Stonewall

Mariah, Rachel, and Hannah

The Stonewall Inn

Greenwich Village, New York City
Christopher Street

The Stonewall Riots: The Initial Riot

June 28, 1969
Police evacuate the Stonewall Inn
Rioting begins
Tactical Patrol Force Riot Squad disperses the crowd

The Stonewall Riots: The Next Day

Thousands of the LGBTQ community blocking traffic on Christopher
Street
Riot squad met with dancing, singing, and PDA (as well as violence)

The Stonewall Riots: Wednesdays

Riot
1,000 people returned to violently protest
Police met rioters with violence
5 arrests

Video!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nFxpQG7nBQ

Dick Leitsch (Born 1935)

Dick Leitsch was the executive director
of the Mattachine Society at the time
Founded in 1950, the Mattachine
Society was one of the earliest gay
rights organizations.
Founded by Harry Hay and a small group
of men, striving to gain rights for gay
men.
They conducted a Sip-In in 1966

He was also the first director of the

Mattachine Society to use his real
name, which prompted people to be
outward about their identities within
the LGBTQ community.

Seymour Pine (1919-2010)

He was the Deputy Police Inspector that
led the eight-police raid during the
Stonewall Riots.
The police regularly raided the clubs, in
an attempt to halt prostitution and
organized crime acts.
Pine said that two other gay bars had
been raiding in the two weeks prior
to Stonewall.

The search warrant they had said that

liquor was being sold illegally at the
bar.
Pine later apologized for his part in the
riots, saying that he was only taking
orders from his superiors.

Tony Lauria
He was the owner of the Stonewall Inn
since at the time (since 1966).
Most gay bars at the time were owned
by the mafia and Tony Fat Tony
Lauria was no exception.
He and his employees would blackmail
wealthy, closeted patrons by
watering down drinks, overcharging
and serving drinks in dirty glasses.
People accepted these conditions
because they knew they would have
no place to go without the mafia.

Sylvia Rae Rivera (1951-2002)

Rivera was a gay liberation and
transvestite activist, and a drag
queen.
With her close friend, Marsha Johnson,
she co-founded STAR (Street
Transvestite Action Revolutionaries)
She was also a founding member of the
Gay Liberation Front and the Gay
Activists Alliance.
Throughout her life, she struggled with
substance abuse and was homeless
for a time.
She was a fierce activist but she died in
2002, losing her battle with liver

Marsha P. Johnson (1945-1992)

Johnson was a gay liberation activist and later
in life she became an AIDS activist with the
group ACT UP.
She was also one of the citys most well-known
drag queens and was one of the very first
to clash with the police during the Riots.
Co-founder of STAR
She was a very prominent activist and a large
proponent of gender fluidity
Her death was ruled a suicide when her body
was found in the Hudson River. Her friends
said that she was not suicidal and it
became known that she was seen being
harassed before her death.
Her case was reopened as a possible homicide
in 2012.

Immediate
Response
The media portrayed the LGBTQ community and their
actions in a very negative light, even being considered
dangerous. There was little dissent in this
representation, at least by the mainstream media.
On the ~positive~ side, the media began to include
lesbians and drag queens in their narratives, rather
than their former focus, exclusively on gay men.
The LGBTQ community was inspired to be more
forceful in their protests and actions, showing public
affection and taking other actions that were
discouraged previously.

Legacy
- Gay Liberation Front
- LGBTQ Pride Events
- Stonewall added to the National Register of
Historic Places
- Many awards bear the name of this historic event
for the LGBTQ community
-

Stonewall Book Awards

Stonewall Award by the American Bar Association

Discussion Questions
We have discussed the role of violence in activism. Do you think
that the legacy of Stonewall justifies the violence of the LGBTQ
community that was targeted?
Gay liberation activism was not started in a vacuum, like many
other movements. How can we give credit where credit is due while
still acknowledging non-mainstream activism?
We live in a society that accepts gay marriage, but we know that
there is still systemic oppression of the LGBTQ community. What
can we, as a feminist community, do to combat this oppression? Do
you think the methods used in the Stonewall Inn riots would be
helpful today (violence, singing, dancing, PDA)?