Stonewall Riots Civil Rights Paper
Living in a world where you’re scrutinized for being yourself is difficult, but living in a world where it’s illegal to be yourself is overwhelming and dehumanizing. Intolerance towards homosexuality had been very common in our society up until a point in time where LGBT+ people began to realize they were being denied basic civil rights that they should have had. The Stonewall riots took place when queer people had taken enough of discrimination and violence and began to band together to start the Gay Liberation Movement, a vital step towards equality for the LGBT+ community in their journey for civil rights.
Throughout history homosexuality had been seen as a sin and a punishable action. In the bible, in
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When police found out that the Stonewall Inn had been operating without a liquor license, however, they took the liberty of entering the bar and arresting the employees on shift that night as well as harassing dozens of patrons. In addition to the employees arrested, anyone not wearing at least three articles of “gender-appropriate” clothing was arrested in compliance with the law at the time. Other customers refused to stand by idly, watching their friends and allies be beaten and taken away, and began throwing glass bottles, bricks, trash, and whatever they could find at the police officers. So used to passive and acquiescent behavior from LGBT+ people, police officers were angered and called for reinforcements to barricade inside the bar. The night ended with rioters setting the bar on fire. In total, about 400 people rioted on that first night. In the next five days people continued to …show more content…
The death of the character Lexa from a popular show, The 100 angered many fans of the show. She was killed off by a stray bullet, a very common death for LGBT+ characters like Tara in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Denise from The Walking Dead. Fans of the show were convinced that their beloved character’s story would entail a different ending by the writers themselves via social media and interviews. After the episode that included her death aired, fans fought back with trends that spread awareness and called the network, the CW, out on the actions taken. Over 100,000 dollars were raised by fans for the Trevor Project, and organization that supports LGBT+ youth and actors on the show like Devon Bostick, Eliza Taylor, and Alycia Debnam-Carey (who played Lexa) showed their support and some even donated. In addition to the money raised they created billboards that sported phrases such as “LGBT viewers deserve better” and “Stop ‘burying your gays’”. They are making themselves heard and showing that they won’t stand for queer-baiting and
Additional Information: I would need to supply general definitions of the LGBTQ community, as well as show that there was a significant population of these individuals living around the Stonewall Inn and benefitting from its progressive modes of operation. Once that community has been established, I would then take the time to explain the past tensions that members of the LGBTQ community have faced due to unnecessary violence at the hands of law enforcement individuals, in particular how those altercations would often turn
It was not uncommon for the New York Police Department Morals Task Force to raid gay bars. In fact, during the two decades leading up to the Stonewall Riots, the raids were more commonplace than naught. Many have speculated as to why the raids were common – some saying it was because of the Italian Mafia’s involvement in owning those establishments, and consequently forgetting to bribe the local police; others believe it to be based in bias, hatred, and ignorance of people different from oneself. In the Stonewall Inn’s specific case, it could have been a combination of both. The Inn, which was owned by the Mafia, was actually a bottle club, meaning they did not own a liquor license. You had to be a member to drink there. While these various theories are most likely true, as far as ancillary causes, the fact remains that there was an
At the time, homosexuality was still considered to be taboo. The Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York, was raided and shut down by police quite frequently. The members of the bar had eventually grown sick of the harassment, so they began to fight back. The next day, over a thousand people were back. The Stonewall Riots began to inspire activists to form various gay rights advocacy groups. One year after the Stonewall Riots, the very first documented pride parades in the United States began to take place. They occurred in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and by the Stonewall Inn, the same bar that the riots had occurred at one year
Although most people who know about the Stonewall Riots see the riots as the “birthday
The Saturday morning the Stonewall Inn was raided ignited the LGBT individuals’ anger. The owners were not notified of the raid and employees that illegally sold alcohol proceeded to be arrested by police. Bar patrons were being beaten and arrested by police due to their sexual orientations and wearing what was not deemed gender appropriate. A total of thirteen people were arrested that morning. Instead of leaving the area, furious onlookers decided to take action. As officers forced a lesbian into a police van she shouted, “Why don’t you guys do something!” Then, crowds began to form and throw objects at police, which included bottles and rocks. In addition to that, pennies were thrown at police by the crowd to mock the corrupt police officers. To protect themselves from debris, officers barricaded themselves in the bar and called for reinforcements. This was futile because the mob repeatedly broke through the barricade and set fire to the bar. When reinforcements arrived, they were able to take out the fire but were unable to stop the riot. Every time they dispersed the crowd in front of them, a new one would form behind them in minutes. The riots persisted for six days:
Armed with a warrant, the police entered Stonewall looking for the illegal selling of alcohol. The police arrested employees and told the customers to leave. Unlike the other gay bars that were recently raided, the public did not go home quietly. Customers from the Stonewall Inn gathered on the streets and were soon joined by other village residents waiting to fight back. The crowd was extremely unhappy with what was going on so they retaliated. Coins, beer bottles, rocks, bricks, even parking meters were thrown at police officers. The crowd also shouted things like "pigs" and "faggot cops." The cops retreated inside the bar, which was then set afire by the crowd. In order for the police to show that they were still in control, they dragged
The warm summer day of June twenty-eighth, 1969 was not a quiet one. Although the New York City police had a justification to raid the bar of the Stonewall Inn, which was a safe haven for members of the LGBT community, nothing could prepare them for the uproar their actions would cause on Christopher Street that early morning. Crowd., crown police began their arrests for the selling of liquor without a license, the intense crowd of gathering people did disperse as it was supposed to. In fact, a lesbian named Stormé DeLarverie had refused to move for an officer who was attempting to throw an arrestee into the police vehicle, which not only caused the officer to club her in the face,
Members of the gay community were heavily discriminated against because of their sexuality and because heterosexual people had no tolerance for them and their “lifestyle”. When the actual raid on the Stonewall Inn occurred some patrons at the bar became hostile and resisted the police. The police in turn became violent and began to threaten and even hurt some of the people in the bar that refused to show identification or have their gender checked. Both the members of the gay community and the New York police that came to raid Stonewall are to blame for the riots that broke out. The gay patrons of the bar had a right to fight against hate and discrimination, but the police could only fight back because the riots were violent towards them. In the end, the members of the gay community had more of a reason to riot than the police had to injure and arrest them during the riots.
On this Saturday morning, the police attempted a raid on the Stonewall Inn, but the bar patrons were not cooperating with orders, and the officers present had to call for backup. Patrons that were not arrested, instead of leaving, stayed outside the bar to watch the commotion, and soon were joined by passerby’s until a crowd of over 150 people formed outside the bar. The crowd didn’t turn violent until the police hit a lesbian in the head and threw her in the back of their car because she complained about her handcuffs.
Everyone knows what happened at Stonewall. The story has been glorified and romanticized throughout the decades since the original riot in 1969. The public perception of the Stonewall Riots is that this three day long episode was the beginning of modern LGBTQIA organization, or, as it is commercially referred to, LGBTQIA "pride". However, another police raid occurred four years earlier at California Hall in San Francisco, California. This narrative has been trivialized into local history, while the succeeding police raid has made it into national history. The religious groups and the homophile movements tell an extremely contrasting story of the LGBTQIA community and the chronicles of the police raids they faced from the common
The LGBTQ+ community had fought for rights throughout history so that they would be able to live “normal” lives. By the end of the 1960’s the Stonewall riots created a movement that inspired people of the
club located in New York, known as the ‘Stonewall Inn’ turned violent. Outside, hundreds of protesters and sympathizers began rioting against the sudden police force. While the NYPD had been justified in closing down the club, the events which would follow over the next six days would go on to spark revolution, and establish the LGBT movement for gay civil rights. It is inevitably because of these protests that the LGBT community has the rights and freedom that they have today. However, the Stonewall Riots are not as recognized as a copious amount of protests and revolts, and are a severely underrated historical event, which resulted in the removal of
The riot resulted in four injuries to policemen. The Stonewall Inn closed. The police returned the following night and made additional raids. A crowd of four hundred young men and women appeared. They hurled bottles at police and chanted "gay power!"
“That is so gay”. This is a common saying that Americans are used to hearing on a daily basis: in schools, homes, or any public place and it comes out of the mouths of kids, teenagers, and adults. This phrase is used to describe something that is usually a negative action or idea, revealing the mindsets of how Americans saw the gay community. Overtime, Americans have changed their interpretation and attitudes towards this phrase due to the spreading population of sexuality identities. They have come to the conclusion that the word “gay” alone insults people who identify as gay, so this phrase is now known to offend people, because the realization that calling someone gay is not an insult because it is an sexuality, something that people identify themselves with. Since the word “gay” offended many people, the creation of the LGBTQ+ community was used to describe these people. The LGBTQ+ community has aspired due to the Stonewall riots. The Stonewall riots took place in Greenwich Village, New York City on June 28, 1969-July 1969. These riots were due the LGBTQ+ community standing up against oppression from police. Tension between the LGBTQ+ community and the police grew due to the police violating the community in gay bars by barging into them and trying to get them arrested, due to the distribution of alcohol at a gay bar, which was illegal to prevent AIDS. The conflict at Stonewall in ca. 1960 helped open American eyes to awareness about the LGBTQ+ community by challenging
There were many Past issues on homosexuals being treated unfair, for example, police harassment, History.com stated that on June 28 1969 in New York the Stonewall riots were taking place. Later in the night a little after three a.m., police raided Stonewall Inn, a gay nightclub, which then turned into a riot protested by homosexuals. Even though the police had a reason to raid their nightclubs , for serving liquor without a liquor license. New york's gay community had gotten tired of the law enforcement targeting gay clubs, many of which that have been closed. The rioters then began to throw bottles at the police and made their way into the neighborhood streets of new York, the riot didn't end until the police called in their riot police. The riot was then followed by continuous days of demonstrations in New York and also was the reason for the start of a formation of the Gay Liberation Front as well as other same sex and bisexual civil rights