Stonewall saints fought back, launched LGBT movement

LGBT people fought back against police harassment 41 years ago today (June 28) at New York City’s Stonewall Inn, launching the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender liberation movement.

The Stonewall Rebellion (aka Stonewall Riots) became known as the first time that LGBT people rebelled against government persecution of homosexuality.  It is commemorated around the world during June as LGBT Pride Month.

The queer people who fought back at Stonewall are not saints in the usual sense.  But they are honored here as “saints of Stonewall” because they had the guts to battle an unjust system.  They do not represent religious faith -- they stand for faith in ourselves as LGBT people.  They performed the miracle of transforming self-hatred into pride.  These “saints” began a process in which self-hating individuals were galvanized into a cohesive community.  Their saintly courage inspired a justice movement that is still growing stronger after four decades.

Before Stonewall, police regularly raided gay bars, where customers submitted willingly to arrest.  The Stonewall Inn catered to the poorest and most marginalized queer people: drag queens, transgenders, hustlers and homeless youth.

Witnesses disagree about who was the first to defy the police raid in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969.  It was either a drag queen or a butch lesbian.  Soon the crowd was pelting the officers with coins, bottles, bricks and the like.  The surprised police beat some people with nightsticks before taking refuge in the bar itself.  News of the uprising spread quickly.  Hundreds gathered on the street and a riot-control police unit arrived.  Violence continued as some chanted, “Gay power!”

Drag queens started spontaneous kick lines facing the police with clubs and helmets.  That dramatic moment is captured in the painting “It was Beautiful” by Douglas Blanchard. The drag queens taunted police by singing,

We are the Stonewall girls
We wear our hair in curls
We wear no underwear
We show our pubic hair
We wear our dungarees
Above our nelly knees!

That night 13 people were arrested and some hospitalized.  The streets were mostly cleared by 4 a.m., but a major confrontation with police happened again the next night, and protests continued on a smaller scale for a week..

A month later the Gay Liberation Front was formed, one of many LGBT rights organizations sparked by the saints of Stonewall.  GLBT religious organizations, including JesusInLove.org, are indebted to the saints of Stonewall for our very existence.

I think of the saints of Stonewall as I pray this standard prayer for all saints:

God,
May we who aspire to have part in their joy
be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives.
Amen.
(Image credit: “It was Beautiful” by Douglas Blanchard shows the Stonewall Rebellion
___
This was written by Kittredge Cherry, a lesbian Christian author who blogs regularly at the Jesus in Love Blog on GLBT spirituality and the arts.

 

Comments

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1040264388]

Stonewall was not "the first time that LGBT people rebelled against government persecution of homosexuality." It was the catalyst of an already growing movement. This doesn't diminish its importance though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_social_movements

[Kittredge Cherry]

Thanks for your comment and Wikipedia link. I actually got that info from a different Wikipedia page:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots

I wrote that Stonewall “BECAME KNOWN AS the first time,” which is slightly different from actually being the first time. Certainly there were many people promoting LGBT rights in various ways, and their efforts made Stonewall possible.