Last week, our class visited Greenwich Village, also known as Alphabet City, and the Stonewall Inn where the Gay Right Movements began. The class was taught to about how and why the Stonewall Inn was a special place during the start of the movement. We were also brought across the street the the gay rights statues that were dressed in drag and painted during these movements.
However, the trip was cut short because of the rain and later we went to enjoy some cupcakes. This trip was very informative on the Gay Rights Movement and allowed me to understand more of where the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual, and Queer/Questioning community has come in terms of getting the rights and liberties they deserve.
There are many forms of the Gay Rights Movement with different names throughout time. In the enlightenment era, also known as the renaissance era, homosexual behaviors and cross-dressing was considered a crime and unacceptable. However, exceptions were made in the theatre because women were not allowed to perform so it was acceptable for men to cross-dress to play the roll of a woman. This lead to the present day rumor of how “all gay people do theatre”, when thats incorrect. That rumor started because during this time, homosexuals only had the chance to cross-dress and be themselves in the theatre, for that was where it was acceptable. Many actors were homosexuals.
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In the late Victorian era, homosexuality became a more hostile situation. It became criminalized in 1885 under the Labouchere Amendment. One famous imprisonment included the playwright, and one of my personal favorites, Oscar Wilde who was charged for “gross indecency with men” and was sent to prison for several years and then was exiled to France until his death. This carried through to the early 20th century where, alongside the Jewish and Gypsy community, homosexuals were also put in concentration camps and murdered during World War II.
After the war, homosexuals started to prefer the term homophile, emphasizing love over sex. This was known as the homophile movement in Europe. This movement started to influence the increase of cross-dressing, trans surgeries, bisexual relationships and more. Organizations such as ONE, Inc. and Vanguard started to grow like wild fires. In the 60’s, Gay Marches, protests, and riots formed against homophobic people. The movements of the 60’s, including the Black Power, Anti-Vietnam War, and Women’s Liberation movements, inspired the LGBTQ community and activists to become more radical, creating the Gay Liberation Movement. This is where most of the modern-day gay rights movements started.
At this point in history, the start of the Gay Liberation Movement was where our class trip began; at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in Southern Manhattan. Before hand, police were ordered by the mayor of New York City to get rid of any gay bars. Since gay bars were “not okay” in society, police officers would just come in and raid them, arresting any gay people they find.
One evening, at the Stonewall, the police came in to do their normal routine on Friday, June 28th, 1969, however, they would not leave successful. The LGBTQ community finally fought back that night. They were sick and tired of being put into jail and being raided all the time just for being homosexual. They got many people in the neighborhood including more members of the LGBTQ community and activists to come help the fight. They fought for hours as police called backup. The police forces where no match for the fight. It was completely unexpected. The raid destroyed the inside and outside of the Stonewall Inn.
No one knows to this day if it was the police barricaded inside or the LGBTQ fighters who destroyed it. But for nights on end, the bar became a hot spot where the number of LGBTQ people and activists increased fast. The statues in the park across the streets where painted and dressed in drag as protestors fought every night. At the end of it all, after a few days of fighting and protesting, the jails were full of LGBTQ members, and the graveyards and hospitals were full of police officers and more LGBTQ fighters. This fight was the spark of it all across the nation. Fights, riots, and marches began everywhere across the country in big cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago.
The Stonewall Inn is where it all started. The riots calmed down and more peaceful actions took place throughout the years such as marches and events. Soon many states had the option to approve or disapprove of gay marriage. States started, on their own, legalizing one by one. On June 26th, 2003, sexual activity between consenting adults of the same sex was legalized in the United States government and then finally, 12 years later on June 26th, 2015, Gay Marriage was legalized in all 50 states in the United States.
In the many years, people of the LGBTQ community and allies have been bullied and tortured for their interest in the same sex and for supporting them. The stereotypes of “only liking theatre” and the terrible name calling like “faggot” have been going on long enough. I am pansexual, and right now it’s hard for people to sometimes understand what that means. Some people feel they need to be cautious because some don’t identify themselves with any gender so their pronouns can be confusing. Now a days, people of course still hate the LGBTQ community.
Before it was legalized this year, churches would have “God Hates Faggots” on signs outside and even after it was legalized, places like Baked By Melissa, the expensive cupcake shop, recently wouldn’t sell a wedding cake to a happy gay couple. But there is still hate everywhere. However, there has been more support and understanding and it has become more common in modern day compared to being thrown garbage at in the 60’s or being hung in the renaissance era. Now people are starting to care about the community. It’s hard to understand newer terms such as pansexual or asexual, but this is only the beginning to the world of the LGBTQ community. Love is and always will be equal.
