Stonewall Inn

While the riots at the Stonewall Inn were instrumental in launching the modern gay rights movement, LGBTQ individuals have existed in all spaces across the decades of American history, as pictured in the documentary Before Stonewall. Each decade of the twentieth century brought different movements, leaders, and progresses with it that set the stage for the customers of a gay bar in Greenwich Village to say “enough is enough” in the face of abuse and marginalization by the police force. In the…

The Stonewall Riots were violent, spur of the moment protests following the police raid of the Stonewall Inn, a popular meeting place for gay New Yorkers. The year was 1969- Nixon had just been sworn in, and Apollo 11 had landed on the moon barely a week before. It was the tail end of the Civil Rights Movement, but the Gay Rights Movement hadn’t even begun. The Stonewall Riots were pivotal in the creation of the LGBT rights, and their impact can be seen to this day. Prior to the riots, gay…

What begins as the Stonewall Riots in 1969 was the beginning of the Gay Revolution. In New York, you can hear miles away people chanting (LGBT) repeatedly to the point their voices were heard across the world. We created the Declaration of Independence that said, “That all men are created equal,” instead American society made homosexuality unacceptable for effeminate of young men and women. Most men and women that were gay had to hide their sexuality, and live the “normal” life that society…

Village in Manhattan, one of the most memorable moments in LGBT history took place. Stonewall, a popular gay bar was raided with police forces that quickly escalated and exponentially resulted in Stonewall patrons of all gender identities and sexual orientations to begin forceful attacks against the New York City Police in order to prove that they are people who deserve to be treated equally. The Stonewall Riots were…

In her speech “Our Armies Are Rising and We Are Getting Stronger”, to the Latino Gay Men of New York (LGMNY) in 2001, Sylvia Rivera recounted her life in the context of her contribution to transgender activism, specifically that of the Stonewall Riots which took place during the summer of 1969. Throughout her speech Rivera reveals the underlying and persistent marginalization that took place not only on behalf of the cisgender, heteronormative community, but by her own community as well. Just…

Before Stonewall provides a historical overview of the development of the experiences within the LGBTQ community in the US in the 20th century, leading up to the police raids and riots at the Stonewall Inn in New York City in 1969. The documentary begins in the early 1900s. In this time nobody really knew anything about the gay community, in fact the word gay was “dirty.” If there were any suspicions that a person had gay tendencies they were committed to a mental institution. As the 20s’ came…

officially designated Stonewall and the surrounding neighborhood as a National Historic Site. This is important because for over a century, the American government shamed, harassed, abused, and refused to acknowledge the rights and civil liberties of American citizens, simply because of their sexual orientation and gender identity and this problem is still alive today. Wendy Stark, executive director of the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center stated "The recognition of Stonewall as a national…

or riot for change it was anger that drove the people to fight for their cause. Anger is a positive force that brings significant change in civil rights as demonstrated by Malcolm X and Rosa Parks in the Civil Rights Movement of the ‘60s, and the Stonewall Riots of 1969. The Civil Rights Movement was a drive of purposeful anger that swelled from hundreds of years of systematic racism of black people and caused a powerful change in civil rights. The straw that broke the camel’s back was Rosa…

Ask any young gay where the modern LGBT movement began, and it’s likely they’ll answer “Stonewall.” The Stonewall Riot, a two day period of rioting after a police raid at a gay bar in 1969, is often hailed as the genesis of sexuality and gender liberation in America. However, ask any LGBT historian the same question, and their answer might be much more complex. Although within the modern LGBT community Stonewall is considered the turning point toward true equality, both socially and politically,…

Stonewall Riot was a riot between the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender community against Police officers. It took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall inn, located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York city. The riots marks the beginning of the modern day gay liberation. During the riots gay and drag queens showed heterosexual people that they are as physical as them. Before the riots gay people and drag queens did not have any right or…