Stonewall

[mikeyank]

I was just viewing a series of photographs from New York City in the 1960's and found this one with the following caption:


Stonewall, 1969
Crowd attempts to impede police arrests outside the Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village in 1969.

For anyone who is nostalgic about New York City in the 60's this is the link to the entire collection, (not Stonewall related) but all of NYC:

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/new-york-city-1960s-gallery-1.1038782#ixzz1zf6JQ94f

 

[tampa24]

Thanks so much Mikey. I had never seen any photographs from Stonewall or the riots. It almost brought tears to my eyes to see them. Could those beautiful brave young men have had any clue that first night on a street in NYC, standing defiant in front of an ordinary bar, that they were about to change the world? Revolutions can start in the most unlikely of places.

Do you or does anyone else have any photographs or video footage of the the Stonewall Riots? I'd love to see more.

 

[rrhill]

Tampa you could watch the documentary on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CqgF7jWD2M part 1 (split into 6 parts)

 

[tampa24]

Thanks so much for the link Robert. I don't know if "enjoy" is the right word. But I have found the first video to be enlightening. I had already learned much about the perils of being gay in the 60's and earlier from movies shown at the gay and lesbian student union at my university. The dishonorable discharges from the military, the medical "experiments" to cure patients of being gay, the citizen education movies on the dangers of homosexuality and what to watch for if your son was acting too effeminate or your daughter was acting too masculine, (Get them medical and psychological help immediately!), the classification of homosexuality in psychology textbooks listed within chapters on sexual disorders like necrophilia and bestiality.

For those younger people in the forum I think it would be especially informative, if not fascinating, to see what life was like for gay people in the "Land of the Free" before the Stonewall Riots.

We owe those brave pioneers such a debt.

 

[stowe1]

Thanks, mikey, for posting this. I remember seeing a photo in the NYTimes the Monday after it happened as I recollect, which I read for work everyday. I was working as an industry analyst at the U.S. Dept. of Commerce's Domestic Business area in DC. I was still deeply closeted at that point in my private life, so it didn't have as much impact on me at the times, but as my journey out began and especially when I was working in NYC in the early 70's, it became more of a touchstone for me.

Over the years, there have been a few documentaries on PBS, HBO, and reshown on LOGO about the rebellion with interviews of participants. There was also a movie about Stonewall, but I can't remember the name.


__________________

 

[cumrag27]

44 years after Stonewall...

44 years after Stonewall, patrons celebrate progress made on gay rights
By William Holt | Yahoo! News – 8 hrs ago..

44 years after Stonewall, patrons celebrate progress made on gay rightsView Photo.
44 years after Stonewall, patrons …

New York's Stonewall Inn (William Holt/Yahoo News)Tom Lander, 58, flew into New York City from an Ireland vacation on Tuesday night. A Miami school teacher, Lander diverted his trip to the Big Apple simply to be at the Stonewall Inn for the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Defense of Marriage Act on Wednesday.

I wanted to be where it all started,” said Lander, referring to the famous Stonewall riots of 1969, in which members of the gay community spontaneously demonstrated for three nights after a routine police raid on the popular Greenwich Village gay bar.

Wednesday was another watershed moment for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights movement. Just two days before the 44th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, the Supreme Court struck down DOMA, a federal law barring federal recognition of same-sex marriage. The court also dismissed a case involving California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, paving the way for the return of gay marriage in that state.

“Right now I’m just blown away,” said Landers, who bought Champagne for everyone at the crowded bar on Wednesday morning.

The crowd at the Stonewall was lit by a mixture of elation and relief. When news of the court’s decision came over the television above the bar, most people had erupted into cheers and applause.

“I didn’t think I would be this emotional, but when I heard the news I started crying,” said Derek Williams, 50, who arrived at the Stonewall with his partner, Greg Towle, 52.

Williams, a Trinidadian, said the court’s ruling does not affect him directly because he's not a U.S. citizen, but he added that he has “a lot of close friends whose lives are directly affected.”

He added, “All of this happened in my lifetime. A black president, gay marriage—I never thought it would happen.”

“It’s what had to happen,” added Towle, who held his partner close. “It’s taking the religious, Christian aspect out of it. It’s not that I’m not a Christian myself, but it’s taking the literal interpretation of the Bible out of marriage. The separation of church and state is a part of our Constitution.”

With the Stonewall still ringing with cheers, one reveler emphasized that there was still a great deal of progress to be made on gay rights.

“I’m happy, but I’m also mindful that it doesn’t stop here,” said Jeremy Rye, 33, who works at the Center for Constitutional Rights, a nonprofit legal advocacy group based in New York. “There are rollbacks for LGBT groups elsewhere in the world, like Uganda and Russia.”

Rye said he was extremely disappointed with the court’s Tuesday ruling on the Voting Rights Act, which struck down a key provision of the 1965 legislation that allowed for federal veto power over election law changes in some (mostly Southern) states.

“My hope is that we can celebrate today, but our work is not done,” said Rye.

Outside the bar, spouses Mary Jo Kennedy and Jo-Ann Shain held up posters with pictures of thwedding day. The couple has been together for 31 years and married two years ago, when gay marriage was legalized in New York.

“I’m ecstatic about the DOMA case,” said Kennedy. "We've been involved in this since 2004, and this is a great victory.”

In 2004, Kennedy and Shain filed a lawsuit against New York City for marriage benefits. According to Kennedy, they won in a lower court but lost in a higher court.

“We still didn't have our federal rights until today," she said."




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Stimpy