Grass Roots and Stone Walls

After the end of World War II, the U.S. sought to restore social order in a legitimately shaken world.?Unfortunately, the country’s efforts were misplaced in many regards including witch hunts for communists, anarchists, and others deemed to be unpatriotic.?The U.S. State Department included "homosexuals" on this list, considering them to be a potential security threat to the country.?In a Senate investigation, one senator noted that government intelligence agencies were all “in complete agreement that sex perverts in Government constitute security risks.”

These policies trickled down to the state and city level, as well.?Concerned about the city’s image in preparation for the 1964 World’s Fair, Robert F. Wagner (the Mayor of New York from 1954 to 1965), launched a campaign to get rid of gay bars in New York City.?The city revoked the liquor licenses of such bars and police officers frequently conducted raids and went undercover to detect and arrest LGBTQ+ people.

One of the most well-known of these New York City gay bars at the time was the Stonewall Inn, the only gay bar in New York City that allowed dancing.?The Inn was a magnet for the LGBTQ+ community and especially those who were most marginalized in that community.?It was a gathering place.

Police raided the Stonewall Inn early and often.?Typically, management was tipped off about the raids and the raids occurred early during the evening so that business could continue after the raid was over.?During a typical raid, the house lights were turned on and police lined customers against the wall, checking their identification cards.?It became a way of life.

In the early morning on June 28, 1969, another such police raid occurred.?Four policemen, in plainclothes, two uniformed patrol officers, and two senior members of the police arrived at the Stonewall Inn and announced a raid.?Unlike prior raids, however, the Stonewall Inn management had not been tipped off and the raid occurred much later than typical.??

The raid did not go as expected.

Patrons at Stonewall were lined up and asked to present their identification cards, but they refused.?In response, the police attempted to arrest nearly everyone in the bar and take them back to the station.?The tension spread throughout the bar.?The community had had enough and a crowd of over a hundred started gathering outside the bar.?

Stormé DeLarverie, a Black woman, was a drag king and was in violation of the law against cross-dressing.?She was handcuffed and escorted from the bar to the wagon.?She fought with the police, yelling and screaming, for close to ten minutes.?A police officer hit her over the head with a baton.?She hit back and shouted to the bystanders, “Why don’t you guys do something?”???

The crowd heard her—and responded.

Beer cans, coins, and bricks were thrown at the police.?Garbage cans and bottles were thrown at buildings, breaking windows.?This was followed by garbage, lit on fire, thrown through those windows.?The police, tremendously outnumbered, lashed out in response.?They used a fire hose to stop the fire and quell the crowd.?The NYPD’s Tactical Police Force arrived, detaining people and attempting to clear the streets by pushing the crowd back.?The crowd fought back, but eventually the streets were cleared, though the riots resumed for one more night, the next evening.

The Stonewall riots were not a planned event.?Rather, they were the result of legitimate anger and dissatisfaction at the discriminatory treatment by the government.?Here, it was the people, at a grassroots level, that decided to simultaneously and spontaneously rise up.

The Stonewall riots are often cited as a watershed moment in the history of LGBTQ+ activism in this country.?There was a newfound sense of urgency—and of hope.?Progress sped up and spread out.?In the span of about a year after the riots, two new gay rights organizations were formed, the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance, and three new gay publications were launched.?On the one year anniversary of the riots, there were marches on Christopher Street, where the Stonewall Inn was located, with simultaneous marches in Los Angeles and Chicago.?These were the first pride marches in American history, and the tradition continued.?

In The City and the Grassroots: A Cross-Cultural Theory of Urban Social Movements, Manuel Castells discussed the significance of the Stonewall Riots, as a grassroots movement.?With this movement, “gays were asking for their identity to be recognized, and for dominant societal values to change, rather than being forced to adapt to such values.”?Specifically, the Stonewall Riots presented a new plane for the gay movement to operate: “on the basis of spatial concentration and social networks,” the gay movement built “up its own institutions, and discovered its own collective identity as well as the consciousness of its individuals.”

The Stonewall Riots are demonstrative of the change that can be achieved when people rise up together.?There is power in the grassroots movement.?But, it requires strength, energy, courage, and resilience. And that’s no different today.