Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the series of civilian uprisings that gave birth to the Gay Pride Movement.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Gay Pride did not exist. There was no RuPaul, no Logo, no Margaret Cho, and no Adam Lambert. We had no voice, nor any sense of wanting a voice. The early gay lifestyle was comparable to a cockroach’s, darting in a out of dark places, consuming, mating, and then escaping.
The Stonewall Inn was a gay nightclub in New York City. In 1969 it was the largest gay establishment in the U.S.
New York Police had worked out a deal with Stonewall’s owners; officers would collect weekly payoffs, and in return no cops would storm the building. One historical week, there was no payoff, and cops raided the Inn. The police entered the building and began lining up the patrons. Female officers escorted patrons dressed as women to the bathrooms where they would inspect their genitals. If they turned out to be men, they were arrested.
In those days, ‘gay’ was not synonymous with stylish. ‘Gay’ eventually led to ‘fired,’ ‘disowned,’ and often ‘killed,’ so being forced out of the city’s one gay bar and being forced to line up in public was a big deal.
The stories aren’t clear as to who started the riot first. Some accounts say they saw a fabulous drag queen start it, and others say it was a butch lesbian. Whoever it was, they picked up a brick and threw it at the cops.
Of course he/she had the crap beat out of him/her for that, but following his/her single act of defiance was a wave of anger from the newly outed crowd of gays. They started throwing all sorts of things at the cops: coins, drinks, rocks, whatever. Attempts to control the crowd made them even angrier, and suddenly a riot had begun.
The gays attacked, completely mobbing the small crowd of cops, who swung at them with clubs with little results. Soon the crowd grew as people heard what was going on. The gays had developed a voice, and it was a shrill, violent, bitchy voice.
The cops retreated, hiding in the Stonewall Inn and barricading themselves in, while outside the angry mob rammed the door and tried to smash the windows. Even as reinforcements came in, the crowd seemed to swell to outnumber it, growing ever bolder and sassier.
Within a year, three gay-empowering magazines were created, and by 1970, Gay Pride had officially been born.
Go, gays. Go. The light is green now.
