Inn. Even today, it is hailed as one of the most major events in the movement’s history.

Background

In 1969, the year the riots took place, LGBTQ+ and other nonconforming people were still heavily discriminated against. Homosexuality and the act of same-sex intercourse was still illegal, being considered sodomy in 49 out of 50 states2 (excepting Illinois, which struck down its law in 19613). The consequences ranged from fines to possible arrest and imprisonment throughout the country. After WWII, those suspected of being gay in the military were discharged dishonorably. In 1953, President Eisenhower signed an executive order adding ‘sexual perversion’ as a ground for investigation in employment. In nearly all states, professional licenses could be either denied or revoked to people based on their sexuality. Homosexuals were simultaneously blamed for communism and were thought to be the main culprits for child molestation4. The U.S. laws were “harsher on homosexuals than those in Cuba, Russia or

East Germany, countries that the U.S. criticized for their despotic ways”5. Members of the LGBT+

1 See Appendix A. 2 History.com Editors. "Gay Rights." History, 8 June 2017, ​ ​ ​ www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/history-of-gay-rights. Accessed 14 Nov. 2019. 3 Ibid. 4 Carter, David. "Greenwich Village, USA." Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution, New York, St. Martin's Press, 2004, pp. 1-29. 5 Ibid, Carter. ​ 2 community, such as non-gender-conforming individuals, transvestisites, or other “out” (openly gay) individuals needed specific spots to meet others like them covertly, and often turned to ‘gay bars’ such as

Stonewall in order to gather and express themselves. These bars profited, because, along with the countless other restrictions on homosexuals, groups of them being served alcohol in public was also considered “disorderly”6. Alex Hortis, the author of The Mob and the City, an “exhaustively researched ​ ​ ​ history of the New York Mafia”7, described it as “Gay Prohibition—a form of alcohol prohibition, except that the restrictions were on homosexuals”8. Numerous gay bars were run by the Mafia- Stonewall was ​ run by Mafia member “Fat Tony”, along with a few other associates. The Inn wasn’t completely safe, as they were still subject to police raids (although the Mafia often bribed the police to warn them beforehand). , a transgender woman and transgender rights activist present in the riots, described the regular police raids in an interview conducted in 1989: “The [police] came in to get their payoff as usual. They would come in, padlock the friggin’ door. As soon as they left the mafia was there cuttin’ in the door, they had a new register, they had more money, and they had more booze. This is what we learned to live with at that time. We had to live with it. We had to live with it until that day”9. The

Mafia who ran the bar were focused on making money, so Stonewall was clearly far from up to code- the club had no running water or fire exits. They also neatly sidestepped the hassle of getting a liquor license by employing a common trick of the mob. The Inn was, on the surface, listed as a ‘bottle bar’. A bottle bar was a bar where customers brought their own alcohol, and left it there, drinking from it whenever they came in. In reality, Stonewall simply served alcohol to their patron10s. The owners of the bars would often

6 Fried, Ronald K. "How The Mafia Muscled in and Controlled the ." Daily Beast, 29 June 2019, ​ ​ www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-mafia-muscled-in-and-controlled-the-stonewall-inn. Accessed 22 Nov. 2019. 7 Ibid. 8 Ibid. 9 Rivera, Sylvia. Interview. Conducted by Eric Markus. Making Gay History, 9 Dec. ​ ​ ​ 1989, makinggayhistory.com/podcast/episode-1-1/. Accessed 26 Nov. 2019. 10 Carter, David. "Greenwich Village, USA." Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the ​ Gay Revolution, New York, St. Martin's Press, 2004, pp. 1-29. 3 extort patrons, making them pay up to the bar owners or be outed to their employers or families. Most were forced to comply if they wanted to keep their jobs and relationships (many LGBT+ individuals still in the closet had heterosexual relationships or marriages). These stipulations and conditions in Stonewall were evident in most gay bars at the time, particularly those that were Mafia-run.

The Raid and the Riots

In the early morning of June 28, 1969, nine NYPD police officers, including Inspector Seymour

Pine, conducted a raid on the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York. This time, it was a surprise- the owners of the bar were not notified by the police beforehand. Officers discovered bootleg alcohol and took patrons “suspected to be cross-dressing”11 into bathrooms to check their gender, in accordance with New York’s ‘gender-appropriate clothing’ ordinance12, which stated that if a person was wearing less than three articles of clothing that were suitable for their biological gender, they were

“masked...by unusual or unnatural attire or facial alteration”13 and were legally allowed to be arrested. (In actuality, this law was an old one that had been created in the 1800s due to farmers dressing as women to demonstrate protest against their landlords14.) As police seized thirteen employees and customers15, the patrons gradually became agitated at the unfair treatment and discrimination. Instead of dispersing, they formed a crowd outside the Stonewall Inn as the officers began roughly forcing those arrested into paddy wagons. A Village Voice writer named Howard Smith, present at the riots, wrote in his account that “the ​ turning point came when the police had difficulty keeping a dyke16 in a patrol car...Three times she slid out and tried to walk away. The last time a cop bodily heaved her in. The crowd shrieked, ‘Police

11 History.com Editors. "Gay Rights." History, 8 June 2017, ​ ​ ​ www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/history-of-gay-rights. Accessed 14 Nov. 2019. 12 Ibid. 13 Carter, Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution. New York, ​ ​ St. Martin's Press, 2004. 14 Ibid. 15 ---. "Stonewall Riots." HISTORY, 31 May 2017, www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/ ​ ​ the-stonewall-riots. Accessed 6 Nov. 2019. 16 A dyke is a derogatory term for a lesbian. 4 brutality!’ ‘Pigs!’”17 The crowd began to retaliate, throwing change, bottles, and other small objects at the police18. Sylvia Rivera also recalls this in her 1989 interview, saying: “The people at them bars, especially at the Stonewall, were involved in other movements and everybody just like, alright, we gotta’ do our thing. We’re gonna’ go for it...All of a sudden you just feel this… everybody’s looking at each other...why do we have to keep on constantly putting up with this? And the nickels, the dimes, the pennies, and the quarters started flying...That was [to symbolize] the payoff...”19. As the crowd continued their assault, the officers conducting the raid, along with formerly mentioned journalist Howard Smith, set up a barricade and retreated into the bar. Smith also described this experience, saying: “We bolt the heavy door...Inside we hear the shattering of windows, followed by what we imagine to be bricks pounding on the door, voices yelling”20. The incensed mob breached the police barricade and subsequently set the Inn on fire. Backup was called for, and the officers and Smith escaped the building with the help of the fire department. A few days later, he would write and publish an article recounting his experience on “the wrong side of the blue line”21. Eventually, the rioters outside of Stonewall dispersed, but impromptu protests continued to flare up across the surrounding area for days.

The First Pride Parade Is Created

While the Stonewall Riots weren’t the beginning of the gay rights movement (many historians attribute that to 1924, when the first recorded gay rights organization was established22), they were a major turning point in how gay rights were approached and a marker for a more active protest approach.

17Stuart, Tessa. "Full Moon Over the Stonewall: Howard Smith's Account of the Stonewall Riots." Voice, 26 June 2015, www.villagevoice.com/2015/06/26/ ​ ​ full-moon-over-the-stonewall-howard-smiths-account-of-the-stonewall-riots/. Accessed 24 Nov. 2019. 18 Fitzsimons, Tim. "LGBTQ History Month: The Road to America's First Gay Pride March." NBC News, 5 ​ ​ ​ Oct. 2018, www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/lgbtq-history-month-road-america-s-first-gay-pride-march- n917096. Accessed 7 Nov. 2019. 19 Rivera, Sylvia. Interview. Conducted by Eric Markus. Making Gay History, 9 Dec. ​ ​ 1989, makinggayhistory.com/podcast/episode-1-1/. Accessed 26 Nov. 2019. 20 Ibid. 21 Stuart, "Full Moon Over the Stonewall”. 22 History.com Editors. "Gay Rights." History, 8 June 2017, ​ ​ ​ www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/history-of-gay-rights. Accessed 14 Nov. 2019. 5

Gay rights groups across the nation were sparked into action, and the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was founded. However, there is one event in particular that stands out, and a modern version of it is still held today. On the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, LGBT+ rights activists and

Fred Sargeant (members of the Youth Movement, a group to support gay homeless youth), along with Linda Rhodes and Ellen Broidy (members of the Lavender Menace, a feminist lesbian organization), organized the ‘Christopher Street Day Parade’23 in commemoration of the riots24. The parade was different from others before it- while ‘annual reminders’ such as the ones held by Frank

Kameney25 (a former government employee fired for being gay) were formal, with the protesters in formal, gender-appropriate clothing, the Christopher Street Day Parade was an expression of the LBGT+ community similar to the Pride Parades held today. Initially, the parade started small, but as it progressed through the area, more and more people joined, until at one point it was three-fourths of a mile long and included thousands of protesters. Later that day, and in the following few, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San

Francisco saw similar marches26. However, the Christopher Street Day Parade was the largest, and is still held annually in New York.

Becoming A Landmark

Decades later, on June 26, 2015, the Surpreme Court would rule states unable to ban same-sex marriage, effectively making gay marriage legal throughout the country. A day later, the Boy Scouts of

America reversed its ban on openly gay leaders. In 2016, President Barack Obama declared the Stonewall

Inn and the surrounding streets, as well as Christopher Park, a national landmark due to its contributions to the gay rights movement- the first national LGBT+ landmark in the United States. Soon after, numerous other nominations for historical landmarks dedicated to LBGT+ rights would emerge as- the

23 See Appendix B. 24 Fitzsimons, Tim. "LGBTQ History Month: The Road to America's First Gay Pride March." NBC News, 5 ​ ​ ​ Oct. 2018, www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/lgbtq-history-month-road-america-s-first-gay-pride-march-n917096. Accessed 7 Nov. 2019. 25 Ibid. 26 Ibid. 6

Henry Gerber house following a short while after Stonewall was declared.27 (Henry Gerber founded the

Mattachine Society, the “first documented gay rights organization in the United States”28 in 1924.) Over forty years after they took place, the long term impacts of the Stonewall Riots have continued to affect today’s LGBT+ community. If those who were being wrongfully discriminated against had never fought back, the momentum that would eventually lead to protections and rights might never have happened.

Conclusion

The gay rights movement is an often-overlooked crucial part of America’s history. Not only did it impact the LGBT+ community, it has also impacted the United States’s cultural awareness and publicly increased the horizon into a more open, accepting world. Though there are still many barriers to break, legislation has made great strides since 1969 in improving gender equality, protecting sexual orientation and gender identity, and making gay marriage legal throughout the nation. The Stonewall Riots were a critical turning point in terms of LGBT+ activism. They started a chain reaction of events and a change in the way protests were held. Without the people willing and ready to fight back outside a bar in the early morning of June 28, 1969, our laws might be very different compared to what they are today.

27 National Park Service. "Henry Gerber House National Historic Landmark ."National Park Service, 20 ​ ​ July 2018, www.nps.gov/articles/henry-gerber-house-national-historic-landmark.htm. Accessed 19 Dec. 2019. 28 Ibid.

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Appendix A 8

This was a picture taken of Stonewall Inn by photographer Diana Davies after the riots in 1969. The sign in the window reads: “We homosexuals plead with our people to please help maintain peaceful and quiet conduct on the streets of the Village- Mattachine”. Mattachine presumably refers to The , a society for gays established by Henry Gerber in 1924.

Citation ---. Stonewall Inn. 1969. New York Public Library, 15 July 2016, ​ ​ ​ ​ www.nypl.org/blog/2016/07/15/stonewall-pictures. Accessed 26 Nov. 2019.

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Appendix B

Nancy Tucker (left) and her partner (right) in butch-femme T-shirst at the first Christopher Street Day Parade. The parade was radically different from those in the past- protesters were dressed informally, and physical affection was prevalent.

Citation Lahusen, Kay Tobin. Nancy Tucker and her partner in butch-femme T-shirts. 1970. Buzzfeed ​ News, Buzzfeed, 3 June 2019, ​ www.buzzfeednews.com/article/gabrielsanchez/lgbt-history-pictures-gay-liberation-stonewall. Accessed Nov. 2019.

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Annotated Bibliography

Primary Sources

Davies, Diana. Demonstration at City Hall, New York. 1973. Buzzfeed News, Buzzfeed, 3 June ​ ​ ​ ​ 2019,

www.buzzfeednews.com/article/gabrielsanchez/lgbt-history-pictures-gay-liberation-stone

wall. Accessed 26 Nov. 2019.

This photograph allowed me to see what LGBT protests were like in the past. The photo also included activist Sylvia Rivera, someone who is a part of my studies. The photo was contained within a news article, but I focused on the picture specifically, not the website, so I cited this as a primary source. ---. Stonewall Inn. 1969. New York Public Library, 15 July 2016, ​ ​ ​ ​ www.nypl.org/blog/2016/07/15/stonewall-pictures. Accessed 26 Nov. 2019. This photograph gave me insight as to what setting the Stonewall Riots took place in and what kind of atmosphere would have been created by the setting of the bar. The photo was contained within a website, but I focused on the picture specifically, so I consider this as a primary source. Lahusen, Kay Tobin. Nancy Tucker and her partner in butch-femme T-shirts. 1970. Buzzfeed News, Buzzfeed, 3 June 2019, ​ www.buzzfeednews.com/article/gabrielsanchez/lgbt-history-pictures-gay-liberation-stone wall. Accessed Nov. 2019. This photo showed me what lesbian couples specifically were portrayed as around the time period of the riots. It was taken around a year after the Stonewall Riots occurred and served as a benchmark of how activism changed after the Riots. This photo was contained within a website, but I focused on the photograph more specifically, so I cited it as a primary, not secondary, source. 11

Rivera, Sylvia. Interview. Conducted by Eric Markus. Making Gay History, 9 Dec. 1989, ​ ​ makinggayhistory.com/podcast/episode-1-1/. Accessed 26 Nov. 2019.

This interview was helpful in giving me an overview of transgender woman and activist Sylvia Rivera’s earlier life. It also contained a first-hand description of the Stonewall Riots and the motivations and mood of the patrons at that time, as Rivera was there at the time. Since it was an interview conducted with a person present at the event, I cited it as a primary source. Rivera, Sylvia, and L.O.V.E. "Sylvia Rivera- Y'all Better Quiet Down." Vimeo, ​ ​ vimeo.com/234353103. Accessed 26 Nov. 2019. This video helped me to understand what protests around the more politically active approach to gay rights were like, and what prejudices within the LGBT community still existed at this time period. It also gave me an insight as to what Sylvia Rivera’s activism and protests were like. It was a video of a real protest that happened, so I used it as a primary source. Stuart, Tessa. "Full Moon Over the Stonewall: Howard Smith's Account of the Stonewall

Riots." The Village Voice, 26 June 2015, ​ ​ www.villagevoice.com/2015/06/26/full-moon-over-the-stonewall-howard-smiths-account

-of-the-stonewall-riots/. Accessed 24 Nov. 2019.

This webpage featured an article (in digital format) of a journalist present at the Stonewall Riots. The article detailed the police’s reaction to the mob, the objects being thrown, and how the police treated many of the rioters. Even though it is through a digital format, the original text is what I was focusing on, so I considered it a primary source.

Secondary Sources

Carter, Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution. New York, St. Martin's Press, ​ ​ 2004. 12

This book was extremely helpful in understanding some of the more complex timelines of the riots, as well as getting specific details about the Mafia who ran the Inn and other specific details. This book, while containing some primary sources, is a secondary source, since it summarizes and explains the details of the event.

D'Emilio, John. "After Stonewall." Queer Cultures. Eds. Deborah Carlin and Jennifer

DiGrazia. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson, 2004. 3-35.

This website was useful in getting a sense of the order in which many events happened, since the movement was a nationwide effort, focused around urban areas and cities such as New York and Los Angeles. It also helped me to identify which events would have had more of an impact on others. This website is a secondary source, since it just lists the order in which events took place. Fitzsimons, Tim. "LGBTQ History Month: The Road to America's First Gay Pride

March." NBC News, 5 Oct. 2018, ​ ​ www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/lgbtq-history-month-road-america-s-first-gay-pride-

march-n917096. Accessed 7 Nov. 2019.

This news article helped me understand how the first Pride parade came to be and where its origins were. It also helped me to understand the difference between the original Pride parades and our modern parades. The website contained photos of former picketing events and several activists who helped establish the parade, which gave me insight into what the atmosphere and methods of the time were like. It was used as a secondary source, although it contains primary-source photos. Fried, Ronald K. “How the Mafia Muscled in and Controlled the Stonewall Inn.” Daily Beast, 29 June 2019 https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-the-mafia-muscled-in-and-controlled-the-stonewall-i nn Accessed Nov. 22 2019. This article showed me how discriminatory laws and law enforcement were towards the LBGT+ community and how the Mafia took advantage of this by running gay bars. The article had information on which crime family ran the Stonewall Inn, what the conditions 13 were, and what kind of treatment patrons received. Since this is an article written about the Stonewall Inn, it is a secondary source.

History.com Editors. "Gay Rights." History, 8 June 2017, ​ ​ www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/history-of-gay-rights. Accessed 14 Nov. 2019. This article was extremely helpful in providing a comprehensive timeline of the entire gay rights movement. It had a description of liquor laws applying to homosexuals, as well as a summary of the Stonewall Riots and how they tied into other events within activism at the time. This was an article summarizing most of the primary events and background knowledge needed, so it was included as a secondary source. National Park Service. "Henry Gerber House National Historic Landmark ."National ​ Park Service, 20 July 2018, ​ www.nps.gov/articles/henry-gerber-house-national-historic-landmark.htm. Accessed 19 Dec. 2019. This website covered what the Henry Gerber house is, where it is located, and other details useful in understanding what it was about. The section that was the most useful were the description of who Gerber was and how his house came to be a national landmark. The website did not have any information from the time period, so it is cited as a secondary source. ---. "Stonewall Riots." HISTORY, 31 May 2017, ​ ​ www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/the-stonewall-riots. Accessed 6 Nov. 2019.

This article provided a comprehensive guide to the events of the Stonewall Riots, details about the conditions and the people who owned it, the raids, and helpful links to other sources. It was especially useful in showing short and long-term impacts. As this is an article summarizing the riots, I cited it as a secondary source.