[Dryerase] AGR stonewall

[Shawn G]

Focus is not too local....

Asheville Global Report (www.agrnews.org)

History of Stonewall Rebellion inspires Asheville commemoration

By Katie Mingle


June 26 (AGR)— On Saturday, June 29, Asheville residents will celebrate the 
32nd anniversary of the Stonewall riots by gathering in Prichard Park decked 
out in their queerest gear and ready to parade through the city. The 
Stonewall riots, also remembered as the “Stonewall Rebellion” and simply, 
“Stonewall,” are considered to be a milestone in gay activism and are 
honored in gay pride parades and celebrations all across America each 
summer.

The fine details of the Stonewall Riots may vary depending on the account. 
The line between fact and fiction becomes a bit blurred under the weight of 
such a legendary event. However, some details of Stonewall and its 
consequences cannot be disputed.

The event took place June 28, 1969 at the Stonewall Inn, a well-known gay 
bar on the west side of lower Manhattan. It started with a fairly routine 
police raid on the bar and ended after five days of rioting by thousands of 
people in the streets of New York. That the raid was “routine” implies only 
that these raids happened frequently, but it is not to imply that these 
raids at Stonewall and at other gay bars all throughout the US didn’t have 
dire consequences for the people arrested, for the drag queens and butches 
especially, who were often raped, beaten, and humiliated by the police.

June 28 was a night like any other at the mafia-run Stonewall Inn when eight 
police officers raided the bar and forced the patrons to stop dancing with 
each other (there were laws against same-sex dancing) and into the streets 
for ID checks. When they began to arrest some of the drag queens (there were 
also laws against cross-dressing), the crowd became heated and people 
started yelling and fighting. Some say the drag queens led the Stonewall 
Rebellion, others say it was the bull dykes. Most likely there was no one 
punch or single bottle thrown that spurred the melee that commenced that 
night. What is certain is that all hell broke loose on the street outside 
the Stonewall Inn and that the people fought back with a fervor that they 
hadn’t unleashed before. Eventually, the people forced the police inside the 
bar where they stayed locked up until back-up arrived on the scene and the 
riot was temporarily dispersed. Thirteen people were arrested and a handful 
of police were injured. The entire riot lasted only about 45 minutes, but it 
was what followed in the days after June 28 that turned Stonewall into a 
colossal event.

Over the next four days, about two thousand people came out into the streets 
of the West Village in what was less a protest than an explosion of rage 
against the oppressive conditions they had been living under for so long. 
Two thousand may sound small in light of what gay activism and gay pride 
have become, but in 1969 it was the largest ever public demonstration by 
lesbian, gay, and transgendered people.

Immediately following the days of rioting people began organizing and formed 
new activist groups such as the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the Gay 
Activists Alliance (GAA). However, Stonewall was not the beginning of gay 
activism, but a unifying moment.

Renee Vera Cafiero, a gay rights activist during the time of Stonewall, put 
it this way: “Stonewall was a spark. It was Rosa Parks. Rosa Parks was not 
the beginning of the black civil rights movement but somehow she was 
unifying. She was something that you could rally around. And Stonewall, for 
some reason, was the rallying point.”

Before Stonewall, New York, San Francisco, Chicago and other large American 
cities had well-organized and fairly extensive gay sub-cultures that date 
back to the late nineteenth century. Groups such as the Mattachine Society, 
a gay men’s organization, and the Daughters of Bilitis, a lesbian 
organization, came into being following the second world war. These groups 
would meet and publish newsletters and sometimes organize small 
demonstrations. They were generally interested in gaining acceptance into 
mainstream society for homosexuals.

After Stonewall, gay activism underwent a change in ideology. The language 
of the movement was one of the first things to change as people stopped 
strictly using the word “homosexual” to describe themselves. Instead, the 
new movement preferred the word gay and adopted the slogan “Gay is Good.” 
This slogan and others used by gay activists were inspired in large part by 
the civil rights movement which was unfolding at the same time. Many people 
in the movement became less interested in a culture they found to be 
bigoted, cruel, and ultimately a bit dull. They became engaged, instead, in 
forming their own culture which they hoped would be allowed to flourish and 
enjoy constitutional rights and freedoms.

Still, the progress effected by the original pioneers of gay activism cannot 
be denied. These individuals and organizations laid the foundation for the 
future of gay activism and the promotion of many social changes.

The history of the Gay Rights Movement is thick and complex. Like most 
political and cultural revolutions, it endured multiple schisms between men 
and women and conservatives, liberals, and radicals. Nevertheless, important 
strides have been made by the gay community in many realms. Great losses 
were suffered as well, among them the assassination of Harvey Milk, the 
openly gay superintendent of San Francisco; the death of 32 people in an 
intentionally set fire in a gay bar in New Orleans; and the millions of 
people who died of AIDS while the government denied them the proper funding 
and care.

“Still today there is so much to be done in gay activism,” said one of the 
organizers of the Asheville Stonewall event. “At least kids are learning 
about the civil rights movement in school. You never hear a thing about the 
Gay Rights Movement or all the horrible injustices people suffered. We want 
this parade to remember all the brave people in the past but also to 
acknowledge that gay issues are still pushed under the rug too often. On 
Saturday we won’t be under the rug, we’ll be out there having a fun time and 
being as queer as we please.”



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