This Pride Month, Studio Gallery is celebrating gender identity and same-sex love with a history lesson. Yep, you heard that right! So many of us support this rainbow-colored month, but how many of us really know the history behind Pride? How did Pride come to be, and who was at the heart of its creation? Well, while no single event created Pride, the Stonewall Riots were a huge jumping-off point for the LGBTQ+ community, allowing them the visibility and momentum to fight for their rights on a different level. We will therefore focus on the Stonewall Riots today, and will together examine the crucial roles of several LGBTQ+ POC in the riots.
What Were The Stonewall Riots?
The Stonewall Riots began on the morning of June 28th, 1969 (just 51 years ago), when eight police officers raided the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. The Stonewall Inn was one of the few gay bars around at the time, and was run by the mafia. Police raids on gay bars such as the Stonewall Inn were not at all uncommon at this time in history, and a unit of the NYPD known as New York City’s Public Morals Division even had the power to forcefully arrest and hospitalize gay people for no reason other than their sexual/gender identities. So what made the raid on June 28th, 1969 different? Patrons began to fight back against the police after “The Shot Glass That Was Heard Around The World” was thrown, and soon even patrons from nearby bars came to fight against the police brutality.
Hundreds of people resisted arrest, and rioters broke windows, set cars on fire, and injured three police officers. It ended with the police barricading themselves inside the Stonewall Inn. After that night, thousands of people joined together to protest the lack of equality for LGBTQ+ people, and the riots lasted a total of six days. While Stonewall did not start the LGBTQ+ movement, the tremendous support and visibility that the riots gave the LGBTQ+ community took their platform to a new level. In 1970, to commemorate the Stonewall Riots, cities across the U.S. held demonstrations in support of LGBTQ+ rights, leading to “Gay Freedom Marches”. People returned to the Stonewall Inn to celebrate the anniversary of the riots as Christopher Street Liberation Day. This parade became known as the first LGBTI Pride festival!
Who Threw “The Shot Glass That Was Heard Around The World?”
Marsha P. Johnson, a Black trans woman, is credited as having thrown that revolutionary shot glass that ultimately began the riots. As she threw the glass, she yelled the iconic line “I got my civil rights!” She is often overlooked as having been involved in the Stonewall Riots and in LGBTQ+ activism in general, but the reality is that Marsha played a huge role in the riots. She fought tirelessly for Black trans rights, and along with Sylvia Rivera (more information below), Marsha also created The Street Transvestite (now Transgender) Action Revolutionaries (STAR), a group committed to helping homeless transgender youth in New York City. Her work has touched the lives of thousands, and her life has been celebrated in many films, books, and documentaries. Marsha was tragically murdered on July 6, 1992 at the age of 46. Her murder, devastatingly, was not an isolated event. Black trans women continue to be murdered in cold blood, and it is a nationwide crisis. And just like with Marsha’s death, the murders of Black trans women are often ignored and ruled suicides. Black trans women deserve better. Black trans lives matter!
Who Else Played An Important Role in The Riots?
Sylvia Rivera, who is mentioned in the above paragraph, also played a crucial role in the Stonewall Riots. Only 17 years old, she took part in the riots by “allegedly throwing the second molotov cocktail in protest” to the initial police raid. Sylvia was a Latina-American drag queen, as well as a gay and transgender activist in the 1960’s and 70’s. Sylvia was a co-founder of the Gay Liberation Front, and in honor of her revolutionary activism in the gay and trans community, The Sylvia Rivera Law Project (SRLP) was founded in 2002, the year of her death. SRLP “works to guarantee all people are free to self-determine gender identity and expression, regardless of income and race, and without facing harassment, discrimination or violence”. Sylvia is considered one of the main reasons for the "T" in LGBTQ, and yet during her lifetime (and still today) her activism is not widely known. For example, at a Liberation Day rally in 1973, she gave her “Y’all Better Quiet Down” speech in which she voiced frustrations over white LGBTQ+ activists not paying attention to marginalized groups within the gay community. Shockingly, it was reported that Sylvia gave this speech “among boos” from the audience. Many years have passed now, but we can still learn an important lesson from Sylvia’s hard work and lack of attentive audience: we cannot help those most in need if we speak over them.
Stormé DeLarvarie was a biracial butch lesbian who is rumored to have thrown the first punch at the Stonewall Riots. A drag king, singer, bouncer, and bodyguard, she was one of several people to fight back against the police as they were being arrested for their attire, and was pivotal in escalating the riots by calling for action to onlookers. Stormé had a huge impact on the Stonewall Riots and was known by the community by two names: “guardian of the lesbians”, and the “Rosa Parks of the LGBTI community”. In her obituary in the New York Times, she was described as being “tall, androgynous and armed…She literally walked the streets of downtown Manhattan like a gay superhero… She was not to be messed with by any stretch of the imagination.”
Stormé De Larvarie. Photo and more information here.
Tammy Novak was another important figure during the riots. A trans woman, she was only 18 during the riots, and like Stormé and Marsha, was one of the first people to fight back against the police. Because she had lived with the mob owner who owned the Stonewall Inn, she was one of the few trans women who were allowed to wear a full outfit of women’s clothing in the bar. Tammy was arrested and thrown in a wagon for drag queens, but she managed to escape. She is probably the least spoken of in this group, probably because after she escaped from the police, she disappeared from the public eye. Strangely, there is no information about what happened to Tammy Novak after the 1969 riots.
Who is Known as “The Mother of Pride”?
Does the name Brenda Howard sound familiar? If not, settle down for a story about a strong, bisexual woman from the Bronx who fought for the equality of LGBTQ+ people and paved the road for Pride as we know it today. It began after the Stonewall Riots, when Brenda, now accredited with the title “The Mother of Pride”, organized the very first Pride parade, also known as the Liberation Day March. A year after the riots, in 1970, Brenda also coordinated the Christopher Street Liberation Day march. She was an “in-your-face” kind of activist, according to those who knew her well, and advocated for antiwar and feminist movements. Brenda’s advocacy for the LGBTQ+ community began in 1969 in part because of her friendship with many of the people who were inside Stonewall the day that the riots began. She fought for LGBTQ+ rights for more than three decades, and passed away in 2005 during New York City’s Pride Week. Brenda Howard was a tireless activist throughout her life, fighting despite several arrests. She cofounded the New York Area Bisexual Network in 1988, an organization that serves as a central communication hub for bisexual and bi-friendly groups. She also “successfully lobbied for the inclusion of bisexuality in the 1993 March on Washington, at a time when the movement was focused primarily on gay men and lesbians.” Bisexuality is commonly misunderstood and stigmatized, so as we celebrate Pride, it is important to remember that the “Mother of Pride,” the woman who organized the nation’s very first Pride parade, was bisexual. All gender identities and sexualities are valid!
How Can We Best Celebrate Pride This Year?
With BLM at the forefront of our lives and our hearts, while we celebrate Pride with rainbow-washed merch, we cannot forget the strong Black trans women and LGBTQ+ POC who fought for the world that we are living in today. Black trans women are still being murdered at heinous rates, and while we have made a lot of progress in recent years, we still have a lot of work to do to ensure the safety and celebration of all LGBTQ+ people. In short, as Pride month comes to an end, we can continue to celebrate Pride by doing the following:
Continuing to educate ourselves and others on the history and importance of valuing all gender identities and same-sex love
Openly supporting and fighting for the LGBTQ+ community on social media and in real life conversations
Donating to organizations that help to fight for the rights of those most in need
Making it a priority to give love to the people who paved the way for Pride, and who arguably face the most backlash for their sexual/gender identity: Black trans women.
From staff contributor Halley Stubis.