The Stonewall Riots - 1969

The Stonewall Riots, also known as the Stonewall Uprising, was a pivotal moment for the LGBTQIA+ community and sparked the start of gay activism in the USA and around the world. A raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York City sparked a riot which lasted 6 days. During this period. the police were hauling employees and customers out of the bar, leading to violent clashes with police outside the bar.

The 1960s and the previous decades were not a welcoming time for the LGBT community. Same sex relations in New York City were illegal, causing the LGBT community to flock to gay bars and clubs where they could openly be themselves and express their sexuality. When the New York State Liquor Authority learned of such bars and clubs, they would them down using the argument that the gathering of homosexuals was "disorderly". These regulations were overturned in 1966 thanks to the actions of activists in the city, and that this point customers could be served alcohol. However, holding hands, kissing etc in public was still illegal and these engagements led to police harassment of gay bars and their patrons.

 In 1966, the Genovese crime family that controlled most of the Greenwich Village gay bars in New York, bought the Stonewall Inn. At the time of purchase, the Stonewall Inn was a "straight" bar and restaurant. They renovated it and reopened it in 1967 as a gay bar. Patrons were encouraged to bring their own beer, and therefore the premises did not require a liquor license. Attendees were asked to sign their names in a book when entering the bar to maintain a sense of exclusivity.

The lack of a liquor license meant that police interference wasn't an issue at the time. This did however allow the owners to cut costs by way of no fire exits, no running water to clean glasses, no clean toilets and watered-down drinks. Wealthier patrons were also blackmailed in order to keep their sexuality a secret.

Despite this, the Stonewall Inn rapidly became a Greenwich Village institution. It was large, cheap to enter and welcomed drag queens who had experienced a bitter reception at other bars and clubs in the area. Runaway and homeless gay youths made the Stonewall Inn their home and it was one of the only gay bars left that allowed dancing. With the bar being run by the Mafia, corrupt cops would send a warning if raids were imminent allowing the owners to stash any alcohol sold without a liquor license and hide the illegal homosexual activities.

In the early hours of June 28th, police raided the Stonewall Inn. Unlike other occurrences, the owners were not tipped off and the raid came as a surprise. The police, armed with a warrant, stormed the premises, roughed up customers, discovered the bootlegged alcohol and arrested 13 people. These arrests included employees and people violating the states gender-appropriate clothing statute. Female officers were reported to take suspected cross-dressing customers into the bathrooms to check their gender.

The patrons had had enough of the raids at this point, the constant harassment and social discrimination needed to come to an end. Angry residents and customers hung around outside of the bar instead of heading home. They became agitated as events unfolded and were aggressively manhandled. Within minutes a riot involving hundreds of people had started. The police, some prisoners and a writer for the Village Voice barricaded themselves inside the bar which was attempted to be set on fire by an angry mob.

The fire department and a riot squad did mange to douse the flames and rescue those inside Stonewall, and eventually they also managed to disperse the crowd. However, the riots continued for a further 5 days and sometimes involved thousands of people. These riots flared up at one point after the Village Voice published their account of the riots.

The Stonewall riots didn't necessarily start the gay rights movement, but it was the galvanising force for LGBT activism. This led to the forming of numerous gay rights organisations including the Gay Liberation Front, Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD and PFLAG. On the day that marked the one year anniversary of the riots, thousands of people marched along the streets of Manhattan in what was America's first gay pride parade. The parade's official chant was "Say it loud, gay is proud."

Since then, we have seen pride events and parades pop up across the world. Were it not for the patrons of the Stonewall Inn, pride as we know it may not exist. That's why we at Scarborough Pride are proud to honour those activists and continue the tradition of pride in our beautiful seaside town.