A History of Pride
The Stonewall Uprising occurred at The Stonewall Inn, in Greenwich Village, in New York City, on June 28th, 1969. And is widely credited as the event that led to what we now know to be our modern-day LGBTQ Pride Movement.
As you can imagine in 1960s America, most people of LGBTQ status, either on the spectrum of gender and/or sexuality were living their life what was termed at the time, ‘in the closet’. Meaning they were living their LGBTQ gender and/or sexuality in secret.
Now many LGBTQ people of the 1960s bravely came out and others were forced out in the sense that they were discovered in small towns and small cities throughout the United States of America.
When people came out in their small towns or small cities in the 1960s, they were often tragically ostracized from their families and communities. Shortly after these people were ostracized from their communities, they would reach an emotional and financial tipping point and these newly open LGBTQ people of the 1960s would then move to places like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and New York City.
Now many of these newly open LGBTQ people would have tragically lost their jobs in their previous community upon coming out. And by the time they moved to a more accepting city, they had very little money left to start their new life. Many of the LGBTQ people arriving in New York City in the 1960s would have started sleeping homeless in Christopher Park, in Greenwich Village, across the street from The Stonewall Inn.
The Stonewall Inn would have been a sign of hope for these newly arriving people and a place where they could make new friends, find a new family, and start a new life.
In 1952, the American Psychiatric Association incorrectly and unjustly labeled being a homosexual as a mental disorder. At the time, there were right-wing groups in the private sector and the government that wished to establish laws discriminating against LGBTQ people. And after the American Psychiatric Association made this incorrect and unjust diagnosis, this gave these right-wing groups the ammunition they needed to put these unjust laws into place. The most discriminatory law put into place was the one already noted, which was that a person could be fired if it was discovered that they were of LGBTQ status. As you can imagine, this meant that even if people moved to a liberal city like New York or San Francisco, and could be out among their friends. Still, they had to hide their sexuality and/or gender identity at their place of employment. This of course doomed all LGBTQ people of the time to a Jekyll and Hyde lifestyle in which it was impossible to create genuine roots in society.
In the private sector, an open LGBTQ person could get fired right away. But in the public sector, it was harder to fire an employee, because of unions. So right-wing people in the public sector became obsessed with identifying who in their community were LGBTQ, so they could blacklist them from public service. This led to these right-wing group’s justification of raids on LGBTQ-friendly bars. ‘Because if the police raided an LGBTQ-friendly bar, they could collect the names of everyone inside the bar. And that list of names could and would be used to blacklist LGBTQ people from public service.
In the 1960s in New York City, Greenwich Village was the only truly gay and lesbian-friendly area. Bars in Greenwich Village were gay and lesbian-friendly, but not necessarily everything LGBTQ-friendly. For instance, many bars in Greenwich Village in the 1960s that were friendly to gay and lesbian clientele, would not have necessarily allowed transgender people, or men in drag into their establishments.
In fact. The only bar in New York City in the 1960s that was everything LGBTQ, and allowed same-sex dancing between couples, was The Stonewall Inn.
Bars outside of Greenwich Village in the 1960s were often divided amongst ethnic lines, in the sense that there were Italian American bars, Irish American bars, Polish American bars, African American bars, Chinese American Bars, Hispanic American bars, etc… And often what happens when you divide groups up by ethnicity is that a machismo culture builds. And many of these bars outside of the Village would have signs up that said things like, “If You’re Gay, Go Away”.
Now as I said before, bars in Greenwich Village were gay and lesbian-friendly. But even still, undercover police officers would often go into bars in the Village and hit on gay men inside the bars, get them to reveal their homosexuality, and then these undercover police officers would threaten to arrest these gay men for “disorderly conduct”. At the time, there were no laws in New York City that allowed bars to discriminate against LGBTQ people. But on the state level, there was a law that an open LGBTQ person could be arrested for “disorderly conduct”. These police officers would threaten to arrest these men based on this state law. Such an arrest was rarely brought to trial in the 1960s, as disorderly conduct laws were rarely prosecuted at the time. But often, tragically, this meant that these gay men would have to cooperate in their harassment by paying a bribe, because if they didn’t, the trumped-up charge of “disorderly conduct” could be advanced to something more serious, like resisting arrest.
Now to counteract these police harassments that were going on at the time, many positive social movements were happening in the 1960s. Most notable among them were the African American civil rights movement and the Anti-Vietnam War movement. These positive social movements planted the seeds of inspiration that led to the launch of the modern-day Pride movement. As you can imagine, largely because of the African American civil rights movement, for the first time in history, people of the 1960s were reading daily in the newspaper what police could and couldn’t do. And what types of protests and organizing worked to affect change.
In 1969, The Stonewall Inn did not have a liquor license. At the time, The Stonewall Inn operated as a members-only social club. Right-wing factions in the City government at the time didn’t want to give a liquor license to a bar that allowed everything LGBTQ and same-sex dancing. But left-wing factions in the city government fought for LGBTQ individuals to have a safe space. So the compromise of The Stonewall Inn operating as a social club was reached. The only reason the LGBTQ community agreed to this is that it gave them a much-needed safety precaution for the time. Which was that when a person came up to the door of The Stonewall Inn in 1969, they knocked and a bouncer looked at the person through a peephole. And if it looked like a person that belonged in the bar, the bouncer would let them in. But if it looked like the person was an undercover police officer or someone looking to harm the community, the bouncer would simply state that “The Stonewall Inn is a members-only club, and you are not a member”. So the bouncer could turn away harmful seeming people. Again, a much-needed safety precaution for the time.
Individuals let into The Stonewall Inn in 1969 would have had to sign a log-in book to “join” as a “member” of the club for the night. Most people wrote fake names in the log-in book. There was a membership fee, which was $3 on weekends and included 2 drinks and $1 during the week with no drinks included. So this was essentially a cover charge, but it was called a membership fee to keep up with the whole ruse of it being called a “members-only social club”.
If you go inside The Stonewall Inn today, it is now a wood-paneled bar with an upstairs showroom. That was not the case back then. Back then it was an open club, with painted black walls, pulsing white lights, and black lights. There was a front room and a back room. The backroom played the more modern music of the time and was, therefore, more popular with the younger clientele. The upstairs of the bar did not exist as part of the bar in 1969.
The Stonewall Inn was owned by the mafia in 1969. Not by the LGBTQ community, as it is today. The mafia was motivated by money though. In 1969, The Stonewall Inn made $5,000 a night on weekends, which is $50,000 a night by today’s standards.
Every week in 1969, a police officer would come to the bar and pick up an envelope of cash from the mafia. That officer would then distribute the cash throughout the Greenwich Village police community. This police bribe ensured two things. One is that the police would turn a blind eye to The Stonewall Inn not having a liquor license. And two, the mafia would be notified by the police if a raid was going to happen so that they could notify the regular clientele not to come. Also, these scheduled raids would always be done at an early hour and during the week.
When a raid did happen, anyone in the bar was put into a line and asked for ID. If a person did not give an ID, they could be arrested. If a person was transgender, they could be arrested. A man in drag could be arrested. And a lesbian without three pieces of feminine clothing on could also be arrested. As mentioned before, these laws were written vaguely on purpose to be used as tools of harassment. Usually, during such a raid, only a few bar patrons would be arrested. But it was always from these marginalized factions of the LGBTQ community. As we know. Bullies are cowards, and therefore always pick on the most marginalized among us. As they feel the most marginalized have the least amount of recourse.
The Uprising:
On June 28th, 1969, eight police officers, led by a man named Seymour Pine showed up at The Stonewall Inn and started a raid. It was a Friday night, but it was after midnight, so it was technically Saturday. There were already four undercover police officers inside The Stonewall Inn. So there were twelve officers in total. The mafia had not been notified of this raid. So the bar was packed. There were over 200 people in the bar. When the raid started, many people at first thought that maybe something bad had happened like a fight and the police were there to help. You have to understand, that the people at The Stonewall Inn that night were people who only came to the bar on popular nights and therefore had never experienced a raid.
As soon as people realized that it was a raid, they started running for the exit, and even for the window in the bathroom to escape. Over 100 people escaped the bar at the onset of the raid. Those who were left inside The Stonewall Inn were then put into a line and asked for IDs. When the police got to the first of the transgender clientele, the police told them that they were expected to go inside the bathroom with a female police officer to be inspected. And if they were discovered to be transgender, they would be arrested for such. These transgender individuals rightly and bravely refused to cooperate with the police. And this act of civil disobedience on behalf of these transgender people then inspired others in line to not cooperate with the police as well. Others in line started refusing to give their IDs to the police. The police became scared and announced that everyone left in line would be arrested. Well, the police hadn’t planned to arrest that many people, so they had to call for paddy wagons. As you can imagine, this is 1969, so it took a while for paddy wagons to arrive. Also, a lot of local police didn’t want to help the officers conducting the raid, as they were on the take from the mafia. So for many reasons, it took a long time for paddy wagons to come.
Now those hundred-plus people who had escaped the bar at the onset of the raid didn’t leave the area. They were waiting right across the street from The Stonewall Inn, and in Christopher Park. Waiting to see what would happen to their friends inside. By the time the Paddy Wagons arrived, the crowd of over one hundred people that had escaped The Stonewall Inn grew to over five hundred people. This is because people started coming out from other bars and their apartments to see what was happening.
When the paddy wagons arrived, the police started loading people from The Stonewall Inn into the wagons.
The crowd started jeering at the police, and shouting phrases like “Gay power!” and “We shall overcome!”
Those in the crowd that night say that what happened next was that a lesbian being arrested named Stormé DeLarverie told a police officer that her handcuffs were too tight. And because she said that, that police officer took out his baton and hit Stormé in the head. When Stormé came to, she turned to the crowd and shouted, “Why don’t you guys do something?!” It is reported that as soon as Stormé yelled that, the first bottles started being thrown from the crowds at the police. The crowd continued by throwing coins, stones, and bricks. And the riot began. The riot was a release for LGBTQ people who were witnessing and had undergone a lifetime of systematic abuse.
The police retreated, and to escape the crowd, barricaded themselves inside The Stonewall Inn. And in a twist of fate, one of the police officers had to escape out the back window of the bar. So the tables had been turned.
When the backup police arrived, the police were instructed to fire their weapons under no circumstances, as the crowd was unarmed.
The police tried to contain the riot but were unable to. That is because riots in New York City are contained by boxing the riot in on the gridded streets where the riot takes place. Greenwich Village is one of the few areas of New York City that is not gridded. Therefore, the police ended up just pacing the riot around the whole night.
Now of course the riot was violent. But also the riot included singing, dancing, and even moments where the LGBTQ community would stand arm in arm in front of the police doing leg kicks. So the seeds of modern-day Pride were of course present that night.
The Stonewall Inn was burned to the ground that night. No one knows for sure who started the fire.
The next night, the community came back to the Stonewall Inn for a BYOB party in front of the rubble. And again the police came. And again there was a riot. There was no rioting for three nights. Then on July 2nd, the newspapers came out with the reports of the riots. And the newspapers made fun of the LGBTQ community and badmouthed them. And so on the night of July 2nd, the community again came out for a BYOB party in front of the rubble, and again the police came. And again there was a riot.
Now just one year later, on June 28th, 1970, the first Pride marches took place in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and of course New York City, all in commemoration of The Stonewall Uprising.
The Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop and the Gay Street Sign:
In the 1960s a man named Craig Rodwell moved to New York City to become a ballet dancer. It was in New York that Craig joined the Mattachine Society. The Mattachine Society was a fraternity of gay male activists who partnered with Lesbian activists to advance gay and lesbian rights in America. The fraternity included many doctors, lawyers, and college professors.
In 1967, Craig Rodwell opened the Oscar Wilde Memorial Book Shop on Mercer Street and then in 1973 moved the shop to Christopher Street, across the street from the Gay Street sign. It became the center of activism for the LGBTQ rights movement in New York City. The African American civil rights movement was largely organized by churches. And so Craig started the bookshop to fulfill that same type of role as an organizational hub, but for LGBTQ activism.
Every year in the 1960s, Craig Rodwell and other gay and lesbian rights activists from across the nation would go to Philadelphia and hold what was called the Annual Reminder March on July 4th in front of Independence Hall. This march never got the publicity that the activists wanted. So at the Annual Reminder March on
July 4th, 1969, a mere six days after the uprising, Craig and the others at the march decided that the following year, they would move the march to June 28th in commemoration of The Stonewall Uprising and everyone would hold their march in their respective city. So that is why, as mentioned earlier, the following year, on June 28th, 1970, the first Pride Marches took place in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City, all in commemoration of the Stone Wall Uprising.
To give you an idea of how small and close the community of activists was back then, Craig Rodwell at one point in his life dated Harvey Milk. As many of you may know, Harvey Milk was the first openly gay elected official in the United States. He was an elected member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
The Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop sadly closed in 2009. Craig Rodwell died in 1993 and the community was able to keep the bookshop open for many years after his death.
The Gay Street sign, across the street from the location of the bookshop, actually has no relation to anything LGBTQ. Gay is the surname of a family that owned much of the land in Greenwich Village during colonial times.
The Rainbow Flag:
The rainbow flag was created by Gilbert Baker at the behest of Harvey Milk. Harvey asked Gilbert to make a symbol for their movement.
Legend has it that Gilbert made the flag as a tribute to Judy Garland and the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. The only reason this holds credence is that Judy Garland died six days before The Stonewall Uprising and was an icon to gay men in the 1960s.
However, when Gilbert was asked in an interview later in life why he made the flag a rainbow. Gilbert said that he wanted a symbol that would cause enlightenment in the viewer that of course both sexuality and gender work as a spectrum, because light works as a spectrum, so therefore everything works as a spectrum.
The First Pride March:
The first New York City Pride March, marched up 6th Ave from Greenwich Village, all the way to Central Park. As you can imagine, it must have been a very scary walk for those walking, as it was the first of its kind in New York City. The organizers did not know how many people would show up. And enough people showed up to fill 15 city blocks. By 1979, there were enough people at Pride to fill 30 city blocks. And by the end of the 20th century, over 500,000 people were coming to Pride every year. In 2019, NYC Pride 2019 was also WorldPride. Over 3 million people came to the event. It was the largest event in the history of New York City.
Also of note. The first Pride March was called the Christopher Street Liberation Day March.
Julius Bar:
Julius Bar, in Greenwich Village, has always been a gay-friendly bar. In 1966 it was raided by the police. The police instructed the bartenders to never serve open-gay men again. Well, the bartenders were openly gay men, so of course, such a raid would backfire on the police. After this raid, Craig Rodwell and three other men, who were friends of those at Julius Bar held the first “Sip-in” there. The name “Sip-in” is a play on the name “Sit-in”. Sit-ins were protests in the Southern United States where African Americans would sit in restaurants that refused to serve African Americans until they were thrown out, to bring awareness to that discrimination.
So after the raid at Julius Bar in 1966, Craig Rodwell, three other men, a journalist, and a reporter came to Julius Bar. Craig and the three men stated that they were gay and ordered a drink. The bartenders refused to serve them in compliance with what the police had told them to do. And the photographer took an iconic photo of the bartender pushing Craig’s money back to him and the other men.
This photo was, as I’ve alluded to, done in cooperation with the bartender. After this first Sip-in at Julius Bar, Craig, the three other men, and the journalist went to other bars in the area known to refuse service to gay men. Craig and the men stated their sexuality and ordered a drink at these other bars. They were denied service. And the journalist took note. When the story ran in the newspapers, it now had a photo, an iconic name, and a list of bars that were discriminating against LGBTQ people. The story ran wide and the State of New York quickly got rid of any laws that allowed discrimination against open LGBTQ patrons for food or drink.
Marsha P. Johnson and STAR:
If you moved to New York City in the 1960s to be openly transgender, society would have tragically made life impossibly difficult for you. You would have been denied housing across the board. You would have been denied a job across the board. Tragically, you would have probably been forced into a life of survival prostitution. This was a huge problem that was largely ignored. That was until 1970, when two women, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera started an organization called STAR, the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries. And they held a fundraiser for STAR at NYU on November 21st, 1970. At this fundraiser for STAR, they raised enough money to get a 4-bedroom apartment in the East Village that became the headquarters of STAR. Now sadly, they only had this apartment for the first 6 months of 1971, as that’s all they had enough money for. But the reason it was so significant is that for the first time in history, there was a place here in New York City where an open transgender person could go, and get free food, and free housing, without being exploited. And it was the first time, that open transgender people had ever been given that dignity.
The Gay Liberation Monument:
The Gay Liberation Monument is in Christopher Park in Greenwich Village and was made by pop artist George Segal. It was the first publicly commissioned LGBTQ monument in the United States and was made in 1980, but because of bureaucracy was not installed until 1992. But thankfully, it is there now.
After the Uprising:
Under President Barack Obama, the ban on LGBTQ people in the military was fully lifted. Also under President Barack Obama, same-sex marriage was made legal in all 50 states. In 2015, The Stonewall Inn was made into a New York City Historical Landmark, and in 2016, The Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park, and the surrounding area were made by President Barack Obama into a United States National Monument.
