{"id":1500,"date":"2019-06-01T19:26:31","date_gmt":"2019-06-01T19:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/?p=1500"},"modified":"2019-06-01T19:26:34","modified_gmt":"2019-06-01T19:26:34","slug":"stonewall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/?p=1500","title":{"rendered":"Stonewall"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Stonewall: “Where Pride Began”<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Justin Tiller<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We remember\nthe uprising at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, as what sparked the\nmodern LGBT rights movement in the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the early\nhours of June 28, 1969, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay\nclub located in Greenwich Village in New York City. The raid sparked a riot\namong bar patrons and neighborhood residents as police roughly hauled employees\nand patrons out of the bar, leading to six days of protests and violent clashes\nwith law enforcement outside the bar on Christopher Street, in neighboring\nstreets and in nearby Christopher Park. The Stonewall Riots served as a\ncatalyst for the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1960s\nand preceding decades were not welcoming times for the lesbian, gay, bisexual,\nand transgender (LGBT) community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For such\nreasons, LGBT individuals flocked to gay bars and clubs, places of refuge where\nthey could express themselves openly and socialize without worry. However, the\nNew York State Liquor Authority penalized and shut down establishments that\nserved alcohol to known or suspected LGBT individuals, arguing that just the\ngathering of homosexuals was \u201cdisorderly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to\nactivists\u2019 efforts, these regulations were overturned in 1966, and LGBT patrons\ncould now be served alcohol. But engaging in gay behavior in public (holding\nhands, kissing, or dancing with someone of the same sex) was still illegal, so\npolice harassment of gay bars continued and many bars still operated without\nliquor licenses\u2014in part because they were owned by the Mafia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stonewall\nInn<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crime\nsyndicate saw profit in catering to the shunned gay clientele, and by the\nmid-1960s, the Genovese crime family controlled most Greenwich Village gay\nbars. In 1966, they purchased Stonewall Inn (a \u201cstraight\u201d bar and restaurant),\ncheaply renovated it, and reopened it the next year as a gay bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stonewall\nInn was registered as a type of private \u201cbottle bar,\u201d which did not require a\nliquor license because patrons were supposed to bring their own liquor. Club\nattendees had to sign their names in a book upon entry to maintain the club\u2019s\nfalse exclusivity. The Genovese family bribed New York\u2019s Sixth Police Precinct\nto ignore the activities occurring within the club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without\npolice interference, the crime family could cut costs how they saw fit: The\nclub lacked a fire exit, running water behind the bar to wash glasses, clean\ntoilets that didn\u2019t routinely overflow, and palatable drinks that weren\u2019t\nwatered down beyond recognition. What\u2019s more, the Mafia reportedly blackmailed\nthe club\u2019s wealthier patrons who wanted to keep their sexuality a secret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless,\nStonewall Inn quickly became an important Greenwich Village institution. It was\nlarge and relatively cheap to enter. It welcomed drag queens, who received a\nbitter reception at other gay bars and clubs. It was a nightly home for many\nrunaways and homeless gay youths, who panhandled or shoplifted to afford the\nentry fee. And it was one of the few\u2014if not the only\u2014gay bar left that allowed\ndancing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raids were\nstill a fact of life, but usually corrupt cops would tip off Mafia-run bars\nbefore they occurred, allowing owners to stash the alcohol (sold without a liquor\nlicense) and hide other illegal activities. In fact, the NYPD had stormed\nStonewall Inn just a few days before the riot-inducing raid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nStonewall Riots Begin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When police\nraided Stonewall Inn on the morning of June 28, it came as a surprise\u2014the bar\nwasn\u2019t tipped off this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Armed with a\nwarrant, police officers entered the club, roughed up patrons, and, finding\nbootlegged alcohol, arrested 13 people, including employees and people\nviolating the state\u2019s gender-appropriate clothing statute (female officers\nwould take suspected cross-dressing patrons into the bathroom to check their\nsex).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fed up with\nconstant police harassment and social discrimination, angry patrons and\nneighborhood residents hung around outside of the bar rather than disperse, becoming\nincreasingly agitated as the events unfolded and people were aggressively\nmanhandled. At one point, an officer hit a lesbian over the head as he forced\nher into the paddy wagon \u2014 she shouted to onlookers to act, inciting the crowd\nto begin throw pennies, bottles, cobble stones, and other objects at the\npolice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within\nminutes, a full-blown riot involving hundreds of people began. The police, a\nfew prisoners, and a Village Voice writer barricaded themselves in the bar,\nwhich the mob attempted to set on fire after breaching the barricade\nrepeatedly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fire\ndepartment and a riot squad were eventually able to douse the flames, rescue\nthose inside Stonewall, and disperse the crowd. But the protests, sometimes\ninvolving thousands of people, continued in the area for five more days,\nflaring up at one point after the Village Voice published its account of the\nriots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the\nStonewall uprising didn\u2019t start the gay rights movement, it was a galvanizing\nforce for LGBT political activism, leading to numerous gay rights\norganizations, including the Gay Liberation Front, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD\n(formerly Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), and PFLAG (formerly\nParents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2016,\nPresident Barack Obama designated the site of the riots\u2014Stonewall Inn,\nChristopher Park, and the surrounding streets and sidewalks\u2014a national monument\nin recognition of the area\u2019s contribution to gay and human rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special thanks\nto the History Channel for contributing to this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stonewall: “Where Pride Began” By Justin Tiller We remember the uprising at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, as what sparked the modern LGBT rights movement in the U.S. In the early hours of June 28, 1969, New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay club located in Greenwich Village in New York City. The raid sparked a riot among bar patrons and neighborhood residents as police roughly hauled employees and patrons out of the bar, leading to six days of protests and violent clashes with law enforcement outside the bar on Christopher Street, in neighboring streets and in nearby Christopher Park. The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world. The 1960s and preceding decades were not welcoming times for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. For such reasons, LGBT individuals flocked to gay bars and clubs, places of refuge where they could express themselves openly and socialize without worry. However, the New York State Liquor Authority penalized and shut down establishments that served alcohol to known or suspected LGBT individuals, arguing that just the gathering of homosexuals was \u201cdisorderly.\u201d Thanks to activists\u2019 efforts, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1501,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[2070,1994,2077,2080,2079,1559,2078,8,2081,729,2076,56],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1502,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1500\/revisions\/1502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thestandardps.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}