WEBVTT - How Did the Stonewall Riots Work? 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:07.880 Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff Lauren 0:00:07.920 --> 0:00:12.800 boglebaumb Here in the West Village neighborhood of New York City, 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:16.440 the neat grid of streets collapses into a tangle of 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:20.560 odd angles and jagged alleys. A few blocks from Washington 0:00:20.640 --> 0:00:23.720 Square Park, the streets converged like the center of a 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:28.440 spider's web, seeming to meet at the Stonewall Inn. The 0:00:28.480 --> 0:00:31.560 stone Wall was never showy. It was a dive bar 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:36.239 with one significant feature. It catered to queer people. On 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:38.960 a hot summer night in nineteen sixty nine, the police 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:42.920 raided the place, a lining up gay men, lesbians, trans people, 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:46.480 and even the bar's mafia connected owners, demanding to see 0:00:46.560 --> 0:00:49.800 id before filing them off to be arrested or into 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:53.560 the night. In recent years, police had raided gay bars 0:00:53.680 --> 0:00:56.920 hundreds of times and other cities across America, but something 0:00:57.080 --> 0:01:02.160 was different that night. The crowd vehemently fought back. The 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:06.000 resulting riots galvanized the gay rights movement in the United States, 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.080 which until then had been quiet and slow to anger. 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:13.600 So what exactly happened that night? Why did the community 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:17.840 there react so differently? Today? Let's talk about the Stonewall 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:20.840 Riots and why they took on such a prominent role 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:25.120 in the history of queer rights in America. As you 0:01:25.240 --> 0:01:28.480 may have noticed, queer people face many challenges here today, 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:32.000 both social and political, but queer life before the Stonewall 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:36.800 Riots was something else. Before the nineteen seventies, a web 0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:40.080 of local and state laws restricted the rights of queer people. 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:43.360 Depending on the area, this might have included anything from 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:46.000 the restriction of dancing in public with the same sex 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:51.040 partner to antisodomy laws that criminalized private sexual acts performed 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:55.400 consensually by adults in their own homes. Police used these 0:01:55.480 --> 0:01:59.280 laws to harass and intimidate, raiding gay clubs and enforcing 0:01:59.360 --> 0:02:03.520 gender pro clothing laws. These were laws requiring a person 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:06.360 to wear a minimum of three pieces of clothing deemed 0:02:06.400 --> 0:02:09.880 appropriate for their sex, which of course were designed to 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:13.440 target trans people, cross dressers, or anyone else who didn't 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:18.440 conform two gender norms. In every state except Illinois, which 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:21.040 became the first to repeal it sodomy laws in nineteen 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:24.919 sixty one, it was effectively illegal to be gay or 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:30.240 otherwise queer. A quick side note here on terminology, the 0:02:30.440 --> 0:02:33.840 language used by members of these communities to describe themselves 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:37.360 has changed drastically since the nineteen sixties and is still 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:41.240 changing today. Some words like queer have gone from a 0:02:41.360 --> 0:02:44.560 slur to being considered one of the more egalitarian ways 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:49.760 to describe humans of the LGBTQIA spectrum, and other words 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.320 have gone from common use to something that I would 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:55.880 personally not say into a microphone today. A little bit 0:02:55.880 --> 0:02:57.960 more on this later, but I did want to acknowledge 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:03.560 it now, but okay to continue. A culture of silence 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:06.200 and fear surrounded much of queer life in mid twentieth 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:10.480 century America. Until a Supreme Court ruling in twenty twenty, 0:03:10.840 --> 0:03:13.320 you could legally be fired from your job if you 0:03:13.320 --> 0:03:17.920 were revealed to be queer. Until nineteen seventy three, homosexuality 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:21.400 was listed as a disorder in the American Psychiatric Association's 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:26.240 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, or DSM. Being gay was viewed 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:29.160 as a mental illness for so long that some people 0:03:29.200 --> 0:03:32.200 truly believed that they were sick and had a problem 0:03:32.280 --> 0:03:36.119 they needed to hide or overcome. People were under constant 0:03:36.160 --> 0:03:41.119 pressure to conform. The nineteen fifties were especially brutal due 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:43.840 to the effect of witch hunt, sometimes known as the 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:48.760 lavender scare. From around nineteen forty five to nineteen sixty nine, 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:53.280 the anti communist scourge of McCarthyism also targeted queer people 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:58.640 as perverts or criminals. This hysteria regressed gay rights and 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:02.440 attitudes towards queer people, which had gradually become more relaxed 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:06.040 since the beginning of the nineteen hundreds. People found themselves 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:09.800 disowned or otherwise shunned by their families and wider communities. 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:14.440 But the pre Stonewall era was not entirely without hope. 0:04:15.240 --> 0:04:17.480 A movement in favor of gay civil rights began to 0:04:17.560 --> 0:04:21.359 grow in the nineteen fifties, known as the homophile movement. 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:26.760 It emphasized a quiet, conformist version of gayness. While their 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:30.479 specific successes were limited, it helped craft a positive queer 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:34.919 identity and also established a nationwide network that helped queer 0:04:34.960 --> 0:04:40.800 people communicate, mostly via newsletters. Still, during this time, there 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:44.080 were few places queer people could openly meet up and 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:47.880 enjoy the culture they were creating. The Stonewall Inn was 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:52.200 one of them. The Stonewall Inn, on Christopher Street in 0:04:52.240 --> 0:04:55.080 the western part of Granenwich Village, was originally a pair 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:58.960 of brick buildings that housed stables than a bakery. The 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:03.880 Stonewall Inn restaurant opened at the location in nineteen thirty four. Later, 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.400 as queer culture began building in New York, While being 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:10.920 gay in public was practically illegal and many bars refused 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:15.599 queer patrons, figures in organized crimes saw on opportunity to 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:19.480 exploit a market that wasn't being served by legal establishments, 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:23.640 So in nineteen sixty seven, a small group of mafia 0:05:23.640 --> 0:05:26.719 connected investors opened The Stone Wall as a gay bar. 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:30.120 At the time, several gay clubs and bars around New 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:34.600 York City had mafia owners. Primarily gay men went to 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:37.400 The Stone Wall, though lesbians and trans people did as well. 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:41.080 It was a multi ethnic crowd. There was an informal 0:05:41.120 --> 0:05:44.800 segregation between the main bar populated by masculine gay men, 0:05:45.040 --> 0:05:48.039 and the back room's dance floor, home to queens and 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:51.719 other groups who were more vulnerable or held lesser status 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:57.640 according to contemporary stigmas. Another terminology note. In the sixties, 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:00.960 the word queens referred to effeminate gay men who may 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:04.039 or may not have worn feminine clothing or presented themselves 0:06:04.080 --> 0:06:07.560 as women. This is a source of some confusion in 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:11.640 historical accounts. Reports of the queens instigating the riot have 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:14.359 led to disagreements over the role that trans women played 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:19.680 its stone Wall anyway, despite the bar's popularity, its bafia 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:23.440 connections created a lot of tension. It's likely the owners 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:26.520 dealt drugs and operated a prostitution ring out of the joint, 0:06:26.880 --> 0:06:29.080 and it was no secret that they paid bribes to 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:31.720 the cops of the sixth Precinct to look the other way. 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:35.200 There's evidence that at least one owner ran a gay 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:38.280 blackmail racket, but threatening to out patrons who didn't pay 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:42.039 them off. The owners also didn't invest a lot of 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:45.800 money or effort into the Stonewall In. It was a grimy, 0:06:46.040 --> 0:06:50.680 dark place, and the drinks were usually watered down. Even 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:53.680 with its flaws, the Stonewall In was a refuge for 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:56.920 many queer people, one of the few places they felt 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:00.640 accepted and relatively safe from harassment, even if only for 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:04.440 a few hours of dancing to motown hits. The night 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:08.360 the Stonewall riots occurred was no exception until the police 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:13.640 showed up a little after one am. Deputy Inspector seymour 0:07:13.680 --> 0:07:17.720 Pine of Manhattan's first Division of Public Morals had several 0:07:17.800 --> 0:07:21.120 undercover officers inside the Stone Wall in on Friday, June 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:24.960 twenty seventh of nineteen sixty nine. He arrived at the 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:27.760 door of the bar after one am, so technically the 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:31.400 raid and riot occurred on Saturday the twenty eighth. It's 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:34.840 notable that Pine and the officers who initially participated in 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:38.920 the raid were not part of the sixth Precinct. Pine's 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:41.640 officers entered the Stone Wall with the intention of shutting 0:07:41.640 --> 0:07:44.880 it down permanently and arresting the owners for selling liquor 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:48.040 without a license. They had raided it once already that 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:50.560 summer as part of a plan to shut down all 0:07:50.560 --> 0:07:53.760 of the Mafia owned gay bars in Manhattan. But for 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:57.480 a variety of reasons, this raid went differently from the others. 0:07:59.240 --> 0:08:01.520 A first, the officers wouldn't let people out of the 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.520 bar without seeing id, which was one of many tactics 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:09.080 meant to intimidate and humiliate queer people. Patrons exited the 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:12.240 bar one by one, slowly forming a crowd outside as 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:15.679 they waited for their friends to emerge. The crowd crew 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:20.000 as onlookers joined, many of them disenfranchised street kids, a 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:22.640 queer youth who had left home with nowhere else to go, 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:27.720 and Eventually, this high spirited crowd erupted into a full 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:31.840 scale riot for several reasons that have been debated, but 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:37.559 here's a rundown. First, though Pine repeatedly requested backup officers, 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:41.400 the sixth Precinct didn't send them. There's evidence that this 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:44.319 was intentional because the sixth was getting kickbacks from the 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:47.600 stone Wall and resented someone barging into their jurisdiction to 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:50.920 conduct a raid. As a result, there were far too 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:55.640 few officers on site to control the growing crowd. Also, 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:58.280 because of the prior raids on the stone Wall and 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:01.360 other queer bars around Manhattan, the people on site may 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:04.240 have felt like their last refuge was being thretened, that 0:09:04.280 --> 0:09:07.200 they were being backed into a corner that had enough 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:11.720 of police harassment. Further, with this tension in place, a 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:15.920 few people physically resisted arrest, which transformed the incident from 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:20.880 a shouting match to a physical confrontation. Most accounts described 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:23.440 one lesbian woman who had been in the Stonewall fiercely 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:26.160 battling cops who tried to stuff her into a patrol car, 0:09:26.600 --> 0:09:30.439 escalating the situation as she fought. Some accounts cite people 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:34.199 like Jackie Hormona and Marsha P. Johnson as key players 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:38.200 in inciting the riot. The physical altercations led to the 0:09:38.200 --> 0:09:41.920 crowd further escalating to throwing stuff at the cops. They 0:09:41.960 --> 0:09:46.080 started out with coins, then bottles, then bricks, either pried 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:49.120 from the street or taken from a nearby construction site. 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:53.200 At that point, Pines sensed the danger and retreated into 0:09:53.200 --> 0:09:56.200 the stone wall in with the other officers. A few 0:09:56.200 --> 0:09:59.160 of the bar's patrons and one reporter were also inside. 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:03.800 The rioters grew even angrier that police now occupied the bar, 0:10:04.160 --> 0:10:06.440 and they battered the door open using a parking meter 0:10:06.559 --> 0:10:09.559 ripped from the street. Some of them even tried to 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:14.440 light garbage near the stonewall's windows on fire. Meanwhile, from 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:17.560 the CoP's perspective, it was a surprise that anyone even 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:21.640 fought back. In multiple accounts of the incident, police who 0:10:21.640 --> 0:10:25.720 were involved expressed astonishment. They were used to gay men 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:29.200 living in shame and fear of being exposed, and many 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:34.040 saw them as stereotypically effeminate and passive. It was inconceivable 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:38.520 to them that queer people would ever stand up for themselves. Eventually, 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:41.760 fire trucks arrived, along with officers from the sixth precinct 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:45.480 and beyond, including from New York City's Technical Patrol Force. 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:48.920 They were equipped to deal with riots, and Pine and 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:53.360 the officers with him were able to leave the Stonewall in. However, 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:57.320 the crowd outside had swelled, attracting local residents and queer 0:10:57.320 --> 0:10:59.600 people from across New York City who were drawn there 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:03.560 by phone calls from friends. Estimates of the crowd sides 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:06.320 ranged from five hundred to a thousand people or more. 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:11.040 A protracted series of street skirmishes and chases between cops 0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:13.720 and the crowd lasted a few hours and resulted in 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:18.079 property damage and some injuries. The tangled geometry of the 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:21.480 neighborhood's streets made it difficult for the police to maintain control. 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:26.440 Multiple witnesses reported police attacking and beating rioters, who, in 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:31.520 many cases were just dancing and singing in the street. Eventually, 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:35.800 the crowd did disperse and the riot ended. If nothing 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:38.640 else had happened afterwards, it may have been an isolated 0:11:38.679 --> 0:11:44.480 incident with minor importance in LGBTQIA history. But on Saturday night, 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:48.120 news of the riots drew hundreds or possibly thousands of 0:11:48.160 --> 0:11:52.240 people to Christopher Street. The Stonewall Inn reopened and served 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:56.280 as a central point and signboard. The crowd was made 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.600 up predominantly of queer people, but it also became something 0:11:59.600 --> 0:12:04.360 of a more general counterculture event, drawing hippies, civil rights protesters, 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:08.280 and even tourists. The crowd on the second night also 0:12:08.360 --> 0:12:10.960 threw bottles and garbage at the police and engaged in 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.679 street chases with them, but it was much more political. 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:18.120 People gave speeches, Chants of gay power were prominent, and 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:21.640 groups hinted up pamphlets about gay rights, police corruption, and 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:26.240 mafia involvement in queer spaces. By Sunday night, the crowds 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:30.200 were smaller. The police outnumbered the protesters, who mainly gathered 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:35.360 at a nearby park, holding hands, kissing, and dancing. In total, 0:12:35.559 --> 0:12:39.880 the Stonewall riots and protests lasted six nights, but the 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:43.720 repercussions were not so confined. A few months later, a 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:46.920 commemorative march took place in New York, and similar marches 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:49.840 were held in cities across the US. On the first 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.920 anniversary of the riots, thousands of people marched from Christopher 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:55.760 Park to Central Park. It was the first queer pride 0:12:55.800 --> 0:12:59.640 parade in America, creating a precedent for annual celebrations around 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:03.240 the world. In following the riots, groups like the Gay 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:07.480 Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance organized and made 0:13:07.480 --> 0:13:10.520 a prolonged and focused push for gay rights in a 0:13:10.559 --> 0:13:13.560 far more visible and vocal way than groups had before. 0:13:14.840 --> 0:13:18.120 Of course, civil rights work is always an ongoing process, 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:21.280 and the Stonewall Riots weren't the first time queer people 0:13:21.320 --> 0:13:26.040 reacted violently to police harassment. Uprisings due to law enforcement 0:13:26.120 --> 0:13:29.680 raids and misconduct occurred in San Francisco in nineteen sixty 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:32.720 five and sixty six and in Los Angeles in sixty seven. 0:13:34.080 --> 0:13:39.480 Mainstream newspapers virtually ignored all of them, including Stonewall, But 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.920 Stonewall is considered a key turning point today for a 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:47.360 few reasons. For one thing, the Stonewall riots were larger 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:51.920 in scale and lasted longer than other instants. Also, gay 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:55.800 rights activists succeeded in finding an effective way to commemorate 0:13:55.840 --> 0:13:59.360 the riots, using a march, which became an inclusive parade 0:13:59.520 --> 0:14:02.160 that allowed a wide range of queer people and allies 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:06.920 to participate. But an ironic reason that the Stonewall Riots 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:09.800 are considered the start of the gay rights movement is 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:13.000 precisely because the riots were not the start of the 0:14:13.000 --> 0:14:16.760 gay rights movement. One of the most important factors of 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:20.160 an events legacy is the existence of a community with 0:14:20.200 --> 0:14:24.840 the desire and capacity to remember it. Those quiet gay 0:14:24.920 --> 0:14:27.800 rights organizations that were working in the fifties and sixties 0:14:28.320 --> 0:14:32.640 created an organized, nationwide community of queer people who communicated 0:14:32.680 --> 0:14:37.080 with each other. That existing infrastructure is a major part 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:41.280 of the story of Stonewall. For the article of this 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:43.960 episode is based on How Stuff Works. Spoke via email 0:14:44.040 --> 0:14:47.160 with Susan Freeman, Associate professor and chair of the Department 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:50.800 of Gender and Women's Studies at Western Michigan University. She 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:54.600 said a longer view of gay and lesbian history works 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:57.840 to de center Stonewall as the all important turning point, 0:14:58.280 --> 0:15:01.080 as does recognition of the impact act of young liberation 0:15:01.200 --> 0:15:07.000 activists who moved homophile organizations toward greater militancy. Stonewall as 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:10.360 an event took hold of people's consciousness, largely because of 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:14.520 the grassroots organizing that followed it, plus the annual commemorations 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:20.440 and organizations that adopted the name. Today, as with any 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:24.040 event that's reached mythic status, there's a lot of disagreement 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:27.600 over exactly what happened during the Stonewall Riots. There are 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:31.440 conflicting claims about who was involved, including the identity of 0:15:31.480 --> 0:15:34.120 the lesbian who fought the cops or the person who 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:37.720 threw the first brick. Of course, it would be great 0:15:37.720 --> 0:15:41.360 to know those people, but the larger story is what's important. 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:45.800 A truly diverse crowd, by many accounts, led by the 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:49.200 most marginalized people in it was part of a movement 0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:54.280 of people who worked together, Freeman said, similar to Rosa 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:57.440 Parks refusing to give up her seat on a segregated bus, 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:00.600 there was a much broader social movement content in which 0:16:00.640 --> 0:16:05.720 the Stonewall Riots took place. The Stonewall Inn is still 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:10.320 a privately owned bar. In twenty sixteen, the Stonewall Christopher 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:13.400 Park and some nearby streets were designated a National Monument 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:18.200 by President Obama, the first dedicated to queer rights. The 0:16:18.240 --> 0:16:21.160 annual New York City Pride March still ends on Christopher 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:29.040 Street every year on the anniversary of the riots. Today's 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:31.600 episode is based on the article how the Stonewall Riots 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:34.400 worked on how Stuffworks dot com, written by Ed Grabanowski. 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:37.360 Brain Stuff That's production by Heart Radio and partnership with 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:39.720 how stuffworks dot com and is produced by Tyler Klang. 0:16:40.200 --> 0:16:42.560 The four more podcasts from my Heart Radio visit the 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.880 iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:48.040 favorite shows.