The Stonewall Riots Essay examples

The Stonewall Riots took place in Greenwich Village, New York in 1969. Police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar run by the mafia, which outraged its many patrons and the people of the village. The patrons of the bar was not the only reason the Stonewall Inn got raided. Since it was illegal to sell alcohol to homosexuals, it was done illegally. The SLA, the state liquor authority, would not give liquor licenses to those who would sell to homosexuals. The Stonewall Inn owner, Fat Tony, combated this problem by saying the bar was a bottle club. A bottle club was where the patrons would bring their own bottles and get their alcohol from their privately owned stock. Violence broke out after 13 people were arrested and put into a wagon. "People in the crowd yelled at the police to stop. The officers responded by telling them to get off the street. Someone started throwing pocket change at the officers, and others began rocking the wagon" (Rede). Other villagers and patrons threw objects at the police, such as bricks and bottles, and chanted protests to the

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?

“Sex was something mysterious which happened to married couples and Homosexuality was never mentioned; my mother told me my father did not believe it existed at all ‘until he joined the army’. As a child, I was warned about talking to ‘strange men’, without any real idea what this meant. I was left to find out for myself what it was all about.” Mike Newman, who was a child during the 1950s America recalls how homosexuality was perceived during the post-World War II era (F). This sexual oppression was not only in Newman’s household, but in almost everyone’s. While the civil rights movement began in the mid-1950s and ended late 1960s, the LGBT community started to come out of the closet slowly. The gay rights movement stemmed from the civil rights movement

Crime groups used the fragile times and division of the people to solicit money from gay clientele, and by the mid 60’s the Genovese crime family controlled more than half of the Greenwich Village gay bar including Stonewall Inn. Like some of the other inns Stonewall was a registered “bottle bar” or a bar that did not require a liquor license because its audience were to bring their own liquor. To keep the Inns false exclusivity and privacy the Genovese family would bribe the Sixth Precinct to keep quiet about what happens or more over what doesn’t happen at the Inn. Without the police the crime family could cut costs and blackmail those of a higher status for more money to keep their secret. Stonewall eventually became a very important part of Greenwich culture being cheap, large, and a place for runaway and homeless gay youth. Nevertheless, riots were still a part of the Greenwich lifestyle, usually the cops would tip off Mafia-ran bars, but in the case of the Stonewall Inn time wasn’t on their

Fifty years ago, in the early sixties, being gay was illegal in every providence in Canada, and in every single state in the United States. In the 1950’s, many gay individuals saw the men who had devoted their lives to being out and they knew what a horrible life that made for those men. This caused many gay men to “pass,” or live their entire lives in the closet. They would marry women for the soul purpose of protecting their secret. Before the stonewall riots, many Americans did not even believe gay people existed. Due to the lack of education and bigotry amongst Americans, being gay was very dangerous. Sexual acts in the gay community were commonly done in unsafe places and in public because they simply had nowhere else to go. Homosexuality was not just criminalized it was medicalized (Bawer). If you were gay, you could be subject to go into hospitals and were viewed by society as having a disability and a disease. In April of 1965, the very first gay protest took place in Washington DC. This protest was revolutionary and it began to pave the way for the future of gay men and women and reshape gay culture. In 1969, not long after the first gay protests of 1965, Canada decriminalized homosexual sexual acts in the privacy of one’s own home (Guerre). This was groundbreaking and gave the gay community hope that change was coming. Also, taking place in 1969 were the historic stonewall

Although most people who know about the Stonewall Riots see the riots as the “birthday

The struggle for gay rights was not always publicized due to fear for being “ill” for thinking that way. The fight for rights was known in the mental health community as an illness. In the courts where same-sex couples would be denied the right to marry, from the Stonewall riots to the U.S. Supreme Court decision on June 26 of this year, the evolvement and difficulty of those fighting.

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

In the early morning of June 28th 1969, the Stonewall Inn was raided by police -specifically the mayor’s “Public Morals Squad”- under the pretense of maintaining alcohol sales laws, this time, without warning (Staff). Raids were common, enough so that a man who was present at the Stonewall Riots later wrote, “Like other patrons, I had taken in stride the occasional raids…[after signal lights went off]...dancing and touching of any kind instantly stopped, and the police stalked arrogantly through, glaring from side to side…”(Duberman). However, this night was different.

Stonewall is known as the riot that kickstarted the movement for gay rights in America in 1969. Throughout the 1960’s the gay community was targeted for their homosexual activities because this went against the common beliefs of the people. Most of the population had the Christian belief that being interested in the same sex was against God’s will. This caused discrimination throughout the nation between members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender plus (LGBT+) community and the rest of the country. Due to this discrimination, many LGBT+ members felt like their rights were being violated by the government. On June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan, New York City, the community decided to fight back for their rights. They

The Stonewall Riots highlighted a key issue in the late 1960s American society. Homosexuality was often seen as an illness and a sin to most people. For example, in April 1952 homosexuality was deemed a sociopathic mental disorder by the American Psychiatric Association (CNN). This idea was heightened in American society because it was being taught that being gay was one of the worst things an American can be; showing videos such as “Boys Beware”. This all changed after the conflict at the Stonewall Inn; located in New York on Christopher Street. The Stonewall Inn was the place where gays and lesbians would flock to, to feel accepted for once in their lives as many of them ran away or were disowned by their own families. Even though Stonewall was a place of freedom, it was also a place for fear as the police would constantly raid the bar to make sure that alcohol was not being served to gays, as the New York State Liquor Authority deemed it illegal to serve homosexuals. Lasting only three days, the riots were able to help start the transformation of American society to become what it is today. The lack of a formal compromise between the nation and the LGBT community was an advantage for the effects of Stonewall to spread as the conflict was able to bring a wave of acceptance and pushed many of history's gay role models to feel inspired to stand up.

General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson is best known for being a war hero and one of the South’s most outstanding figures of the Civil War. His war tactics, leadership, and success in battle cemented him as one of the most significant generals of early American history. Thomas was born on January 21, 1824, in Clarksburg, Virginia. Throughout his life he faced much adversity especially within his family with his older sister and father passing when he was of young age. In his late teens (1842) he enrolled at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He graduated in 1846 after finding his way academically with much hard work. As Jackson was leaving West Point, the Mexican War was starting and he was sent to Mexico. During the war he was quickly recognized

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

The climate of the 1960s was turbulent. This decade was marked by many political movements, which reflected support for non-establishment themes. During this time the “sexual liberation movement” became a popular cause. This intensified social and political interest helped many disadvantaged groups to receive support and attention that previously had never been received. As part of the nation’s desire for sexual political liberation, gay liberation became visible.