It’s officially June and June 1 was the beginning of Pride Month (which is different from LGBTQIA+ history month)! Pride Month is a celebration during June worldwide for the LGBTQIA+ community. More specifically, June 28th is the anniversary of the Stonewall Inn riots. This sparked a change in how the queer community advocated for their rights and why we celebrate Pride month today. While many Pride events focus on the celebration, it is important to remember that Pride has a rich history of political activism. The riots at the Stonewall Inn are the most famous and were monumental for the queer community they were not the beginning of queer activism in the US, which has a history going back to at least 1926.
Pride Month: Before and After Stonewall
1926 was when the Society for Human Rights was founded by Henry Gerber. He was an US army soldier who had been inspired by the queer community and organizations advocating for their rights in Germany. He wanted to bring something like that to the US and push for rights and advocacy here. Its focus was on bringing awareness to the needs of the LGBTQIA+ community.
In the 1950s, the Mattachine Society was founded with the aim of advocating for gay rights and for the repealing of anti-gay laws. There was concern that they were demanding too much and not gaining enough so they changed tactics. They appealed to the community to adapt as much as possible to mainstream society and ideals. The hope was that they would appeal to the heterosexual community and be more accepted. The message they wanted to send to the heterosexual population was that they were “normal” and “just like them”.
Also in the 1950s, the Daughters of Bilitis were founded. This was an organization similar to the Mattachine Society but was aimed at the lesbian community. At first, they were primarily concerned with having safe places where lesbians could meet and spend time together. Over time, they also started working towards supporting married lesbians and mothers and giving educational talks to the heterosexual community. They worked to spread awareness and understanding of lesbian causes and concerns and became more focused on lesbian feminism and politics as time went on. This organization no longer exists, however.
In 1966, in San Francisco, there was a riot in a restaurant called the Compton Cafeteria. When a police officer attempted to arrest a drag queen (as it was illegal at the time to wear gender non-conforming clothing), she fought back and this sparked the other queer patrons in the restaurant to fight back against the police, as well. Much like the Mattachine Society, this organization no longer exists.
We also have organizations that started in the wake of the Stonewall Inn riots. In the 1970s, the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence were founded. This organization started with drag queens who used nun’s habits in their performances. Eventually, it evolved into a drag organization that brings attention to queer issues while wearing drag versions of nun’s clothing. They bring awareness to issues such as discrimination and oppression of queer people, especially when linked to religious hypocrisy. They also focus on safe sex education and about the dangers of drug use. The group also raises money for AIDs organizations and other important causes within the LGBTQIA+ community.
Also in the 1970s we saw the beginning of STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries). It was founded by Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, two people who are famous in the queer community today, who took part in the Stonewall Inn riots. While the organization only lasted 3 years, it was organized to provide housing and support to homeless queer youth. It made a huge difference in the lives of many homeless LGBTQIA+ youth in New York City for the brief time it was running.
The Stonewall Inn Riots
It is important to remember that the Stonewall Inn riots are rightly famous. They marked a significant turning point in how queer advocacy organizations approached queer causes and the many needs of the LGBTQIA+ community and other overlapping causes.
In the 1960’s there were still laws that targeted the LGBTQIA+ community, especially gay men and gender non-conforming individuals. These laws affected many different areas of people’s lives. One law was that it was illegal to serve alcohol to those who were part of the queer community. This meant that many bars and clubs were not an option for most people. There were few places to meet other LGBTQIA+ individuals that were safe.
While there were bars and clubs that specifically catered to gay men and lesbians and allowed gender non-conforming folks to attend, as well, depending on the venue, these establishments were often owned by the Mafia. Police would do frequent raids on known or suspected gay bars and arrest anyone who didn’t have ID or were wearing clothing that didn’t align with their gender assigned at birth. These bars being owned by the Mafia did often provide some protection as they often paid police off to reduce the frequency of raids or for tips when a raid was incoming.
The Stonewall Inn was a well-known bar run by a Mafia family that catered exclusively to the queer community. On June 28th, 1969, there was an unexpected police raid on the Stonewall Inn that the Mafia had not been tipped off about. During this raid, the police were being overly forceful and were seen to hit patrons with their clubs. A crowd had begun to accumulate around the bar made up of patrons, neighborhood residents, and customers from nearby clubs and bars.
As a woman was being forced into a police vehicle for arrest, she called out to the crowd asking why they weren’t doing anything to help (most say Stormé DeLarverie was the woman in question). This pushed the crowd into action who started throwing things at police and fighting back, rioting against the unfair treatment they had been forced to endure for years. The rioting continued for five more nights in the neighborhood as the queer community demanded equal rights and the ability to live authentically as themselves.
On June 28th, 1970, on the one year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the first Pride parade was held to commemorate the ongoing struggle for equal rights for queer folk. However, many of these early Pride events and the organizations that came up after Stonewall did not include people of color or transpeople in their organizing, despite the pivotal role they had played in much of the fight for equal rights.
Pride Month Today and Tomorrow
Today, Pride is celebrated all throughout the month of June and is celebrated globally. All over the world, one can find a Pride event to attend during June to celebrate the queer community. There are concerns for many in the queer community about the large sponsorship and presence of corporations during these events. They are concerned with the commodification of Pride. This could be taking attention away from not only the political roots of Pride. And also from the continuing work that still needs to be done advocating for the LGBTQIA+ community. There is also concern about the heavy police presence at many of the larger Pride events. Because of continued oppression and marginalization of queer individuals, especially individuals of color, this has been questioned.
Celebrating and acknowledging the strides made for equality is important and very much needed. But there is also still a lot of work to be done. The queer community is rich with political activism and celebration. Stonewall may not have been the first instance of LGBTQIA+ resistance and activism. But it was the first to be covered globally and sparked an international movement for LGBTQIA+ rights and equality.
Resources:
https://www.britannica.com/story/why-is-pride-month-celebrated-in-june
https://www.history.com/topics/gay-rights/pride-month
https://www.loc.gov/lgbt-pride-month/about
https://www.them.us/story/the-complete-history-of-pride
https://www.them.us/story/queer-elders-stonewall-riots-50
https://www.them.us/story/queer-history-beyond-stonewall