Today marks the 53rd anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
Things have improved greatly for LGBTQ citizens since that night in New York in 1969. However equality and basic human rights for us remain vulnerable at best. Let us not take them for granted, and remain ever vigilant working towards equality and justice for all.
Happy Pride 2022
Homosexuality was considered a medical disorder well into the 1970s. The American Psychiatric Association did not remove it from their list of mental illnesses until December 15, 1973. I was young, but by 1973 I already knew I was strangely attracted to men. I knew I was attracted to them in a way I wasn’t toward women. I wanted affection, and the affection I wanted from men was something that turned me on.
Therefore at that time I would have been considered mentally ill.
This video just barely touches on things that were done to us prior to 1973. We march to remember from where we came and why we will not go back, and there are some who would want to take us back.
A little tradition history of the upcoming holiday.
The Speakeasy – 5 Halloween Traditions – 2021
Sign displayed at The Stonewall Inn is said to have been from the 1969 Raid.
The Stonewall Inn exterior circa June 29, 1969 (about the time of the raid and riots). The birthplace of what we now call Pride.
Reposted from Joe.My.God :
HOMO NEST RAIDED – QUEEN BEES ARE STINGING MAD – by Jerry Lisker, New York Daily News, July 6th 1969
She sat there with her legs crossed, the lashes of her mascara-coated eyes beating like the wings of a hummingbird. She was angry. She was so upset she hadn’t bothered to shave. A day old stubble was beginning to push through the pancake makeup. She was a he. A queen of Christopher Street.
Last weekend the queens had turned commandos and stood bra strap to bra strap against an invasion of the helmeted Tactical Patrol Force. The elite police squad had shut down one of their private gay clubs, the Stonewall Inn at 57 Christopher St., in the heart of a three-block homosexual community in Greenwich Village. Queen Power reared its bleached blonde head in revolt. New York City experienced its first homosexual riot. “We may have lost the battle, sweets, but the war is far from over,” lisped an unofficial lady-in-waiting from the court of the Queens.
“We’ve had all we can take from the Gestapo,” the spokesman, or spokeswoman, continued. “We’re putting our foot down once and for all.” The foot wore a spiked heel. According to reports, the Stonewall Inn, a two-story structure with a sand painted brick and opaque glass facade, was a mecca for the homosexual element in the village who wanted nothing but a private little place where they could congregate, drink, dance and do whatever little girls do when they get together.
The thick glass shut out the outside world of the street. Inside, the Stonewall bathed in wild, bright psychedelic lights, while the patrons writhed to the sounds of a juke box on a square dance floor surrounded by booths and tables. The bar did a good business and the waiters, or waitresses, were always kept busy, as they snaked their way around the dancing customers to the booths and tables. For nearly two years, peace and tranquility reigned supreme for the Alice in Wonderland clientele.
The Raid Last Friday
Last Friday the privacy of the Stonewall was invaded by police from the First Division. It was a raid. They had a warrant. After two years, police said they had been informed that liquor was being served on the premises. Since the Stonewall was without a license, the place was being closed. It was the law.
All hell broke loose when the police entered the Stonewall. The girls instinctively reached for each other. Others stood frozen, locked in an embrace of fear.
Only a handful of police were on hand for the initial landing in the homosexual beachhead. They ushered the patrons out onto Christopher Street, just off Sheridan Square. A crowd had formed in front of the Stonewall and the customers were greeted with cheers of encouragement from the gallery.
The whole proceeding took on the aura of a homosexual Academy Awards Night. The Queens pranced out to the street blowing kisses and waving to the crowd. A beauty of a specimen named Stella wailed uncontrollably while being led to the sidewalk in front of the Stonewall by a cop. She later confessed that she didn’t protest the manhandling by the officer, it was just that her hair was in curlers and she was afraid her new beau might be in the crowd and spot her. She didn’t want him to see her this way, she wept.
Queen Power
The crowd began to get out of hand, eye witnesses said. Then, without warning, Queen Power exploded with all the fury of a gay atomic bomb. Queens, princesses and ladies-in-waiting began hurling anything they could get their polished, manicured fingernails on. Bobby pins, compacts, curlers, lipstick tubes and other femme fatale missiles were flying in the direction of the cops. The war was on. The lilies of the valley had become carnivorous jungle plants.
Urged on by cries of “C’mon girls, lets go get ’em,” the defenders of Stonewall launched an attack. The cops called for assistance. To the rescue came the Tactical Patrol Force.
Flushed with the excitement of battle, a fellow called Gloria pranced around like Wonder Woman, while several Florence Nightingales administered first aid to the fallen warriors. There were some assorted scratches and bruises, but nothing serious was suffered by the honeys turned Madwoman of Chaillot.
Official reports listed four injured policemen with 13 arrests. The War of the Roses lasted about 2 hours from about midnight to 2 a.m. There was a return bout Wednesday night.
Two veterans recently recalled the battle and issued a warning to the cops. “If they close up all the gay joints in this area, there is going to be all out war.”
Bruce and Nan
Both said they were refugees from Indiana and had come to New York where they could live together happily ever after. They were in their early 20’s. They preferred to be called by their married names, Bruce and Nan.
“I don’t like your paper,” Nan lisped matter-of-factly. “It’s anti-fag and pro-cop.”
“I’ll bet you didn’t see what they did to the Stonewall. Did the pigs tell you that they smashed everything in sight? Did you ask them why they stole money out of the cash register and then smashed it with a sledge hammer? Did you ask them why it took them two years to discover that the Stonewall didn’t have a liquor license.”
Bruce nodded in agreement and reached over for Nan’s trembling hands.
“Calm down, doll,” he said. “Your face is getting all flushed.”
Nan wiped her face with a tissue.
“This would have to happen right before the wedding. The reception was going to be held at the Stonewall, too,” Nan said, tossing her ashen-tinted hair over her shoulder.
“What wedding?,” the bystander asked.
Nan frowned with a how-could-anybody-be-so-stupid look. “Eric and Jack’s wedding, of course. They’re finally tying the knot. I thought they’d never get together.”
Meet Shirley
“We’ll have to find another place, that’s all there is to it,” Bruce sighed. “But every time we start a place, the cops break it up sooner or later.”
“They let us operate just as long as the payoff is regular,” Nan said bitterly. “I believe they closed up the Stonewall because there was some trouble with the payoff to the cops. I think that’s the real reason. It’s a shame. It was such a lovely place. We never bothered anybody. Why couldn’t they leave us alone?”
Shirley Evans, a neighbor with two children, agrees that the Stonewall was not a rowdy place and the persons who frequented the club were never troublesome. She lives at 45 Christopher St.
“Up until the night of the police raid there was never any trouble there,” she said. “The homosexuals minded their own business and never bothered a soul. There were never any fights or hollering, or anything like that. They just wanted to be left alone. I don’t know what they did inside, but that’s their business. I was never in there myself. It was just awful when the police came. It was like a swarm of hornets attacking a bunch of butterflies.”
A reporter visited the now closed Stonewall and it indeed looked like a cyclone had struck the premises.
Police said there were over 200 people in the Stonewall when they entered with a warrant. The crowd outside was estimated at 500 to 1,000. According to police, the Stonewall had been under observation for some time. Being a private club, plain clothesmen were refused entrance to the inside when they periodically tried to check the place. “They had the tightest security in the Village,” a First Division officer said, “We could never get near the place without a warrant.”
Police Talk
The men of the First Division were unable to find any humor in the situation, despite the comical overtones of the raid.
“They were throwing more than lace hankies,” one inspector said. “I was almost decapitated by a slab of thick glass. It was thrown like a discus and just missed my throat by inches. The beer can didn’t miss, though, “it hit me right above the temple.”
Police also believe the club was operated by Mafia connected owners. The police did confiscate the Stonewall’s cash register as proceeds from an illegal operation. The receipts were counted and are on file at the division headquarters. The warrant was served and the establishment closed on the grounds it was an illegal membership club with no license, and no license to serve liquor.
The police are sure of one thing. They haven’t heard the last from the Girls of Christopher Street.
Happy Pride Y’all!
Justice had been served.
George Floyd’s killer is guilty on all three charges.
Cameo – Word Up – 1986
Black Lives Do Matter
But if you try sometime,
you might find,
you get what you need.
The Rolling Stones – You Can’t Always Get What You Want – Live in London 1968
Stunning.
Amanda Gordon / Youth Poet Laureate 2017 – The Hill We Climb – Presidential Inaugural Reading January 20, 2021
Spellbindingly beautiful.
“For there is always light if only we are brave enough to see it, if only we are brave enough to be it.”
It was worth my time, hopefully it’s worth yours.
The only surviving WWII vet that I know alive today is 95 years of age. His name is Harry and unfortunately he has recently been diagnosed with a terminal cancer. Very few of these veterans remain with us today. They truly remind us that good can and will overcome evil.
A few years ago the USAF band flash mobbed this fabulous holiday tribute to the heroes from that era commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of the war. I’ve posted it before and it’s worth another view. This year I dedicate it to Harry.
Harry thank you for being the inspiration you are to me and to many others. I’m blessed to have you in my life.
USAF Band – WWII Holiday Flashback – Live 2015
Edwin Star – HAPPY Radio – 1979
It’s official! My Senator, Kamala Harris is now the Vice Presidential running mate for Joe Biden!
Janet Jackson – Escapade – 1989
Congrats Kamala!
Make you campaign contribution HERE
Real Presidents are respectful, have good character qualities and aren’t petty.
No they aren’t perfect, no human is. However they continually march toward betterment of themselves and of society.
Real Presidents are good people. Real presidents lead.
In Honor of John Lewis, may each of us take steps daily toward justice.
Speak out against injustice. Be kind. Love. Respect. Do right. Get into trouble, good trouble. Stand up. Stand with. March toward equality. March toward betterment of all.
Don’t ever forget. Don’t ever stop marching forward.
Don’t forget to dance along the way.
1976 San Fransisco.
London gay life in the 1980s.
While I wasn’t in London at the time, I did start going to gay clubs while still in high school in 1981. This isn’t exactly my history but it’s not unlike my history.
For an Auntie Mame fanboy like myself, finding this interview in my YouTube feed this morning was pure gold.
Life truly is a banquet!
Rosalind Russell – Auntie Mame Interview – 1958
Fearsome and I wish to personally say Thank You to Pete Buttigieg for turning his life upside down during his history making and ground breaking run for President. Pete, you are a role model. We also wish to thank Chasten for his loving support of his husband’s candidacy. Chasten, you are a role model.
We thank you both for living your truth and working to better not only our country but to better the lives for all of it’s citizens.
We know that this isn’t goodbye, but the turning of a page into a new chapter of your life changing inspirational leadership toward a better future. With you two in our world we know it’s gonna be bright!
Fearsome Beard 