More info at //www.nypl.org/calendar. Danny Garvin:We became a people. And it was fantastic. This produced an enormous amount of anger within the lesbian and gay community in New York City and in other parts of America. Heather Gude, Archival Research Franco Sacchi, Additional Animation and Effects Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:The Stonewall, they didn't have a liquor license and they were raided by the cops regularly and there were pay-offs to the cops, it was awful. William Eskridge, Professor of Law:Ed Koch who was a democratic party leader in the Greenwich Village area, was a specific leader of the local forces seeking to clean up the streets. Stonewall (2015 film The Stonewall Riots (June 28, 1969) In 1969, a riot at the Stonewall Inn (later known as the Stonewall Riots) became a turning point in the fight for LGBTQ civil rights. Stonewall and Marsha Johnson Documents John O'Brien:I knew that the words that were being said to put down people, was about me. Anger erupted after New York City police arrested 13 people during a raid at the Stonewall Inn, a bar and safe space for the LGBTQ+ community. We will continue to publish one item each weekday But I had only stuck my head in once at the Stonewall. 50 Years After Stonewall The Stonewall Inn was a sanctuary for drag queens, who were not always welcomed even at other gay bars. traumatic physicaL, emotional and financial personal experience of my own at the time, I nonetheless said a silent prayer for those who were brave enough to be fighting for freedom. Updates? And it was those loudest people, the most vulnerable, the most likely to be arrested, were the ones that were doing the real fighting. The very idea of being out, it was ludicrous. Martin Boyce:I had cousins, ten years older than me, and they had a car sometimes. Since the Stonewall was without a license, the place was being closed. We knew it was a gay bar, we walked past it. When It was tremendous freedom. "We're not going.". And they were gay. John Marshall is listed as a representative for the Mattachine Society of Washington in the Christopher Street Liberation Day Committee Files, so researchers may wish to search that name specifically in the Kamney and Vincenz collections. Stonewall Riots Certainly it was rare at the time to learn more than the first name or nickhame of someone you met casually in a bar. The police weren't letting us dance. We were all there. were wrongplain and simple.. Police raids and harassment were a common occurrence across the U.S. during this time, and amid the growing political activism of the 1960s,LGBTQ+ people began to mobilize and fight back. They call them hotels, motels, lovers' lanes, drive-in movie theaters, etc. Virginia Apuzzo:It was free but not quite free enough for us. Maybe the guys name was real (parents do name their kids after saints) but maybe it was just given at the time of arrest. Dick Leitsch:New York State Liquor Authority had a rule that one known homosexual at a licensed premise made the place disorderly, so nobody would set up a place where we could meet because they were afraid that the cops would come in to close it, and that's how the Mafia got into the gay bar business. And Dick Leitsch, who was the head of the Mattachine Society said, "Who's in favor?" Stonewall Riots other rioters, Wolfgang Podolski and Thomas Staton, whose involvement in the disturbances had not been documented before. The only faces you will see are those of the arresting officers. Seven pages of records were released by the citys Police Department in response to a Freedom of Information Law request. The mirrors, all the bottles of liquor, the jukebox, the cigarette machines. Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:We told this to our men. Jerry Hoose:The bar itself was a toilet. We don't know. A few of us would get dressed up in skirts and blouses and the guys would all have to wear suits and ties. Documents. Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:Yes, entrapment did exist, particularly in the subway system, in the bathrooms. WebLast Friday the privacy of the Stonewall was invaded by police from the First Division. Martha Babcock Website support provided by Margaret Paz. . For the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, an anthology chronicling the tumultuous fight for LGBTQ rights in the 1960s and the activists who spearheaded it June 28, 2019 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising - the most significant event in the gay liberation movement and the catalyst for the modern fight for LGBTQ rights in the United States. Acceptance and respect from the establishment were no longer being humbly requested but angrily and righteously demanded. The stomping occurred around 3 a.m. on June 28, 1969, at the start of what would later be known as the Stonewall uprising , the six-day series of disturbances that Seymour Pine, Deputy Inspector, Morals Division, NYPD:And they were, they were kids. It was an age of experimentation. Howard Smith, Reporter,The Village Voice:And by the time the police would come back towards Stonewall, that crowd had gone all the around Washington Place come all the way back around and were back pushing in on them from the other direction and the police would wonder, "These are the same people or different people?". You had no place to try to find an identity. Fred Sargeant Dick Leitsch:And so the cops came with these buses, like five buses, and they all were full of tactical police force. Eventually something was bound to blow. The Genovese family bribed New Yorks Sixth Police Precinct to ignore the activities occurring within the club. They were afraid that the FBI was following them. Frank Kameny And the first gay power demonstration to my knowledge was against my story inThe Village Voiceon Wednesday. Leaflets in the 60s were like the internet, today. I really thought that, you know, we did it. Chris Mara, Production Assistants Historic Films David Carter, Author ofStonewall:There was also vigilantism, people were using walkie-talkies to coordinate attacks on gay men. Because if they weren't there fast, I was worried that there was something going on that I didn't know about and they weren't gonna come. One was the 1845 statute that made it a crime in the state to masquerade. It was like a reward. As kids, we played King Kong. It is important to note that in addition to arresting LGBTQ+ people, first-hand accounts reveal the violence that police enacted on those they had arrested. as an authoritative account of the uprising. In 1969, it had no liquor license and held refuge for gay men and transvestites against the prejudiced police and laws. Because its all right in the Village, but the minute we cross 14th street, if there's only ten of us, God knows what's going to happen to us.". I could never let that happen and never did. ( New York : New York University Press , 2019 . Narrator (Archival):Richard Enman, president of the Mattachine Society of Florida, whose goal is to legalize homosexuality between consenting adults, was a reluctant participant in tonight's program. Many historians characterized the uprising as a spontaneous protest against the perpetual police harassment and social discrimination suffered by a variety of sexual minorities in the 1960s. Essay On The Stonewall Riot Somehow being gay was the most terrible thing you could possibly be. The Stonewall Riots marked the beginning of the gay liberation movement that has transformed the oppression of gays and lesbians into calls for pride and action. Colonial House They had a warrant. Ed Koch, Councilman, New York City:There were complaints from people who objected to the wrongful behavior of some gays who would have sex on the street. They really were objecting to how they were being treated. 1969 Stonewall Riots - Origins, Timeline & Leaders - History Stonewall Inn. Slate:The Homosexual(1967), CBS Reports. Lester Senior Housing Community, Jewish Community Housing Corporation There was all these drags queens and these crazy people and everybody was carrying on. On June 28 at approximately 1:15 a.m., undercover NYPD officers And that's what it was, it was a war. Doric Wilson:There was joy because the cops weren't winning. Mayor John Lindsay, like most mayors, wanted to get re-elected. First you gotta get past the door. David Huggins From theWikimedia Commons. He is not interested in, nor capable of a lasting relationship like that of a heterosexual marriage. How do you Ensure I mean it didn't stop after that.