It Was 50 Years Ago Today...
Often there is a moment when a group of people who had been abused so long and so viciously look at each other and say we’ve had enough. This has to stop. At times the result involves a violent reaction from police and others, but at that moment the thought is that anything would be better than the status quo. These events take place in a moment in time when the participants don’t realize that history will be made and the moment will be marked by one or two words.
The Freedom Riders, Bloody Sunday in Selma, Freedom Summer in Mississippi are well documented Civil Rights moments in history. A similar event was mentioned by President Barack Obama in his second inaugural speech. “Stonewall.” Many knew it had something to do with LGBT history but few fully understood the significance.
The Stonewall Inn was owned by the mafia who often refused to pay off the police, who would then raid the bar to arrest the gay clients for the crime of being gay. Yes, in 1969 while I was a 12 year old kid, being gay was illegal. A mafia run bar that served over-priced, watered-down drinks while paying off the police was one of the few places a gay man or woman could be themselves for even a short time in semi-public.
There was no hint that there would be another police raid at 1:20 am on June 28th, 1969, 50 years ago today. There were approximately 200 or so in the bar when the police busted through the doors. A few ran, and a few hid, but most lined up outside as they had done so many times before. According to one of 3 survivors interviewed recently, as a drag queen was being roughed up while being thrown into a paddy wagon, she shouted, “why doesn’t somebody do something?”
So a few did. It started with bottles being thrown, trash cans lit on fire and by 2;00 am, several police had been trapped inside the bar, far outnumbered by an ever growing mob. By 2:30 the crowd had grown to over 500, including many straight Greenwich Village neighbors who were sympathetic to the gay cause. There were some arrests, but by 4:00 am when the trapped cops escaped the bar, they were happy to get out as the Stonewall burned.
By the afternoon of the 28th, more protests formed in Christopher Park with over 1000 participants flooding down Christopher Street. It took days and 5 police precincts to finally gain control, but by then, things had changed.
Beat poet and Greenwich resident Allen Ginsberg said, "Gay power! Isn't that great!... It's about time we did something to assert ourselves.”
For several years, on June 28th, a protest march continued, originally called the Christopher Street Liberation Parade. And thus, an era of Pride had begun. So yes, the first Pride was a riot.
Phil Hicks-June 28, 2019