Gay Pride #5: Sharing our Stories: Stonewall

Friday June 28, 2013

I wrote a five part series and posted them on Facebook this year to commemorative Gay Pride and Gay History. Day 5

Today is Day 5 of PRIDE Week and my fifth and final “installment” of Milestones in the Gay Rights Movement. 

June 28th, 1969 ~~ 44 years ago! 

I like sharing and telling stories. And it was not surprising, that earlier this week, several of my friends reached out to me and said, “they had no idea what the Stonewall Riots were. So in the inclusive spirit of Facebook, and the diversity of my own mix of friends, (my quick unscientific tally of my friends still skewered the majority as straight, so my gay friends and straight allies bare with me), I’m gonna do the obvious today and talk a bit what happened 44 years ago. 

The Stonewall Riots 

There was a lot going on in 1969, Lots of social and civil unrest, a war in Vietnam, Black rights, Women’s rights, Woodstock. I have very vivid childhood of my grandfather McDowell, seeing a bunch of young people on a family drive through town and calling them “hippies!"

Here’s to Flower Power! Peace Heavy Dig It Baby Groovy Right ON! 

And it wasn’t like Gays and Lesbians, suddenly appeared in 1969. We seem to have been around since the beginning of time. (I took Greek Art History and looked at enough Grecian vases to last a lifetime.) But what did happen in the early mornings of June 28, 1969 in Greenwich Village in New York at a small bar on Christopher Street, owned by the mafia and making payoffs to the police on a regular basis since no liquor license existed, was the usual going bad. Stonewall, was the only bar gay men could dance in New York. So as practice had it, fake names were used to sign in, and on this day 44 years ago, in the early morning, the police raid didn’t go quite as usual, and the energy escalated and suddenly there was just enough rage in this small gathering in the Stonewall Inn, that gay people, outside the club also joined in, and more police were summoned and there was a riot. The unrest continued into the next night and beyond… and later that year, the word “gay” started to show up in title of organized groups, an then a year later, on June 28, 1970 gay and lesbians coordinated marches in several major cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. (There are great detailed accounts of Stonewall on sites like Wikipedia and beyond.) 

That’s the quick and dirty, Stonewall is a foundation in the Gay Rights Movement and why PRIDE is celebrated in most cities in late June. And amazing progress has occurred in those 44 years. And that’s why we still march and celebrate and the beauty is it about diversity and acceptance. 

Thanks for reading this week. Hope some of the magic of dates, facts, events, and personal anecdotes I’ve shared over the last five days have opened, educated and broadened a few minds to pause, think and you’ll look just a bit differently at the rainbow flag as you see it flying. We all have stories, beautiful stories and when shared together we are sharing our humanity. 

Been a huge monumental week in gay history thanks to the Supreme Court Decisions and how wonderful those judgments were part of this week. Now, I’ve got some fun to be had, some parties in the street and some photos to take of a whole lot of beautiful happy faces, so I can get back to doing what we all do best on Facebook, and show off the fun we celebrate in our life. 

XO ~~ Happy PRIDE!