stonewall

[James]

who here remebers the stonewall riots let alone what the juke box played

[OrphanPip]

I've always had a fascination with Stonewall's impact on American conceptions of gay identity, especially looking at pre and post stonewall literature by writers like Vidal and Baldwin vs. Edmund White and Larry Kramer.

Although, personally as a Canadian gay rights followed a much different path here. It arose less by mass political action, like the civil rights movement patterns in the US, but more by the political vision of the Pearson and Trudeau Liberals who dominated Canadian politics in the late 60s through to the early 80s. Pierre Trudeau tabled a bill in 1967 with the intention of legalizing homosexuality and also expanding abortion rights, (saying in an interview that "the state has no place in the bedrooms of the nation") it was all tied up with the wave of left wing action the Libs were able to achieve with their close to 15 years in power. In Quebec, the socialist Parti Quebecois passed the first anti-discrimination law in the Americas to protect gays and lesbians. Gay rights sort of remains as a symbol of Quebec's cherished ideals of secularism and progressiveness, largely driven by the anger and resentment against the Catholic Church's disastrous influence in the past.

The American gays rights movement is an important one, and culturally significant, but it hasn't been the universal model of gay rights globally.

[ManicReptile21]

hey i've always been curious what was so significant about this stonewall. there is a gay club in my town named that- care to tell me what it is? i often see it pop up in conversations on gay literature.

[OrphanPip]

hey i've always been curious what was so significant about this stonewall. there is a gay club in my town named that- care to tell me what it is? i often see it pop up in conversations on gay literature.

The Stonewall Riots were the first time gay people in the US stood up against police brutality and discrimination in large numbers, and it is generally seen as the beginning of the modern gay rights movement in the US.

In literature, pre and post stonewall are usually used to distinguish between the major cultural shifts that occurred around then, when homosexuality was suddenly more in the open and celebrated. Pre-Stonewall literature tends to be characterized by a sort of confusion and sadness. Look at the oeuvre of a writer like Gore Vidal, The City and the Pillar was published in the 50s and its atmosphere is one of a sort of melancholy confusion, it's a sort of sad lament for the gay condition, the novel primarily deals with a gay man's life long unrequited love for a straight man, and it doesn't have a happy ending. (Radclyffe Hall's The Well of Loneliness provides an even more depressing lesbian depiction) This can be contrasted to what came in the late 60s and up until the AIDS epidemic. The literature of this period tended to be confrontational, celebratory, and more overtly political. We can see this in Vidal's later novel Myra Beckinridge, (which predates Stonewall by a year, but I would argue is of the post-stonewall zeitgeist) *SPOILER* this novel is about a rapist transsexual and is a deliberate attack on puritanical ideas of sexuality and gender. *END SPOILER*

[marshlander]

Being fourteen years old and living in England I certainly can't claim to have been there, but I think I remember something of this being on our news bulletins. It is a little difficult to be sure because there were popular expressions of dissatisfaction with the status quo in so many countries during that period, not to mention a both a deep mistrust of many things American and an unquestioning adulation of others. In my memory it is all a bit muddled with other civil rights actions, anti Vietnam war demonstrations and the rise of the so-called counter-culture.

While Stonewall undoubtedly became a symbol for gay emancipation I have read since of dramatic events that took place in Los Angeles in 1959 and at Compton's Café in San Francisco in 1966 that don't have such an iconic place in GLBTQI history or even mythology.

I find it hard to believe that the death of Judy Garland was as much to do with the Stonewall riots as some people claim. Surely, as The Rolling Stones recorded at the time, it was as much a case of
"Everywhere I hear the sound of marching, charging feet, boy
'Cause summer's here and the time is right for fighting in the street, boy ..."
as anything else?

The aftermath (sorry, another Stones reference ) is interesting though. Pride marches and demonstrations were established in commemoration of the events at Stonewall but too often these days are watered down or caricatured merely as parties and piss-ups. If we forget our pasts we risk falling into the same old traps in our futures. Learn your history, boys and girls, and keep your eyes and ears open.

What can a poor boy do?

[fredv3b]

The Stonewall Riots were the first time gay people in the US stood up against police brutality and discrimination in large numbers, and it is generally seen as the beginning of the modern gay rights movement in the US.

It depends what you mean by large numbers. Two years before the Stonewall riots there was the Black Cat riot in Los Angeles. Stonewall was certainly larger but it was not the first fightback as it is so often portrayed as. I think what really makes Stonewall important was not what actually happened but what everyone thought about it afterwards. It became a real turning-point because people thought/felt it was a turning-point.

[Jay]

I wasn't born yet when Stonewall Riots occurred. But I did my best to learn and understand the history as well as the significant impact of Stone Riots through my good friend who lives in San Diego. He was a young adult when Stonewall Riots happened. He took part in the first gay pride in San Diego.

I learned further through Wikipedia.

[OrphanPip]

It depends what you mean by large numbers. Two years before the Stonewall riots there was the Black Cat riot in Los Angeles. Stonewall was certainly larger but it was not the first fightback as it is so often portrayed as. I think what really makes Stonewall important was not what actually happened but what everyone thought about it afterwards. It became a real turning-point because people thought/felt it was a turning-point.

Certainly, the importance was what followed, not the event in and of itself.

[CellarDweller]

I was born the year of the Stonewall Riots, and I've been to the Stonewall a number of times in the Village. I'm very happy that a place of such significance to the gay community is here by me.

[James]

just a little trivia, the juke box played motown, I was 10 when LA occurred in 1959 dont remember much of it in the media, san fran I remember little more coverage, Jim