The LGBT movement is poised to be a much larger, vocal advocate in all arenas. Vaid (2012) looks at the importance of giving voice to LGBT issues and moving past the individual wins such as the right to marry and on to much larger social justice focused issues. Vaid points out that striving for legal equality and challenging biases in such things as school discipline is the next step in the movement. The article also points out that “queer activists have an opportunity to renew a focus on a safer and saner world for all” (p. 24, 2012). Morris (n.d) states that the lesbian, gay, and bisexual movement has worked to develop advocacy groups, vocalize discrimination issues, repeal “don’t ask, don’t tell”, remove sodomy from many state laws as it pertains to same sex relationships, and push for equal marriage…
The Laramie Project explores Laramie, Wyoming, the mainstream impact and cultural implications the town underwent during and after Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old openly gay college student, was beaten, tortured, and left to die on a fence. For all who I directed, some even LGBTQ+ students themselves, not one heard of the 1998 story that resurrected back into the media the issue of violence toward LGBTQ+ people since the Stonewall era. In this production, we empathized and connected with the real-life characters of this town, those who would act by “Live and let live,” and portrayed some who would reply to that phrase with “that’s all bullshit.” To create this conversation, one that discuss the human socialization of homophobia, Matthew’s murder, and even tragedies that happen today, I witnessed bystanders become allies, and LGBTQ individuals become warriors. My scene, the reenacting of the trail of Aaron McKinney, ends with a beautiful message by Matthew’s father.…
It was not until later on that Stonewall became the symbol of hope and rebellion it is today. John O’Brien, a man who was there during the riots, has said that he “had no idea how important it would be and what it would lead to” (PBS n.d.). Like him, many of those in the LGBT community were empowered by Stonewall, but felt that it would not last, or that it would be a minor event in the grand scheme of things. The rioters did not organize to enact change; they acted on impulse out of fear and anger. These individuals were the spark that created the larger queer rights movement.…
It’s pretty terrifying to think that not to long ago things like that were happening to people because of the way they were born. Although that has changed drastically today, a lot of the things from the past are not lost. People can still lose their jobs for being gay or they can even be disowned by their families. It’s important to note the differences between the past and present but it’s also important to see what has stayed the same. Bausum’s thesis for the book Stonewall: Breaking Out in the Fight for Gay Rights, was you have to actually fight for what you believe in if you want things to change and without the fighting that the people of stonewall did, there would not have been such a progression in the fight for gay rights.…
It’s not other people deciding that we’re sick, or should be felt sorry for, or all these things. The world before Stonewall was very much like the world that the Christian right would want it to be today” (Eilperin par. 14). Another participant named Dave van Ronk, a famous folksinger, was actually in the building while the riot was taking place, but he wasn’t actually of the LGBT community, though.…
LGBT individuals were constantly being harassed, assaulted, and, on numerous occasions, even murdered. Hateful societal views of the LGBT community were only being reinforced by the laws of the 1960s. Homosexuality was considered a mental disorder, and the sodomy laws made it possible for individuals to end up spending a life sentence in prison (American Experience: TV’s Most-watched History Series”). As mentioned before, the New York City vice squads also played a major role to the end result of Stonewall. Individuals did not agree with these unjust laws, and Stonewall is the perfect example of the civil disobedience performed by these…
This event also lead to spontaneous demonstrations by members of the LGBT community. The LGBT community is a major organization consisted of all professions, that ranged from blue collar workers to white collar workers. Gays and lesbians also faced gender, race, and class discrimination. Within six months, two gay activist organizations were formed in New York, concentrating on confrontational tactics, and three newspapers were established to promote rights for gays and lesbians.(Stonewall Riots).…
For several years, LGBT people have fought to to earn their equal rights, marked by events such as the Stonewall riots. These people people organized social groups such as the Daughters of Bilitis and the Mattachine Society, fighting to be able to exist in public spaces such as bars and the papers and later on, rights to same-sex marriage and equal job opportunity. The LGBT movement has impacted our society in social and public ways, changing the way we will interact in future years. Before the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis the Stonewall Riots, and the gay Pride parades, no one paid mind to the idea of equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, they were rather more worried about racial equality. In Jacob…
Through out the past century our people have continuously been brought down and shoved aside for who we are and what we stand for. The civil rights act of the 1960's was as peaceful as the country would allow but with every peaceful moment the country had brought down intense force trying to stop the change that was heading for America. Where in 1969 the Stonewall Riot was brought about when the patrons began rioting against the police in hopes to stop the police brutality. It then lead to several days of demonstration that helped cause a nationwide appearance of the LGBT+ community. In 2014 after many cases of cops shooting innocent men and some children the Ferguson Riots came to surface.…
The Gay Activist Alliance group wanted to channel the power of the Stonewall Riots into efficient power that could get results. The group on December 21,1969 created bylaws and a constitution in which they declared their rights to have what other humans have such as the right to their body, their right to love who they wanted to love, and right to express themselves how they seem fit. The Activist Alliances group had a more calm and sensitive approach compared to the Front members. They performed sit ins, rallies, and even lobbied for their rights. When comparing the two groups of the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activist Alliance both had the same interest at core value.…
The Stonewall riots inadvertently created an international community that forced to acknowledge the existence of the gay community. While there was clear tension between gay rights groups and other activist groups, as well as tension within the gay rights groups, gay rights became a forefront issue. There was no longer a need to remain quiet and “virtuous,” as there had been during the homophile movement. This shift in principles and how to approach gay rights has endured through the 21st century, and can be completely attributed to…
Before June 28, 1969, homosexual acts between consenting adults were illegal in all fifty states of America, which was reported in the article “The Stonewall Riots: June 28, 1969” (“The Stonewall Riots”). The Stonewall Inn is a gay bar in New York City. In 1969, it had no liquor license and held refuge for gay men and transvestites against the prejudiced police and laws. The laws were made to specifically On June 28th, these police raided Stonewall, which was not uncommon. But that night, for some unknown reason, people fought back.…
A local bar in New York’s Greenwich Village called the Stonewall Inn was the target of this routine police raid. At this age in time, it was still considered socially unacceptable to be gay. There were no laws protecting homosexuals and brutal force was used by the government officials. This all began as police were leading bar patrons outside to a waiting patrol car. Outside the bar, tempers flared and anger soon took control.…
Throughout the history of activism within the LGBT+ community, there has been a common goal to promote openness and acceptance. By employing a strategy modeled after the civil rights movement, which mainly focused on assimilation into the dominant institutions as a means of acceptance, activist groups have received their fair share of criticism. In 1997, Cathy J Cohen, a Black lesbian author and social activist, published the groundbreaking article “Punks, Bulldaggers, and Welfare Queens: The Radical Potential of Queer Politics?” a year after a controversy she introduces in the beginning of the essay. The famed Gay Men’s Health Crisis, best known for their active role in the treatment of HIV/AIDS during the AIDS crisis, came under fire after…
What initially seemed to be a regular police raid on a random June night in 1969 turned into riots lasting several evenings, with an impact that would continue to this day. Often people divide the history of the United States’ gay rights movement into two epochs- “before Stonewall” and “after Stonewall”. Accordingly, this distinction illustrates the Stonewall Riots’ individual importance for gay rights even as it was not the first event to highlight the injustices of homophobia. Despite its relatively late appearance in the timeline of gay rights history, the riots were the first demonstration of homosexual activism to be celebrated on a large scale and remain in large part the most commemorated gay rights demonstration. Additionally, the riots…