The Stonewall Riots And The Gay Rights Movement

Research Question: My research question involves the history of the LGBTQ community’s relationship with law enforcement, particularly around the time when the community had little to no support or protection under the jurisdiction of the United States. I am expanding my knowledge on the Stonewall Riot’s coverage within the media to discover if the framing of the protesters as militant was used to rally support behind a police force with a heteronormative agenda, in order to point out the biases that would have been overlooked in the original coverage of this event.

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

With reference to the Stonewall riots of 1969, it is important to understand that the riot by the Lesbian and Gay Rights Movement came at a time when the civil rights movement was in its high peak. The riots for equality by the Gay and Lesbian groups and activists came at a time when Americans minority groups were fighting for identity in the typical American culture. Then again, it is significant to note that the trends that surround the Stonewall riots were the intense hatred towards the homosexual individuals that had hit the United States in the 1950s and 1960s. The Gay and Lesbian people had to seek solace in Homosexual perceived bars and night clubs as they feared for their life due to their ‘awkward’ sexual orientation at the time (Ruta, 2013). Similarly, another trend that characterized the Stonewall riot was the Cold War policies that had earmarked Homosexual individuals and organization as security threats. With the rising tension due to the cold war, the United States government had blacklisted Gay and Lesbian groups and individuals as an easy target for blackmail by the Communist groups. As a result, they faced constant harassment from police in the 1940s all through to the Stonewall riot in 1969. The uprising is as a result of the civil rights movement that allowed for many minorities and interest groups to come out and fight for their rights.

This investigation assesses the New York City Stonewall Riots of 1969, concerning their influence on the rise of the modern gay rights movement, specifically regarding political emergence, social unity, and demographic shifts. The investigation will attempt to answer the following question: To what extent were the Stonewall Riots of 1969 a catalyst for the LGBT social movement in America?

In the book Gay Rights it states, “In 1969, the year the stonewall rebellion occurred, there were only 50 gays and lesbian organizations with a few thousands of members in the entire country.” It means that they were finally taking a stand and ready to fight back. What happened in the Stonewall is in June 28 1969 there was a gay club called the Stonewall. Police started to attack the gay and lesbians. Then after that the crowd of people started to throw bottles at the police. If I was there I would have done so much worse than that. There is one of the main events in the 1960’s Gay

Obviously, the gay community will not stop to remember the major events leading to gay liberation in the U.S. Those who witnessed the June 28, 1969 violent demonstrations by a group of gays at the Stonewall Inn, located in the Greenwich Village near Manhattan, New York City, will forever remember the impact of that early morning hours riots against police raid in the history of gay liberation movement.

The conflict was between the police of New York City and Gay Right actives outside of the Stonewall Inn, a bar were the gay rights movement was born. In 1969, homosexual relationships was illegal in New York City. The gay bars were where gay men and lesbians could socialize in safe place away from the public harassment, but many of those bars were subject to regular police harassment. A gathering location for many young gay men, lesbians, and transgender individual was Stonewall Inn, in Greenwich Village, which was an establishment which would run without a liquor

The Stonewall Riots started when a group of customers at a gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, had grown angry at especially harsh police harassment that had occurred that night and

This article from the New York Post helped us understand the pain the LGBT+ community had to go through on a daily basis. Additionally, it included details on how and why the police raided gay bars such as Stonewall Inn.

On June 28, 1969 the Stonewall Riots were started in Greenwich Village at the Stonewall Inn a movement was sparked that would not be easily extinguished. The gay rights movement was started after that fateful encounter between police officers and patrons of the bar that was inside of the inn. The actual event occurred outside the inn in the late hours of the night, lasted six days, and launched the idea of sexual liberation into the view of the public. The police originally made the visit to the Stonewall Inn to investigate the claims made about the owners of the inn and

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 1960s and early 1970s was a period of social movements for women’s rights, African American, and gay rights. The civil rights era brought significant change of the United States through society’s defiance against government laws and injustice. The period was full of protests, riots, and parades led by civil rights leaders for black, women's, and gay rights. The social inequality of the United States brought a need for change in society and the civil rights activists of the 60s made the change happen. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his I Have a Dream speech as an activist fighting against African American segregation. Betty Friedan brought a shift in society’s views on women’s roles in society with her book, Feminist Mystique. These civil rights activists were a major part of bringing attention towards the continuous issue of inequality towards minorities in America. The civil rights movements that arose in the 1960s brought progression in societal changes in America with issues of racism, sexism, and discrimination. The era was about bringing change to the United States government and developing new societal views towards people of minorities. The Stonewall Riots fit into this large social movement with the resistance and passionate spirit of the gay community for equality and acceptance in society. The riots took place on the six nights of June 28 to July 1 in 1969 when police forces raided the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York. The first night of the raid was a great turning point to the future of the gay population. During the late 1960’s a conflict between police authorities and the LGBT community in New York brought awareness to the discrimination of the gay community and boosted gay rights movements bringing progress towards equality for LGBT people, however a full compromise was not reached as homophobic views remained in America’s society.

In the past decades, the struggle for gay rights in the Unites States has taken many forms. Previously, homosexuality was viewed as immoral. Many people also viewed it as pathologic because the American Psychiatric Association classified it as a psychiatric disorder. As a result, many people remained in ‘the closet’ because they were afraid of losing their jobs or being discriminated against in the society. According to David Allyn, though most gays could pass in the heterosexual world, they tended to live in fear and lies because they could not look towards their families for support. At the same time, openly gay establishments were often shut down to keep openly gay people under close scrutiny (Allyn 146). But since the 1960s, people

Until the last half of the 20th century, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals were victims of discrimination in American society and in statutory laws, which limited their basic rights. On the night of June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village, and arrested three drag queens by using excessive force. Bar patrons and spectators, tired of police oppression, stood up and fought back. This was the first major protest based on equal rights for homosexuals. The Stonewall Riots became a turning point for the homosexual community in the United States sparking the beginning of the gay rights movement, and encouraged lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual, or "LGBT," to fight for their rights.

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.