Stonewall Inn Riots! Behold 57!
“There was no gay pride before Stonewall. Only gay fear and gay isolation and gay distrust and gay self-hatred.” ~ Edmund White ~ gay author and Stonewall Inn customer
This upcoming Sunday, 28 June 2026 is the fifty-seventh (57) anniversary of the Stonewall Inn Riots (SIR!) This anniversary is reason to celebrate our progress as a community and culture and to recognize that we continue to have challenges and struggles to endure. As gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer+ (GLBTQ+) people, we march forward together!
As we read this summary of the events of 28 June 1969, we recall the efforts and the frustrations of all those who suffered before us and we salute their courage and sacrifice! This story is now our story, to recall and to remember with confidence, devotion, love and pride!
As bare practitioners, it is important for us to know and to understand our same gender loving (SGL) heritage. It is also the same importance for our heritage of nakedness. The Stonewall Inn riots (SIR) always are a part of our past, a part of our present and a part of our story!
Prologue:
World War II officially ended in 1945. The walls that divided different socio-economic and educational classes of people began to slowly disappear. The eradication of “separate” between persons of a variety of ethnicities and racial heritages began to decline also. These changes didn’t occur suddenly; it was an eventual shifting of bias, distrust and prejudices as the larger general society started the tedious, slow and incremental process of enlightenment and evolution.
The 1940s became the 1950s and social change lost the incredibility and novelty it once generated. A brief pause became evident as reluctance to move forward into the unknown overcame the dream to build and to renew. By the arrival of 1960, a temporary stalemate emerged that was short-lived and soon replaced by active and mounting protests from the disappointed youth and the despondent innovators.
The televised assassination of the youthful US President John Kennedy in November, 1963, ended the fragile truce between the progressives and the traditionalists. The growing frustration soon erupted into increasingly active and aggressive protests over racial injustices and segregation, feminism and women’s rights, the Vietnam war, military conscription (the draft) policies, equal labour practices and educational values.
Turbulent and violent soon became the usual descriptive to the situations unfolding in the lives of the nation. Traditional authority concepts began to recede into obscurity and the custom of unquestioned acquiescence to the “status quo” rapidly vanished.
While these drastic shifts in public opinion and perception appeared in broader society, subtle occurrences happened in the “homosexual” (gay, lesbian, bisexual) world as well. Still illegal and officially marginalized, all the while conveniently and openly despised, our “homosexual predecessors carefully, cautiously and discretely began to emerge in the larger urban areas such as Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles. They individually and in small groups joined in public protests and general boycotts focusing on the progressive social change movement.
In 1961, the state of Illinois legislature became the first to repeal the law designating “homosexuality” as illegal. The seeds of change and progress were finally planted!
June, 1969:
The Stonewall Inn (it was never a hotel) opened as a bar catering to the “homosexual” community in 1967. Prior to that, it had been a stable (for horses), a French bakery, a tearoom and lastly a restaurant that had burned out of business. It opened as a bar serving alcohol under Mafia-affiliated management and very closely connected to organized crime. The establishment consisted of two main rooms, each with its own dance floor. The front room was popular with older clientele and the back room attracted youth.
At the time of the Stonewall Inn Riots (SIR), it was unlawful for “homosexuals” to gather in public. Same gender intimacy was outlawed and persons subject to arrest and being fired from their jobs (with no legal recourse). They were ridiculed and attacked publicly often without any consequence. Simply being a “homosexual” was considered an antisocial and criminal act. Everyone was required, by law, to wear clothing appropriate to their birth gender – the only exception was for Halloween.
Friday evening, 27 June1969 was a hot and humid start to a weekend. Most of the patrons gathered inside the Stonewall Inn were looking forward to a night of dancing with their friends, relaxing with cocktails and enjoying a summer’s night in New York City. They had no idea that they were about to witness a historical event that would change their lives – and the “homosexual” world – forever.
“The door of the Stonewall had wrought-iron bars across this peephole, a little wooden thing that slid open. And the man inside would look at you and, if you looked like you belonged there, he would let you in.” ~ Chris Babick ~ Stonewall customer describing the entrance to Stonewall Inn
Both the dance floors at Stonewall Inn were full of dancing “homosexual” couples. It was now after midnight and 28 June 1969 was in its infancy. Suddenly, the music stopped. The lights that were dimmed to enhance the atmosphere came back on in a bright glare that caught everyone by surprise. Almost at once, the realization dawned on the festive crowd: the police were raiding the bar.
The New York City police department was long familiar with conducting raids on gay and lesbian bars. Their process was fairly routine and they all recognized “homosexuals” as a relatively compliant and passive crowd. For this reason, only one police transport vehicle (paddy wagon) and one marked squad car were included in the raid. Less than a dozen officers were assigned the task of managing and segregating the crowd, confiscating all the alcohol and arresting the Stonewall Inn employees.
“The police weren’t letting us dance. If there’s one place in the world where you can dance and feel yourself fully as a person and that’s threatened with being taken away, those words are fighting words.” ~ Tommy Lanigen-Schmidt ~ Stonewall Inn patron and riot participant
The arrival of the police raiding force caused participants to erupt inside the Inn. Customers searched in vain for an escape route or for a place to hide. The police immediately began confiscating both liquor and beer as evidence against the establishment and dividing the crowd: bar employees, cross-dressers (transgender persons) and the “regular” “homosexuals.” The bar employees and the cross-dressers were to be arrested for violating the law. The “regular homosexuals” were to be given citations once they showed the officers their proper identification.
The year, 1969, was at the end of a decade that had witnessed violent social unrest. The African-American struggle for civil rights, the birth of the feminist and women’s rights movements, the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations and the equal pay marches for primarily Latino immigrant farm workers were underway during this time. The “homosexuals” who had participated in these public unrests were energized and many wondered when their time for equality would happen. Little did they, and the police raiding the Stonewall Inn, know that moment had arrived.
As the police began checking the identities of those inside the bar, those with proper credentials were released and herded outside the door. Only this time, instead of just leaving the premises, they congregated on the sidewalks and at a nearby park. Once law enforcement attempted to disperse them, they grew confrontational and belligerent.
The police, unaccustomed to “homosexual” defiance, continued to press the order to vacate the area. The crowd, emboldened by their frustration with being treated as “deviants” and second-class citizens began to chant and to empty trash cans and hurl the garbage at the officers.
By this time, passers-by, curious as to what was happening, joined the angry and upset “homosexuals” to express their dissatisfaction with the raid. The crowd outside the Inn began to grow in both number, disappointment and curiosity. Once word of what had transpired inside the bar began to spread, even more “homosexuals” started to descend into the neighborhood and amass in the vicinity.
“You could hear screaming outside, a lot of noise from the protestors and it was a good sound. It was a real good sound that, you knew, you had a lot of people out there pulling for you.” ~ Raymond Castro ~ Stonewall Inn customer detained inside the bar during its siege
By now, the police trapped inside the facility understood that the situation had gotten beyond their control. They tried to call for reinforcements but were unable to reach any source for assistance. They had secured the bar but were trapped inside and the crowd outside was swelling in both size and fury. A few hundred patrons had now grown into a furious mob of several thousand and more were joining them by the minute.
No one in the New York police department had anticipated the “homosexuals,” always believed to be meek and mild, to fight back. The years of abuse. oppression and ridicule had taken its toll and the frustration now became revolution. The time for retribution was at hand. Unfortunately for the police, the pent-up anger at law enforcement was now being released and returned in kind. The police were now themselves prisoners inside the Stonewall Inn.
Two hours after the raid began, the police and their detainees were trapped inside the facility and no relief was in sight. The two-way communication devices between the raiding party and their office weren’t working properly and the only “pay phone” inside the bar wasn’t able to connect with any local police precincts. The passive “homosexuals” had finally achieved a “first” in their spontaneous riot: the police were contained, surrounded and they were all very nervous. By this time, the crowd outside the Greenwich Village neighbourhood bar now numbered more than three thousand with a full-fledged riot underway.
In an effort to relieve the inflammatory predicament, the besieged decided to send the detainees and half the officers inside the Stonewall in the two police vehicles to the closest local police station. There, the detainees would be formally charged with arrest and the officers could make arrangements for a police riot force to assemble and rescue the remaining law enforcement personnel. This relief effort finally was able to return to the bar several hours later and eventually dispersed the angry mob of “homosexuals” and curious onlookers after reinforcements finally arrived.
Despite damage to the Stonewall Inn facility and the loss of the license to sell alcoholic beverages, the bar opened for business (dancing and soft drinks) the following night. By Saturday night, stories of the historic disturbance the previous evening had spread throughout the city’s closeted “homosexual” community (primarily by word-of-mouth). A larger than usual crowd gathered both inside and outside the now notorious establishment. Most didn’t expect a repeat of the raid the night before and a significant number of those who came mainly to inspect the facility damage.
The police, however, had different ideas. They were strictly outside the bar – in full force – with a large number in riot gear. They had learned their lesson the evening before and were determined to remain in full control should the patrons become unruly again.
The “homosexuals” had been empowered by the riot the previous evening and weren’t about to be bullied into submission again. As the large police presence attempted to disperse those gathered outside the Stonewall Inn, they were confronted by verbal insults and an array of street-savvy tactics that saw law enforcement chase off onlookers, only to have them run around the urban block and return again. Silent obedience to uniformed officers was no longer a fact of life for New York’s “homosexuals.” They were tired of suffering abuse, disrespect, ridicule and treatment as second-class citizens.
The second night of the Stonewall Inn congregation wasn’t as disruptive and violent as the one before. No further damage was done to the bar establishment. However, an awakening consciousness was raised within the “homosexual” community that would change the way society viewed them and – most importantly – the way they perceived themselves.
For the first time, the too often compliant and passive “homosexuals” stood up for their rights and demonstrated that they, as individuals and together as a community, had “had enough!” Through time, this singular incident has been recognized by many as the spark that ignited the flame for the same gender loving equality movement worldwide!
Naked hugs!
Roger Poladopoulos/ReNude Pride: Guys Without Boxers!
Original!
Author’s Note: The next post entry here is planned for Monday, June 29, 2026, and the proposed topic is: “A Penny For My Thoughts!”
Reference sources:
Ann Bausman Stonewall: Breaking Out for Gay Rights
Martin Doberman Stonewall: A History
Pictures: Google images
ReNude Pride: Guys Without Boxers! 