Thirty-seven years ago on this day a movement was born which is still going on today, it was the day of the Stonewall Riots. It was the beginning of the Gay Civil Rights movement.
Back on June 27, 1969 the police raided an after hours bar where all the gays, lesbians, transgendered street walker and drag queens met called the Stonewall Inn. It wasn’t the first; there were other riots such as the Compton Riots but it was the Stonewall Riots was the one that caught and started the movement.
The police raided the bar as they did many times before arresting those that did not have the required number of male clothing on or those without ID’s, but for some reason that night they did not go along peacefully. It is lost in the fog of time how the riot actually started, but a number of accounts name Sylvia Rivera as starting it. The riots continued the next night when the police tried again to raid the bar and were met, as one account has it, high stepping drag queens in a dance line across the street. It was from these riots that most of the Gay Rights movement can trace their origins, including the Gay Liberation Front and the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries ( S.T.A.R. ).
So let me pose these questions; 1. How far have we in the GLBT community come? 2. What do you think our greatest gain is? 3. What do you our greatest failure is?
Don’t be shy, your comments and thoughts are welcome.
Hi :-) I'm a relatively new reader of your blog but I liked your questions and wanted to offer my opinion on them ...
ReplyDelete1. Looking at the fact we've only been a strong movement for the past 50 years, I think we've come a long way toward acceptance and equality. It's easier now for people to come out and find acceptance and, at least in urban areas, we are becoming self-sustaining. We are redefining ourselves and living lives of great fulfillment despite the movie industry's portrayal that LGBT people only live lives of great tragedy.
2. I would wager the greatest gain is still the APA endorsement in 73 saying homosexuality is just being a normal part of human behaviour. Which means going to a qualified counselor will help self-acceptance and not move people toward the destructive "change-your-ways" approach of mental care.
3. IMHO, lack of cohesion and infighting and sometimes the absolute denegrating judgment and prejudice LGBT people seem to have of each other is our greatest failure. We ask daily for others to accept us for who we are but I still keep hearing the judgmental proclamation of "Well that person doesn't represent me!" from so many people that I just want to hang my head in shame. I wish more of us would realize we're all in the same tribe -- all on the same team.