Comments on: The Stonewall generation looks back

By: gyzmo

gyzmo — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:39:37 +0000

I am a New Yorker living in Ca. and and very proud to have been there for Stonewall. It was amazing. Right now I can feel the energy and see the growing crowds of angry brothers and sisters and their freinds and families pouring out of the subway station at Sheridan Square, getting off buses, out of taxi cabs to join in to put a stop to the supression and to begin the LBGT movement.
And today the momentum of the movement has picked up at a pace that reminds me of Stonewall days.
What ever we do now we cannot loose momentum. We must keep moving and get louder and louder and not ask for but demand what is rightfully ours. Nothing more and nothing less.
A march on Washingto is on the horizon.
I will be there. Peace and Equality…Gyzmo

By: Jerry from Tucson

Jerry from Tucson — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 06:08:58 +0000

Excellent reporting on this story! I was a youyng, teenage lad of 15 when I read about what was happening in New York. Fast forward to yesterday when I called my 83 year old father and he “mentioned” as an aside that he knew I was gay before I even started school! That would explain why he was so kind to me when I brought my life partner to meet him for the first time. He lives in a conservative retirement community and introduces me and my other half by saying “and this is Jerry’s partner (or life partner. I NEVER advised him on what to say and do and yes, EVERYONE, parents are not as dumb as you think! My mother passed away a few months ago and she and I always discussed gay issues and adopted my honey as just another son. So, you see, coming out is worth the time and effort—take it from me!

By: James M. Martin

James M. Martin — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:45:29 +0000

I grew up in South Texas. We didn’t mention gay and lesbian bars, so I had no idea such places even existed. When I came back from UCLA for visits in the late 60s and early 70s, I was shocked to find that in the few local gay bars we did have by then, the local police would come in nightly, shine their flashlights in patrons’ faces, and ask them for I.D.’s. They wrote the driver’s license information down in little notebooks they kept.

Nowdays, they only go into gay bars when the management calls them to break up a fight or whatever. Tell me we haven’t come a long way!

By: Ramón

Ramón — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:36:24 +0000

I missed Stonewall by hours; I went to a party in Flatbush where food and drink were guaranteed to be plentiful. I even remember having my palm read at that party.
But I do vividly remember all of the harassment that so many of us endured on the streets of the West Village; that’s where I met Sylvia Rivera, sitting on one of the stoops of Christopher street. I can still remember what she was wearing that night; it was a turquoise chiffon pants-suit and low-heeled shoes. There were plenty of queens living by their wits on the street, and few were more familiar with the strong-arm tactics of the “man” than she. What struck me about Sylvia was her anger and her determination to stick it to the man, because as she said: “What else can they do to me?”
We were shoved from Sheridan Square to the Silver Dollar Café, and it was a daily occurrence. We knew what was going on: The mob controlled the bars and clubs; the police were on the take; there was no protection from the “hitters” who came into the neighborhood to gay-bash. We were caught in the middle. It was OK for people to come from el Barrio, Harlem, Bed-Stuy, etc., and stand on the sidewalk outside the Women’s House of Detention, and shout out the names of their incarcerated pals, but the cops wouldn’t leave us alone, and we didn’t have the clout with them that the mob-owned clubs did, so we were the easy target.
You had to even be street-smart to walk the gauntlet home. I lived in a top floor crash pad on East 7th, between C&D – East Village to those of you who aren’t familiar with the area. We had to walk thru the “straight” park of 8th Street, across to St. Marks Place, past Thompson Square Park – where anything and everything could happen, all the way to Avenue D. Our ceiling came down on us once – too many junkies at one time up there. We kept peace with them by handing out old spoons and matches on their way to the roof. It was better than risking a falling out with them.
I was with the group who held a sit-in at NYU’s Weinstein Hall.

I guess my disappoint is that 40 years ago we felt the change in the air, and I thought that disparate groups were forming alliances that would benefit us through solidarity. The truth is that they threw us under the bus when they felt their cause had more merit than ours.

I was later one of the 162 who got hauled off to jail in the infamous Snakepit Raid, a night, rather a dawn that saw one of us get impaled on six fourteen inch spikes. I stood there and watch the entire process of cutting those bars and taking him away, still impaled. I’ll never forget that.

It’s 40 long years later, and I live in San Francisco, but if I talk about any of this I can feel the curtain come down over the listener.
It’s a small part of our history, but we should never forget.

Oh, and one more thing; you can try all you want, but you’re never going to get a Colt model type Stonewall hero out of the likes of Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson, plus the names of the women and men whom I’ve forgotten; they were mainstream lesbians and gays trying to survive the mean streets.

By: Sarrellec

Sarrellec — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:12:23 +0000

I was 12 in ‘69. A suburb kid struggling with the usual and saw the coverage of the riots on the news.
I was on Long Island…just a short train ride from the city.
Those brave and wonderful people who finally had had enough–through that grand display of pride and anger helped this lonely kid no end.
I attended just three of the subsequent demonstrations. Hung around in the back of the room during some meetings. At 12, I was very tall/big for my age and thankfully no one questioned my being there.
Just another small voice in the throng, but grateful to this day that those heroes gave me and all of us the chance to add our voices to the demand.
I too have benefitted greatly from those heroes and that day.
Today, I and my partner of 12 years have a nice home in Maine and are happy.
We’re out and virtually no one even seems to care!
Isn’t it odd that in the end that is what we have all been fighting for all these years?
We’ve been fighting for the right to not be the focus of violence from otherwise average, every-day fellow citizens.
I don’t know, but fighting for being left alone to pursue our lives like anyone else seems an odd battle.

By: Randy

Randy — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 18:04:43 +0000

The LGBT movement has a lot more to do besides achieving equality. That is simply the start. Our experiences being denied the typical ways of living have produced their own rainbow of choices. Besides assimilating entirely into straight society, as we seem on track to do in the next decade, we have other things to offer, and we need to ensure those aren’t left in the dust.

By: Raymond S. Decelles-Smith

Raymond S. Decelles-Smith — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:59:40 +0000

Yes, imagine we gays and lesbians who never wanted to trust the thirtysomethings, are now collecting Social Security and Medicare.

We are single, widowed, and fathers and grandfathers. We are individuals with memories and fights that we never thought would morph into today’s gains and yes, defeats.

Albert and I are celebrating our 33rd year together. We miraculously adopted our son from Southeast Asia nearly a decade ago. We are blessed beyond belief.

By: Jay

Jay — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:48:16 +0000

Often the word hero gets thrown around without merit. The people involved in Stonewall and other rebellions are truly heroes. I think it is our duty to inform younger generations of what was sacrificed and fought for back when homosexuality was not accepted at all. A special thank you to all of those who were involved in starting the fight for equality. We love you.

By: equalnotspecial

equalnotspecial — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:33:22 +0000

Finally an article which acknowledges the hard work and sacrifice that led up to Stonewall. While Stonewall was an important milestone, it was not the beginning of the gay equal rights movement in the U.S.
The first public gay rights organization in the U.S. was the Society for Human Rights (SHR) in 1924, organized by Henry Gerber, who was soon arrested. Organization attempts continued and the Mattachine Society emerged in 1950, followed by Daughters of Bilitis organized by Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon (the first couple married in California) and others, in San Francisco in 1955. In August of 1966, the Compton Cafeteria riot in San Francisco, helped set the precedent for Stonewall. By 1969 gay and lesbian organizations existed all over the country. The hard work and sacrifice of those who preceded Stonewall should not be forgotten.

By: LOrion

LOrion — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 16:17:58 +0000

WHERE IS THE TIMELINE? I cannot find it on SAGE.