June is here, which means it’s Pride month — a time to celebrate and commemorate LGBTQ rights.
Stonewall, the gay, lesbian, and transgender rights charity, states there is much to celebrate about queer inclusivity, but there is still a way to go to reach equality.
The charity is named after Stonewall riots that took place decades ago, which were a catalyst for the gay rights movement.
But what were the riots and how did they serve as a catalyst for change? Here’s everything you need to know.
What were the Stonewall riots?
The Stonewall Riots, also called the Stonewall Uprising, started in the early hours of June 28, 1969.
The Stonewall Inn was a gay club and private “bottle bar” which did not require a liquor licence as patrons were meant to bring their own alcohol.
It was cheap to enter and a large venue that welcomed drag queens, runaways, and homeless gay youths — as well as being one of the few gay bars to permit dancing.
That Saturday, New York City police raided the Stonewall, located in Greenwich Village in New York City.
It sparked a riot between bar patrons and neighbourhood residents, and police roughly hauled people out of the bar.
Three nights of unrest followed, outside the inn on Christopher Street, in neighboring streets, and in nearby Christopher Park, with LGBT people fighting back against police brutality.
The fire department and a riot squad eventually de-escalated the scene and dispersed the crowd.
Lesbian and trans women of colour — including Stormé DeLarverie, Sylvia Rivera, and Marsha P Johnson —were some of the key people taking part in the resistance.
What was the impact of the Stonewall riots?
It happened against a backdrop of a wider civil rights movement, and was a galvanising force for LGBT political activism.
In 1970, the Revolutionary People’s Constitutional Convention was established, with activists from the gay liberation, feminist, and Black Power movements uniting.
The Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was the primary organisation which emerged out of the uprising.
The GLF first formed in the US and was part of the original discussions to create the first Pride event, which happened in June 28, 1970 — one year after the Stonewall riots.
On the one-year anniversary, thousands of people marched the streets of Manhattan, from the Stonewall Inn to Central Park, in what was then called Christopher Street Liberation Day, America’s first gay pride parade.
The parade’s official chant was: “Say it loud, gay is proud.”
Twenty years after the uprising, the organisation Stonewall was set up to fight discrimination against the LGBT community.
In 2016, then-president Barack Obama designated the site of the riots — Stonewall Inn, Christopher Park, and the surrounding streets and sidewalks — a national monument in recognition of the area’s contribution to gay rights.
