Stonewall Lecture At CCSU

I went to a lecture last Thursday at the Burritt Library at Central Connecticut State University that was about the Stonewall uprising* that happen 40 years ago this month. The professor that gave the talk is an associate professor of Sociology at CCSU. Her lecture was one of the best talks that I have heard on the Stonewall uprising. I have heard three or four lectures on Stonewall and she did a better job of explaining the mood and culture of the LGBT community back in the 60’s. In addition, she covered the trans component of Stonewall which was something no other lecturer has done. One lecturer actually only talked about gays and when questioned afterward he said that he used the term “gay” to mean the LGBT.

On the library’s blog they wrote,

“This June will mark the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. In the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 members of the New York Police Department raided the Stonewall Inn located on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. This time, unlike previous raids, the gay community fought back. Rioting broke out and continued for five days ending on July 2nd.

The New York Times thought so little of the raid they buried the story on page 33 the following day. Probably no one realized at the time that this event would become the iconic symbol of the gay civil rights movement. This uprising marked the beginning, as the Advocate stated, “of a movement to decriminalize, demedicalize, and devillainize us ( i.e., gays and lesbians).”

To mark this anniversary, materials will be on display during the month of June, from Burritt Library’s extensive collection of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender books, newsletters, periodicals, ephemera and archives.”

The exhibit was very good, except that it was heavily Gay weighted, about 75% was gay, 20% lesbian and 5% trans. Due to the fact that this was a display of the library’s collection of LGBT materials, I am incline to give them the benefit of the doubt. There is probably more gay historic material than lesbian or trans or bisexual (I would hazard a guess and say there is almost no bisexual material). However, the Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition and the Connecticut Outreach Society has been bringing material over to the library to archive. In addition, have a large box that I have to sort and bring there.

*I prefer the word “uprising” over the term “riot” Your Dictionary.com defines “riot” as “wild or violent disorder, confusion, or disturbance; tumult; uproar.” While it defines “uprising” as “the action of rising up; specif., an outbreak against a government; revolt.” What happened at Stonewall was a revolt against government oppression and a demand for equality.

This video is from PBS show from KQED four part documentary “The Question of Equality.” This is from part 1 "Outrage ‘69" "This important movie tells our story upfront and out-front through interviews and archival footage. Outrage ‘69 speaks from within and without our movement with issues ranging from the multi-issue Gay Liberation Front, the split and the forming of the GAA by those ... Read Moreinterested in a predominately white single issue movement, Sylvia Rivera’s response to the denouncing of drag queens at the 1973 PRIDE, the founding of the NGTF, a discussion of White Power within the GAA and much more."