Stonewall Inn Riots

On June 28, 2019, New York City will celebrate a milestone for one of the many momentous times in its history. The riots at The Stonewall Inn nearly fifty years ago set the stage for the LGBT revolution. They were the catalyst needed, the fan to the fire, the “Boston Tea Party” of the LGBT+ movement, as Washington Blade put it. Since that day, the meaning of gay pride, the mission of LGBT organizations, and even the state of being anything other than cis-gendered and straight has changed tremendously—ask the 756,000 gay people residing in the New York area. Fifty years may seem to be a relatively long time, but it is not all that long in the history of the movement. Though many changes have taken place, there is still much to be done, and
Police had been harassing them, routinely and savagely raiding gay clubs, and even being gay was a crime. They had finally had enough. In the police raid that took place that day, the corrupt officers were met not with passivity but active, undying resistance. They were met with the fire of pent-up frustration and aggression being taken out on those that had oppressed gays for so long. Things did not end there, either. The events at Stonewall ignited a series of riots and movements in the city in the months following. In fact, it was on the one-year anniversary of the events at Stonewall that the first New York Pride Parade was
One issue lesbians and gays often have with bisexual people is the assumption that they inherently benefit from heterosexual privilege if they identify as bisexual but are in heterosexual relationships. It is almost as if bisexuality is not valid because people just cannot “pick a side.” The issue, though, is that this in itself contradicts what gays had fought for in the first place: the fact that you cannot tell people who they are. Bisexual people even have a hard time grasping the concept prior to their own coming out. For example, a lesbian woman who suddenly finds herself attracted to a man will likely find herself confused or conflicted about her sexual orientation. Take Marcy Rein, who had come out to all of her friends and fought as an activist while identifying as a lesbian. Once she began to have an attraction to a man, she was unsure about the “validity” of her identity. She wondered if she could truly have been mistaken about her attraction or if she were letting others down. Outside of the community, on the other hand, heterosexual people often fetishize bisexuals as being a fun party trick or someone who likes to