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The Stonewall Riots

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The Stonewall Riots The Stonewall Riots Ganel Foust Junior Division Historical Paper Paper Length: 2,437 words The 1960s were a horrible time for LGBTQ+ people. Anyone suspected of being gay, or who was openly gay, were likley to be turned away at bars and fired from their jobs. Because of this most gay youth in New York City were living on the streets, stealing food, and sleeping on benches. One of the places they could go were gay bars owned by the mafia, mainly the Stonewall Inn, where the Stonewall Riots eventually took place. The Stonewall Riots lasted from June 28, 1969 to July 1, 1969 in Greenwich Village, New York. On that momentous day drag queens, gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals refused to cooperate with a police raid, resulting in a riot. It was not the first time that the LGBTQ+ (or as it was known at the time GLBT) community stood up for themselves, and it won’t be the last, but it was a major turning point towards improving LGBTQ+ people's lives. But as it is with all civil rights movements, ​ protecting the LGBTQ+ community is an ongoing process and there is still discrimination in many different places all around the world. One of the things that the riots changed were the laws. There were never laws saying “being gay is illegal” but homosexual acts were illegal. Sodomy laws began to be used in a new way, as permission to discriminate against gay people in the late 1960's. As the young gay rights ​ ​ movement began to make headway, and the social condemnation of being gay began to weaken, social conservatives began to invoke sodomy laws as a justification for discrimination. In nine states, sodomy laws were explicitly rewritten so that they only applied to gay people. Courts decided that sodomy laws could not be applied to private heterosexual conduct, leaving what amounted to same-sex only laws in effect.1 Illinois was the first state to get rid of it’s anti-sodomy laws in 1961. Additionally there were laws that would take away a business's liquor 1 “Why Sodomy Laws Matter.” American Civil Liberties Union, www.aclu.org ​ ​ 1 license if they publicly served someone who was homosexual, or suspected of being homosexual, because the State Liquor Authority declared it was “disorderly” or these were ​ ​ places where "unlawful practices are habitually carried on by the public”. The homophile era in the United States began in 1950 with the organizing of a secret society of homosexuals in Los Angeles. Calling themselves “Mattachine,” a small group of men and women organized the core homophile institutions: ONE, Inc.; the Mattachine Society; and The Daughters of Bilitis and their respective magazines, ONE, Mattachine Review, and The ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Ladder. Through publishing magazines and newsletters, fighting sodomy and other ​ discriminatory laws, and unifying homosexual individuals living in America's urban centers, the homophile activists set the stage for the movement's second wave, of more identity based and - militant Lesbian and Gay activism that emerged in the late 1960s.2 In 1966, members of the ​ ​ Mattachine Society in New York City staged a “sip-in” as a protest against the unfair liquor laws. They visited taverns, declared themselves gay, and waited to be turned away so they could sue. They were denied service at the Greenwich Village tavern, Julius, gaining publicity. They were called “homophile organizations” in order to emphasize their sense of community and ​ ​ deemphasize the sexual aspect of their identity that so concerned the public. These pioneering groups worked to provide awareness, education, and unification of this oppressed minority.3 Homosexuality was criminalized in most states, but it was also considered a mental illness. Instead of taking a direct political stand Homophile groups worked to convince professionals ​ ​ 2 White, Todd C. “Homophile Movement.” Wiley Online Library, American Cancer Society, 20 Apr. 2015, onlinelibrary.wiley.com 3 “Brief History of the Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement in the U.S.” History of Gay Rights Movement in U.S., ​ University of Kentucky. 2 such as lawyers, ministers, doctors, psychologists, and journalists to adopt more positive views of homosexuals. After the 15 seperate homophile organizations worked independently for years, in ​ February 1966 they all got together in Kansas City. By this point, many recognized the need for ​ a nationally focused organization to combat widespread discrimination. The goals of their Kansas City meeting, which became known as the National Planning Conference of Homophile Organizations, was to find common ground, collaborate, and organize nationally. At the two-day gathering, attendees adopted a national strategy program that established a legal defense fund and planned collaborative demonstrations for equal rights. They also signed a unified policy statement, which created an association among the groups for the first time.4 While that was happening, a member of the Mafia purchased a recently burned down building, the Stonewall Restaurant. In the mid 1960s the Genovese crime family owned most of the gay bars in Greenwich Village. Tony Lauria, known as “Fat Tony”, a strong presence in New York and a member of the Genovese crime family, saw a business opportunity in catering to the otherwise shunned gay population. In 1966, Tony Lauria purchased the Stonewall Restaurant. He renovated at low cost and reopened it as a gay bar, and he bribed New York's Sixth Police Precinct with around $1,200 a month to turn a blind eye to the goings on at the establishment. The outside of the bar had a large metal sign that read ‘Stonewall Restaurant’ that Tony Lauria didn’t bother to paint over. The windows were boarded up, and the large doors had several inside locks to slow down police raids, a metal slit for the bouncers to talk to patrons through, 4 “Brief History of the Gay and Lesbian Rights Movement in the U.S.” History of Gay Rights Movement in U.S., ​ University of Kentucky. 3 otherwise there wasn’t a way to see inside. These measures were taken in direct opposition to ​ authority and therefore helped propel the movement. (add something here that ties to my thesis) Running gay bars was ideal for Tony Lauria. Alex Horits, author of Stonewall and the ​ Mob: The 50th Anniversary of the Gay Rights Movement, says “The Mafia didn’t pick on people ​ ​ ​ their own size, they tended to pick on the weak, especially people who couldn’t go running to the police.” It was said that Tony blackmailed several of the wealthier patrons, threatening to out them to the public, which most likely would have gotten them fired and possibly rejected by their families. The bouncer, Blonde Frankie, had several ways of keeping unwanted patrons, (mostly undercover police) out of Stonewall. He would let faces he recognized in, but sometimes he asked them to describe the inside of the inn to gain entry. If he knew undercover police officers were trying to get inside he told them “This is a private club, for members only,” they usually would respond with “well, I’ve been here before” he would say “well, no, you haven’t”. The final defence was to turn on the bright white lights, signaling a raid.5 Dawn Hampton recalls, “I was there when they originally opened it as a dance place. People came there because they loved to dance.” and they had good reason to be excited; the building had enough privacy to allow patrons to dance, they felt safe to be themselves in a place around people that didn’t hate them for it. At the time it already broke barriers. In honor of the sodomy laws, police would go under-cover and try to infiltrate these bars, try to get patrons alone with them, and then arrest them. That wasn’t the only time they were inside gay bars. Since gay bars were operated without a liquor license, police officers would raid 5 Carter, David. Stonewall. St Martin's Press, 2004. ​ 4 the premisses. During raids female officers would take anyone who ‘looked of the wrong sex’ and take them into the bathrooms to confirm their biological genders. If they didn’t pass they were arrested. On the evening of June 28, 1969 four undercover police officers were inside the bar hoping to gather visual evidence to close down the bar. After they had enough evidence they called for backup. At 1:20 a.m., four policemen in dark suits, two patrol officers, and Detective Charles Smythe and Deputy Inspector Seymour Pine arrived at the Stonewall Inn's double doors ​ ​ and announced "Police! We're taking the place!" The music was stopped and the white lights were turned on. Patrons that had never experienced a raid were confused, while others ran for windows or the back exit, but the police had blocked them off. Then patrons were forced to line up and present their ID. The raid did not go as planned. Standard procedure was to line up the patrons, check their identification, and have female police officers take customers to the bathroom to verify their sex, upon which any transgender, drag queen, or transvestite, would be arrested, because wearing less than three garments that related to their biological gender was illegal. Anyone who was arrested that night refused to go with the officers. Men in line began to refuse to produce their identification. The police decided to take everyone present to the police station, after separating those “cross-dressing” in a room in the back of the bar. Maria Ritter, who was present that night recalled, "My biggest fear was that I would get arrested. My second biggest fear was that my picture would be in a newspaper or on a television report in my mother's dress!”6 Both patrons and police recalled that a sense of discomfort spread very quickly, spurred by police who assaulted some lesbians.
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