Stonewall Uprising

[Stand Your Ground]

When police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City on June 28, 1969, the street erupted into violent protests that lasted for the next six days. The Stonewall riots, as they came to be known, marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world.


Preview here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/stonewall/player/

[Dunk]

I remember when a close friend of mine first spoke to me about Stonewall back in 2006. I didn't know anything about it. At first, she was shocked I didn't know anything about it, and before I read about the uprising - I couldn't fathom what it could mean to her. When I realized what a profound moment it was, and what it meant to her as a lesbian in America - I was ashamed that I was so ignorant. Then I was angry that something like this could be left out of the American History curriculum I studied in high school - not to mention that there wasn't a single whisper of it in elementary school books. The first time it was mentioned was by my former professor of US History Since 1877 - who became somewhat of a mentor to me. She's a person of incredible strength and intelligence, a comrade who dedicated most of her work in academia to studying LGBT and Queer studies in America. Before I met her, I wasn't a homophobe, but after my time in her class, I considered myself an ally. I love the way history can light a candle in the dark.

[agnixie]

I understand the significance of the thing, but I wish they wouldn't keep constantly hushing out the transgender element of it. I also would note that "for the first time" is ignoring Compton Cafeteria, and I would love a more holistic approach to queer acts of rebellion in America.

Finally, having seen what the grounds where Stonewall Inn have become now make me sad... Half of it is still a gay club, for wealthy tourists.

[Queercommie Girl]

I understand the significance of the thing, but I wish they wouldn't keep constantly hushing out the transgender element of it. I also would note that "for the first time" is ignoring Compton Cafeteria, and I would love a more holistic approach to queer acts of rebellion in America.

Finally, having seen what the grounds where Stonewall Inn have become now make me sad... Half of it is still a gay club, for wealthy tourists.

Good point.

[BankHeist]

The "Stonewall Uprising" documentary is terrible and ahistorical.

Stonewall was primarily instigated by poor Black and Brown trans women and drag queens; not the well-to-do white gays and transphobic lesbians they interview in that documentary. If anything, that movie exists not to document, but to spin Stonewall in such a light, to make the white, cisgendered champions of the gay marriage movement be able to draw parallels between their utterly counterproductive reformist goals of moving to the suburbs/fighting wars and the direct action undertaken by trans and queer people who bitterly rejected the notion of heteronormativity.

Further, Stonewall was but the most publicized of several trans riots that occurred across the U.S.; beginning with the Cooper's Donuts Riot in Los Angeles in 1959.

For a more accurate narrative of Stonewall, I recommend reading "Smash the Church, Smash the State" by Tommi Mecca, and "Stonewall" by Martin Duberman.

[Bad Grrrl Agro]

When police raided the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Greenwich Village section of New York City on June 28, 1969, the street erupted into violent protests that lasted for the next six days. The Stonewall riots, as they came to be known, marked a major turning point in the modern gay civil rights movement in the United States and around the world.


Preview here:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/stonewall/player/
According to what I've heard and read, Stonewall Inn was not a "popular" gay bar. It was considered the bottom of the barrel as far as gay bars go but they were (I think) the only gay bar in NYC back then that would allow transwomen (particularly transwomen of color, like Sylvia Rivera or Marsha P. Johnson).

There is a really cute musical based off the Stonewall Riot. Musicals are so much more fun than documentaries.

[Bad Grrrl Agro]

I understand the significance of the thing, but I wish they wouldn't keep constantly hushing out the transgender element of it. I also would note that "for the first time" is ignoring Compton Cafeteria, and I would love a more holistic approach to queer acts of rebellion in America.
See "Screaming Queens".





Finally, having seen what the grounds where Stonewall Inn have become now make me sad... Half of it is still a gay club, for wealthy tourists.
:crying:

[agnixie]

:crying:

That was the reaction of the friend who dragged me there the first time she saw that. But hey, wealthy white gay men can sip their overpriced daiquiris in peace, away from the plebe!

Also thanks for the documentary recommendation.

[Bad Grrrl Agro]

I don't often go to to gay bars (as I tend to go to lesbian bars and play pool) but it just saddens me to hear that the stonewall inn has been turned into that. I am heart broken.