Stonewall Riots & Gay Liberation Movement – Comprehensive Bullet-Point Notes

Setting & Pre-Raid Conditions

Date & Time
- Friday night June 27 → early Saturday June 28, $1969$ ; raid began $1{:}20\,\text{a.m.}$
Location
- The Stonewall Inn, $53$ Christopher St., Greenwich Village (legally a private “bottle-club,” not a bar).
Demographics & Atmosphere
- Predominantly gay men; presence of lesbians & teenage street queens.
- Jukebox playing “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction”; go-go boys dancing in cages wearing gold lamé bikinis.
- Patrons seeking dancing & pickups more than drinking; liquor watered down, no running water—glasses dunked in tubs.
Mafia Ownership & Corruption
- Owned by the Genovese crime family.
- Weekly payoff to NYPD 6th Precinct ≈ $\$2{,}000$ .
- Mafia exploited clientele: overpriced drinks, blackmail of affluent gay patrons.

Legal & Social Repression Framework

Cross-dressing Statute
- NY law: must wear ≥ $3$ gender-appropriate garments or risk arrest.
Liquor & Cabaret Laws
- Bars serving homosexuals deemed “disorderly houses.”
- Same-sex dancing = “indecent”; requires rare cabaret license. Stonewall was the only NYC gay venue with legal dancing.
Broader Climate
- Post-WWII conservatism; Cold War paranoia labelled homosexuals national-security risks.
- By $1966$ NYPD arrested > $100$ men / week for “homosexual solicitation.”

Surveillance Triggering the Raid

Vice Squad Public Morals Division (First Division) under Deputy Inspector Seymour Pine investigating:
- Mafia money-laundering & bond theft using Stonewall as node.
- ATF probe into bootleg/stolen liquor & payoffs.
Previous raid Tuesday June 24 increased community tension: “This 💩 has got to stop.”

The Raid (1:20 a.m.)

Personnel
- 4 undercover officers (2 male, 2 female) already inside.
- First Division leads; 6th Precinct cops arrive belatedly.
Initial Actions
- Pine: “Police! We’re taking the place!” Lights up; music off.
- Employees separated for alcohol violations.
- Transvestites (esp. teenage street queens) singled out; many mouth off.
- Patrons with ID & ≥ $3$ correct garments released one-by-one → street crowd builds.
Catalysts for Violence
- Lesbian (dressed as man) reportedly clubbed for complaining about tight cuffs.
- Transvestite (likely Tammy Novak) hit → she swings purse/fists.
- Crowd jeers Mafia arrestees; chants “Gay Power!”; sings “We Shall Overcome.”
Logistical Failures
- Only $1$ of $2$ requested paddy wagons arrives (suspected 6th Precinct sabotage).
- Tires slashed; some prisoners escape.

Riot Phase I (≈ 40 min siege)

Projectiles & Symbols
- Coins (mocking bribes) → cans, bottles, bricks from nearby construction.
- Parking meter used as battering ram: “Liberate the bar!”
Police Retreat
- Officers barricade inside Stonewall; beat captured protesters (incl. straight folk singer Dave Van Ronk).
- Fire-hose attempt fails; lighter-fluid + match thrown in.
Rhetoric & Joyous Defiance
- Sylvia Rivera: “The revolution is finally here!”
- Chanting “Gay Power!”; parking-meter assault; Molotovs ineffective.
TPF Arrival
- Tactical Patrol Force marches in wedge; allows trapped cops to exit.
- Crowd flanks TPF via side streets; garbage fires, brick volleys resume.
- Iconic chorus line of queens taunts cops, singing parody to “Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay.”
Outcome Night 1
- Riot disperses ≈ 3:30 a.m.
- $13$ arrests; 4 officers hospitalized; countless protester injuries; Officer Scheu breaks wrist after slip on rolled newspaper.

Riot Phase II (Saturday June 28 Evening)

Stonewall boarded but vows to reopen; slogans painted: “Legalize Gay Bars,” “Support Gay Power.”
Couples hold hands & kiss openly; thousands gather; TPF on standby.
Street tactics: side-street flanking, barricading cars, Christopher St. blockades.
Marsha P. Johnson ("Pay It No Mind") drops heavy bag from light pole → smashes squad car windshield.
Mounted police + TPF eventually clear streets ≈ 4 a.m.; more head-bashings, deeper radicalization.

Riot Phase III (Wednesday July 2)

Village Voice publishes derogatory “fag follies” article by Lucian Truscott; crowd pickets Voice HQ, attempts arson.
Renewed clashes; dozens injured; 5 arrests.
Slogan emerges: “Christopher Street shall be liberated.”

Immediate Political Organizing

July 4 ‘Annual Reminder’ 1969
- Activists defy picket dress code; same-sex hand-holding; sign “SMASH SEXUAL FASCISM!”
July 27 Mass Meeting (Mattachine-sponsored, > $100$ attendees)
- Vote for protest march; name coined: Gay Liberation Front (GLF).
- 1-month rally: lavender armbands, linked-symbol banner; Martha Shelley: “The time has come for us to walk in the sunshine.”

Pre-Stonewall Movement Milestones

Mattachine Society (founded $1950$ by communist Harry Hay).
Daughters of Bilitis (DOB; $1955$ ) → lesbian assimilation advocacy.
East Coast Homophilic Organizations (ECHO) & “Annual Reminder” pickets (started $1965$ ).
1966 Sip-In by Dick Leitsch, Craig Rodwell, John Timmons: challenged bar discrimination; court required “substantial evidence” for disorderly-house shutdowns.
Media Openings: WBAI’s “The New Symposium.”
Continuing Obstacles: Village Voice bans word “gay”; transit police entrap-stings; professional blackmail.

Post-Stonewall Organizational Landscape

Gay Liberation Front (GLF)
- Revolutionary, anti-capitalist alliances with broader Left.
Gay Activists Alliance (GAA)
- Breaks from GLF to focus on single-issue gay rights; famous “zaps.”
Street Transvestite → Transgender Action Revolutionaries (STAR)
- Founded by Sylvia Rivera & Marsha P. Johnson to aid homeless trans youth.
Media & Culture
- Newspapers Gay Power, Come Out!
- First Christopher Street Liberation Day March $6/28/1970$ → birth of global Pride parades (also LA, Chicago).

Long-Term Impacts

Medical
- $1973$ APA removes homosexuality from DSM; earlier classification as “mental disorder” (since $1952$ ) reversed.
Legal & Political
- Municipalities adopt anti-discrimination ordinances; CA voters defeat Briggs Initiative (teacher purge).
- Marriage equality: NY $2011$ → U.S. nationwide $2015$ (Obergefell v. Hodges).
Community Geography
- Emergence of gay/lesbian districts (e.g., Castro, Chelsea, Park Slope, Northampton).
AIDS Activism
- Prior organizing experience informs ACT UP, queer direct-action of $1980s/90s$ .
Language & Identity Evolution
- Reclaiming “queer”; inclusion of bisexual & transgender identities → LGBTQ+ umbrella.
Commemorations
- $25^{th}$ anniversary $1994$ : > $1{,}000{,}000$ marchers in NYC; Sylvia Rivera honored.

Stonewall Inn Aftermath & Landmark Status

Closed within 3 months post-riot; rotated through bagel shop, Chinese restaurant, etc.
Reopened as Stonewall (no “Inn”) early $1990s$ ; added upper floor.
Historic Designations:
- National Historic Landmark $1999$ (building + surrounding streets).
- NYC landmark $2015$ .
License struggles: Community Board opposed cabaret license $1997$ .
Noise complaints → closure $2006$ ; quickly reopened under new owners as “Stonewall Inn.”
Present role: popular wedding venue post-marriage equality; site of ongoing debates over assimilation vs. radicalism.

Key Personalities & Quotations

Sylvia Rivera: “One of the greatest moments of my life… fight back.”
Marsha P. Johnson: “P. = Pay It No Mind.”
Craig Rodwell: coined “Gay Power,” foresees riots “go down in history.”
Allen Ginsberg (to Lucian Truscott): “They’ve lost that wounded look that fags all had 10 years ago.”
GLF Flyer: “Do You Think Homosexuals Are Revolting? You Bet Your Sweet Ass We Are!”

Numerical & Statistical Highlights

>100 weekly “homosexual solicitation” arrests in NYC by $1966$ .
Mafia payoff: $\$2{,}000$ / week.
Raid start: $1{:}20\,\text{a.m.}$ ; siege lasted ≈ $40$ min; dispersal $≈3{:}30\,\text{a.m.}$
Arrests Night 1: $13$ ; injuries: 4 hospitalized cops + numerous rioters.
First Pride March $1970$ attendance: several thousand (exact counts vary).
$25^{th}$ anniversary marchers: >1\,000\,000.