The LGBT community started to come forward in the early 1950s in the U.S through various activist organizations and protests. In 1950, Harry Hay formed the Mattachine Society, which was the first recognized Gay Rights Organization and it worked for gay equality and visibility in American Society. Mattachine published ONE, the first U.S. pro-gay publication, distributed flyers, and fought against the inequalities against homosexuals like entrapment by the police.
A social club called Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) was formed in 1955 to provide lesbian women a space to work together and socialize. It was during this same period, American Psychiatric Associations defined homosexuality as a mental disease. After World War II, homosexuals were even labeled as “sexual perverts”. Then-president Dwight Eisenhower banned the employment of gay men and women in government-related offices and institutions.
The Stonewall in 1969 paved the way for a massive change in the political and social status of gays in the U.S. The Stonewall Inn was a mafia-run gay bar in Greenwich Village, which welcomed homosexuals but police used improper liquor license as a justification to raid such bars. The events happened in June 28, 1969 was followed by a three-day street riot which is considered as the inauguration of modern gay liberation.
Historian David Carter identifies in his Stonewall: The riots that sparked Gay Revolution that there are several factors that make Stonewall different from other gay establishment raids and disturbances:
1. Unique Timing
2. Social History
3. Cultural Change
4. Local History
5. Geography
The gay rights activists Marty Robinson, John O’Brien, Dick Leisah and Madeline Cervantes decided to take their activities from passive mode to more radical actions. The Christopher Street Liberation Day Umbrella Committee formed by Craig Rodwell in 1969 wrote a letter to:
“All Midwestern and Western Regional Homophile Organizations” asked them to “take advantage of this unparalleled opportunity for action and publicity and make of it a truly national reminderday.”[1]
At last, the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), the Mattachines, the DOBs, the Gay Activist Alliance (GAA), and other small groups joined together. On 28 June 1970 the New York Gay Community gathered in streets by chanting and displaying slogans and poster like the following:
“HOMOSEXUAL IS NOT A FOUR-LETTER WORD”
“Two, Four, Six, Eight/Gay is just as good as straight”
Several similar events took place in Chicago and Los Angeles also. About 5000 marches were conducted in New York City alone. The Chicago Gay Liberation Newsletter published an article with the title “Gay Pride Week Huge Success!”
-To be continued
Reference:
1.Elizabeth A. Armstrong and Suzanna M. Crage, “Movements and Memory: The Making of the Stonewall Myth,”
American Sociological Review 71 no. 5 (October 2006): 740
2. Meaghan K. Nappo Not a quiet riot: Stonewall and the creation of lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, and Transgender Community and Identity through Public History Techniques(2010)
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