The Stonewall Riots: The Fight For Gay Rights

The United States of America was founded as a secular sanctuary for ideals like freedom, equality, and tolerance – few will argue against that. Over its history American culture has radically evolved as it strived to meet the ideals its nation was based upon, making changes like ending slavery and providing legal equality for women and minorities, changes that at the time seemed absurd but today are unquestionable merits that define what an “American” is. The quest to reach the ultimate utopian society continues today as true Americans fight the evils of ignorance, stubborn bigotry and the fear to change that still manifest themselves in a large portion of U.S. citizens, preventing this nation from moving forward. One of the outstanding minorities still left to be granted the ideals of freedom, equality, and tolerance are homosexuals trying to obtain the right to marry the person they want to spend the rest of their life with, regardless of gender. Same-sex marriages should be recognized in the eyes of the U.S. government in accordance with its responsibility to provide all American citizens equal freedoms.

On June 26, 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled that the US Constitution guarantees the right for same-sex couples to marry. Many conservative groups do NOT agree with this decision. The gay marriage debate has been simmering for as long as I can remember. The four articles I have selected give information from four different perspectives including that of liberals, conservatives, homosexuals, and orthodox Jews. With so many differing opinions, one can understand why it's been so hard for the nation to come to agree on this issue.

Early in the morning of June 28, 1969, the habitual bar raids continued to occur in the streets of New York. However, one raid soon took a different turn compared to all the previous raids. The LGBT community had enough and decided to take a stand against the unjust acts of the New York Police Department, which would forever change LGBT history. The Stonewall Riots were preceded by several years of mistreatment, and began when a beloved gay bar was raided; this created a major impact on LGBT rights and activism.

In today's era, one of the most progressive civil rights movements is that of the LGBT+ community. For many decades, gays, transgenders, and other queers have been under fire for who they love and who they are. On June 28th, 1969, a group of queers subjected to police brutality took a chance to stand up for themselves. Thus starting one of the most widely revered LGBT+ movements: the Stone Wall Riots. This group of courageous men and women (and those in between) were pioneers in the United States gay rights activism, and can even be considered the spark to LGBT+ rights.

Minorities have always been underrepresented by every media outlet, whether that be film, literature, pop culture, etc., and that furthers stereotypes. Something that has always and will continue to be a device of discord in human nature is that of wanting to be heard, no matter how disastrous that might become. This has been shown by multiple events throughout the entire Gay Rights movement, most notably the birth of the movement which are, the Stonewall Riots, “These riots were highly influential to establishing a foothold, however it was a peaceful protest, despite the name. Stonewall Riots was the forerunner for LGBT movements and begin gay rights groups June 28, 1969, In the early hours of June 28, 1969, a group of gay customers at a

From slaves and immigrants to women and gays, America has struggled with the principle of equality for all people. A principle that is clearly laid out in the 14th amendment of The United States Constitution, “No state shall make or enforce any law, which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” (14th Amendment Section 2) And yet the rights of millions Americans have be infringed upon from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s to even more recent history such as Gay rights. African Americans, Immigrants, women, and homosexuals toil till this day to achieve freedom from discrimination in a country that was built on the idea of freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

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.

Gay marriage is not the only issue that is being discussed throughout America involving the gay community. In a particular study done by USA Today, results showed that when Americans were asked if they think homosexual relationships between consenting adults should be legal, 46% answered yes (“USA Today” 6). However, when asked if they would then favor a law that would allow homosexuals to get married, only 24% were in favor (6). This survey also showed the differences of peoples’ ideas based on if they attended church or not (6). The results showed that 73% of Americans who attend church weekly oppose the legalization of gay marriage and only 38% of those who don’t attend church oppose legalization (6). These results show that for many Americans, marriage is a religious agreement, but for many others, marriage is a right that should be given to all who want to partake in it.

It was approximately three a.m. on the twenty-eighth of June, 1969 when outside the Stonewall Inn, a monumental riot began. On Christopher Street in New York City, a police raid had just taken place in the gay bar due to the selling of liquor without a license, and arrests were made to anyone without a minimum of three articles of gender appropriate clothing on in accordance to New York law. This was one of several police raids that occurred in a gay bar in such a small amount of time, and the LGBT community made their anger very clear that morning. The event that took place as a result of these raids known as the Stonewall Riots became the catalyst for the Gay Liberation Front, and the Gay Activist Alliance, as well as many new

History has an ironic way of repeating itself at times, the phrase “separate but equal” has rang through the ears of black culture millions of times, only for it to resonate itself within same-sex couples again. The debate of Civil Unions vs. Marriage was on the minds of many before 2015, when the Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriage legal nationwide. These Civil Unions that had existed only until recently was just the rationale used over a century ago for the same purposes. Both had the intention of having equality, but through corruption and misunderstanding, it was never fully achieved. Thankfully, just as the African Americans protested for their rights, the LGBT community also followed suit and won their rights, but not after a long

The LGBTQ community has struggled for decades to receive equal treatment but despite many advancements, this group of people is still not treated justly. The prevalent discrimination and prejudice enacted against the LGBTQ community can be witnessed on accounts of the Stonewall Riots and laws that affect the community such as not allowing gay men to donate blood, sexual orientation in connection to the military, et cetera. The gay rights movement has united to eradicate these issues through support of the LBGTQ community and to help people understand the process, timing, advantages, dangers, and pitfalls of coming out, as well as recent local and international rulings of the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage and the methods, laws, and attitudes of having children.

Sexual acts between members of the same sex were specifically illegal, and cops would bait homosexuals to see if they were interested in such acts. Professionals who were found to be homosexuals lost their licenses. Homosexuality was a diagnosable psychiatric illness. A consensual homosexual act could get even life imprisonment, and a risk of castration. The book I choose to review is Stonewall: The riots that sparked the gay revolution by David Carter. It was published by St. Martin’s Press, with a copyright date of 2004. I bought the book at Half-price Books for $6.99

On June 24th, 2016, the Supreme Court legalized same sex marriage. According to The Williams Institute UCLA School Of Law, approximately nine million adults in americans are apart of the LGBT, not including the american youth and the others who are not out (Gates 1). With that said, these nine million adults are different compared to the others surrounding them. The LGBT has finally gotten their rights to marry whomever they want, and some people are against the idea due to their beliefs. Even if same sex marriage is against someone’s religious beliefs, should it be look down on? Homophobic statistics are splitting the nation, same sex marriage should not be controlled by the government, and churches aren't forced to unwillingly marry homosexuals.

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.

Compare and Contrast: on same sex marriages in a married life with children. If you are planning or getting married, then maybe you are also debating on having children or not, like any other family. But same sex couples can’t reproduce children if they are of the same gender, at least not of the same parent, unless they have donor or so, especially in the family, but the bad news it’s expensive, but good news more money into hospitals, as well that some people are against it, “If the “spouses” want a child, they must circumvent nature by costly and artificial means or employ surrogates. The natural tendency of such a union is not to create families. Therefore, we cannot call a same-sex union marriage and give it the benefits of true marriage.”.