Building a Stone Wall
The Stonewall Inn
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| Davies, Diana, 1938-, Photographer. Stonewall Inn |
In the late 1960s it was practically illegal to serve alcohol to queer people, bars doing so would be denied or revoked their liquor license. The Stonewall Inn was a gay bar run by the mafia and operated without a liquor license, because of this it was frequently raided by the police. It was run as a club rather than a bar to try and circumvent the liquor license but this also allowed the owner to cut corners making it not the most attractive place to be, however, there were scarce other options for young queers. The Stonewall Inn was dirty, it had no running water behind the bar, the glasses were usually unwashed and there was only the front entrance. It was a fire hazard waiting to happen. What the police didn't realize was the fire would be found inside each and every queer on the night of June 28th, 1969, the week of Judy Garland's death. Over the years some have jokingly theorized that her death sparked the revolution like General Lemarque of the Parisian June Rebellion of 1832 that the famous novel and play Les Miserables is based on.
All jokes aside though, on the night in question, police made a raid on the Stonewall Inn for the second time that week. Telling the bar goers that they would have to leave, as they left the police began to arrest some, especially those that they felt were dressed in clothing that was neither appropriate nor indicative of their sex. It was then that members of the community began to fight back. Marsha P. Johnson a local drag queen and self-proclaimed transvestite is attributed with being the first to throw bricks and stones at the police. The violence against the police was triggered by the violence that the police were showing many members of the community that night, though it was more of a powder keg situation. You see it was very common in that time for the police to brutalize members of the queer community, humiliating them by stripping them in public to see if their fashion choices matched their sex. That's right, not only could you not drink in public, you couldn't wear clothes that did not match your sex, discretion was left up to the police on what they felt that was. As you can imagine that discretion was often abused.
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| Image from the film Stonewall Uprising (2010) |
"We are the Village Girls, we wear our hair in curls,
We always dress with flair, we wear clean underwear,
We wear our dungarees, above our nellie knees,
We ain't no wannabees, we pay our Stonewall fees!"
A song typically sung by the Stonewall drag queens,
used as a chant during the riots.
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| Bettye Lane, via First Run Features. |
After the violence broke out members of the community used that single entrance to their own advantage, barricading themselves inside the Stonewall Inn. Many people called upon their queer friends to come and join them down at the bar for the riot. The riots that night shifted into an uprising which lasted a number of days and sparked the modern Queer Liberation movement. When we celebrate Pride in early summer here in Canada or down in the United States we are celebrating the anniversary of the riots that took place that night and the subsequent protests that happened. We celebrate 50 years this year since the riots and though we have come so far, we still have leaps and bounds to go and we will talk about that at another time.
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| (Photo: Courtesy Tribeca Film Festival) |
Marsha P. "Pay it no mind" Johnson
Marsha P. Johnson is often attributed as one of the founding mothers of the modern liberation movements. She is credited as the first person to throw bricks at the police at Stonewall. She was a self-identified Drag Queen and Transvestite, and though there has been much debate about whether she was just a Drag Queen or a Transgender woman in talking about her I will always stick with the identity she claimed for herself. Marsha was a beautiful, eccentric and vibrant human being, that is apparent through all the lives she touched, through the way people talk about her and what is so apparent in every photo, video or even sound clip of her. She truly was a once in a century kind of soul. Her time was ended too early, 46 years young, the circumstances surrounding her death are sketchy at best. It was ruled a suicide despite all signs that pointed towards it being anything but that because the police were not interested in investigating the death of a Queer person. The case has recently been reopened and a documentary called The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson was released to Netflix. We as a community hold our breath in that we might someday have answers if not justice for what happened.
Though Marsha was not her death, while a sad tragedy, it was only a small piece of an AMAZING life. After the riots she was a very prominent member of the community, she fought to bring us rights and equality all the time. She co-founded STAR (Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries), a group geared towards helping transgendered youth in New York. She was a notable Drag Mother, meaning that she often took younger members of the Drag community under her wing to help them find their way navigating the New York drag scene. She toured the world as a Drag performer herself even. It is a shame that she is not alive today to see the world as it is now, I hope that she would be proud of the work our community continues to do.
Though Marsha was not her death, while a sad tragedy, it was only a small piece of an AMAZING life. After the riots she was a very prominent member of the community, she fought to bring us rights and equality all the time. She co-founded STAR (Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries), a group geared towards helping transgendered youth in New York. She was a notable Drag Mother, meaning that she often took younger members of the Drag community under her wing to help them find their way navigating the New York drag scene. She toured the world as a Drag performer herself even. It is a shame that she is not alive today to see the world as it is now, I hope that she would be proud of the work our community continues to do.
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| Photos from her BESE biography |
Sylvia Rivera
STAR's other co-founder and one of Marsha's closest friends, Sylvia Rivera was a beautiful trans genderfluid woman who fought alongside the others at Stonewall. She continued to fight all of her life for our rights, up until the day she passed in 2002 after a long battle with Cancer. Though she is gone her legacy continues to fight through the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, which aids every day in other's fights for freedom and equality.
During the beginning of the movement the most prominent figures were white cisgendered members of the queer community and Sylvia existed to stir that up and alongside Marsha change the face of the movement. She was loved and hated, but she stayed strong and was an amazing woman and influence through it all. It breaks my heart a little, the picture I have here of her is warm, like a mother and it feels like I could reach through my screen and hug her. So while I get emotional, I will wrap this up with one of my favorite quotes from one of her speeches.
During the beginning of the movement the most prominent figures were white cisgendered members of the queer community and Sylvia existed to stir that up and alongside Marsha change the face of the movement. She was loved and hated, but she stayed strong and was an amazing woman and influence through it all. It breaks my heart a little, the picture I have here of her is warm, like a mother and it feels like I could reach through my screen and hug her. So while I get emotional, I will wrap this up with one of my favorite quotes from one of her speeches.
“You all tell me, go and hide my tail between my legs.
I will no longer put up with this shit.
I have been beaten.
I have had my nose broken.
I have been thrown in jail.
I have lost my job.
I have lost my apartment.
For gay liberation, and you all treat me this way?
What the fuck’s wrong with you all?
Think about that!”
"Y'all better Quiet Down" - Sylvia Rivera
Until Next time,
Keep dreaming of Freedom,
Rei
Rei
References
France, D. (Director). (2017). The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson[Motion picture]. USA: Public Square Films, Faliro House Productions, Ninety Thousand Words.
The Crusade of Transgender Activist Sylvia Rivera. (2018, June 08). Retrieved from https://www.bese.com/the-crusade-of-transgender-activist-sylvia-rivera/
Worthen, M. (2018, June 25). Marsha P. Johnson. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/marsha-p-johnson-112717
The Crusade of Transgender Activist Sylvia Rivera. (2018, June 08). Retrieved from https://www.bese.com/the-crusade-of-transgender-activist-sylvia-rivera/
Worthen, M. (2018, June 25). Marsha P. Johnson. Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/people/marsha-p-johnson-112717
Why Did the Mafia Own the Bar? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/stonewall-why-did-mafia-own-bar/
Baumann, J. (2016, July 15). Stonewall in Pictures. Retrieved from https://www.nypl.org/blog/2016/07/15/stonewall-pictures
Worthen, M. (2018, June 19). Stonewall: The People, the Place, and the Lasting Significance of "Where Pride Began". Retrieved from https://www.biography.com/news/stonewall-riots-history-leaders
Young, G., & Meyers, T. (2017, June 22). The Bowery Boys: New York City History. Episode #231 The Stonewall Riots Revisited [Audio blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/new-york-city-history-the-bowery-boys/e/50559368
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