Stonewall Inn Research Paper

Stonewall Inn and its Importance to the History of Queer Activism.

The Stonewall riots of 1969 were greatly influential to the history of activism in the United States of America, and to this day it does not get enough credit for all it has created. The Stonewall Inn is a popular mafia-run gay bar. Gay bars back then were places that queer people went to in order to have a good time, without the worry of harassment or getting arrested. It was by no means a safe world, and those bars were not safe environments; however, with continuous discrimination, people decided that they were fed up. A crowd of people came together to create one of the most historic days in LGBTQ+ history. In order to talk about the importance of Stonewall though, it is …show more content…
Although it was a place for people to express themselves, it was by no means a ‘safe space’, and some described it as an unkempt, overpriced bar. Stonewall, along with many other gay bars, was mafia-run. This was common for other gay bars in the area, as well as being operated as a private club to avoid the need for a liquor license. The Mafia would bribe police officers to keep quiet, but police raids on gay bars were still commonplace and brutal. To avoid being caught in these raids, these bars usually had plywood covering the windows, and warning lights serving as a signal for couples to stop dancing. There were also steps one had to take in order to get inside, said Raymond Castro, a former patron of Stonewall Inn. He said, “If you were one of us they'd let you in, if you were straight or you looked like a cop they'd say 'private club'. ” The start of the night of the riots was not out of the ordinary. There was a raid earlier in the night on June 27th, which was usually when they took place. However, there was a second raid that night. On June 28 at 1:20 AM, without warning, the police again raided the Stonewall Inn, with several officers descending on the bar. Force was used by police, and for the first time, these patrons decided to put their foot down. Any and all objects were thrown, windows were shattered, small fires broke out, and people resisted and fought back against the cops. Now, no one truly knows what …show more content…
Raymond Castro in the same interview above (done in 2009) explained “I never thought 40 years ago that it would turn out to be much of anything, I had no clue of history being made." Another man by the name of Martin Sherman also talked about his experiences that night, even though he never engaged with the crowd. “It was later – much later – that I realized that I had witnessed the birth of another movement, one that would color my life and that of every lesbian and gay man from that moment on. There had been a raid and the queens had fought back. Fought back to the sandbox! I was there – but I wasn’t. I had seen it – but I hadn’t. I had stumbled across this story. And I did not know it.” 1970, the year after Stonewall, was when the first pride parades took place. New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago held pride parades as a way to acknowledge Stonewall and advocate for gay rights. Although the queer community lacked rights at the time, it was still a place for people to celebrate themselves and their sexualities. It took a while for the LGBTQ+ community to get rights in the United States, but there were small victories sprinkled throughout, even if it was as simple as the creation of the pride flag. In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. There was a big gap before the queer community was given set rights due to the AIDS epidemic,

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