Stonewall Riots Research Paper

The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations by people who were apart of the LGBT community against the police raid that happened on the morning of July 28,1969, at the Stonewall Inn, located in Manhattan, New York City. It’s believed that Sylvia Rivera, a trans woman, was the first one who rightfully threw the first brick. These events are widely considered to be the single most important event leading to the LGBT liberation movement and the current fight for LGBT rights in America.

The riots started at around 3 am on June 28th, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in Brooklyn, New York City when police raided the inn, on the pretense of the bar’s lack of a liquor license. They began checking identification and taking people into the bar’s bathroom to determine their sex. The patrons of the bar were held outside as police threw the bar’s unstamped alcohol into patrol wagons. A crowd of Greenwich Village residents and the area’s homeless youth gathered to watch as the bar’s patrons were arrested.

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

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

The gay liberation movement occurred in Greenwich Village, New York. In June 1969, police invaded the Stone Wall Inn, a bar for gays. The gay people at the club became angered by the police actions, because they felt that it was unprovoked harassment. They fought for several nights, refusing to have the bar closed. This incident, generally referred to as Stonewall, has been noted as the beginning of the awakening of gays into personal and sexual liberation.

Same-Sex couples have had a long battle in obtaining the right to marry. Some battles fought ended in victory, others in defeat. In the end, same-sex couples would win a major victory that would end the fight forever. This paper will review some of the battles that led to the Supreme Court decision that gave same-Sex couples the same legal rights to marry as opposite-sex couples and

II… The issue of equal legal right to marry for same-sex couples first surfaced in court around the 1970s but was immediately rejected. In the 1990s several California lawyer’s organizations supported a proposed bill to permit same-sex marriage. In 1996, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as being strictly between a man and a woman, and expresses that states do not have to recognize same-sex marriages that occur in other states. In 1997, Hawaii enacts a “domestic partnership” legislation with limited rights for same-sex partners. That same year, anti-same-sex marriage laws were in place in 12 states.

At this point in history, any place that could produce a profit, but no one was willing to open up was run by the Mafia. The Mafia ran nearly every gay bar in New York and they sure made a nice profit off of them too, but the bars weren’t all that nice. Stonewall was located in Greenwich village, a city that could be compared to the bad parts of Milwaukee. The bar itself was described as “a two story structure with a sand painted brick and opaque glass facade,...a mecca for the homosecular element in the village who wanted nothing but a private little place where they could congregate, drink, and do whatever little girls do when they get together” in The New York Daily News. They served watered down drinks and washed their glasses in a tub since there were no proper sinks, but that didn’t matter to them; they had a place to be who they were, and that’s all they wanted. However, other people wanted different things.

It appears that the gay rights movement has only grown popular within the last fifteen years, but Americans have been fighting for equality through the duration of the existence of the United States. Homosexuality, including homosexual behavior and performing drag, was outlawed until the Stonewall Riots in New York City in 1969 (Uprising Stonewall, 2011). The Stonewall Riots were the first time in American history in which members of the Queer community fought in a public arena for their freedom as

No discussion of homosexual rights is complete without addressing the looming specter that is Stonewall. According to Carter’s (2005) account, on the night of June 28th, 1969, four plainclothes police officers, two uniformed officers, a detective of the NYPD, and a deputy inspector approached the doors of the Stonewall Inn and announced their arrival by shouting "Police! We're taking the place!" Following this, they began arresting patrons of the Inn. The scene that night was one of unrest; even before the riots, there was a general sense of unease and discontent. According to some accounts, the police attempted to arrest a butch lesbian—a "stone-dyke butch"—and cracked her over the head with a baton. After several attempts to escape, as she was being forced into the squad car for the final time, she shouted: "Why don't you guys do something!"

The Stonewall riots were a series of riots that occurred in late June of 1969 when the New York City Police entered the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar located in what is known as the Village, with the intent to arrest the employees for serving alcohol without the proper liquor license. The Village is a combination of Greenwich Village and Harlem where a considerable homosexual population stayed. It is a staple in the Stonewall riots because this is where Stonewall Inn resided and where the eventual Stonewall Riots occurred. Not having a license was often used as an excuse by the NYPD to raid local gay bars, such as the Checkerboard or the Stonewall Inn.

“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

Police raids on known gay hangout spots and establishments for homosexual comradery were common, making the few places it was safe to be gay as dangerous for them as anywhere else. Unsurprisingly, queer americans were getting tired of this ever-looming risk of violence and arrest. In 1969, in the early hours of the morning of June 28th, there was a police raid on the Stonewall Inn. The bar owners would turn on the lights to signal everyone to stop

However, today, homosexual relationships are fighting their way towards global acceptance as the LGBT community has been extremely active, advocating for their right to marry since the early 90s. With an increased in tolerance for homosexuality in society, controversy over the legalization of gay marriage has become more pressing. To those against it, claiming it will have an overall negative effect on society; gays claim that it is against basic civil rights to prohibit them from marrying ("What Are The Reasons For And Against Gay Marriage”).

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