The Stonewall Riots
The Stonewall riots directly resulted in the birth of two new gay activist groups- the Gay Liberation Front, and the Gay Activists Alliance. The Gay Liberation Front (GLF) was formed immediately after the riots by Martha Shelley, Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, Michael Brown, Jerry Hoose, and Jim Owles. Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson went on to become well known LGBTQ+ activists, founding STAR, a foundation advocating for queer and homeless women of color.The GLF took a more radical approach to activism than the Mattachine Society; their main idea was that all gay people coming out would give them liberation, and they were the first homophile group to use ‘gay’ in their name, which was a bold risk. However, they had no real order and
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It was organized in New York City by Craig Rodwell, an American gay rights activist who participated in the riots. He proposed the idea to the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations and many of the other LGBTQ+ activist groups that were popping up across the USA agreed to hold similar marches in their cities. It was called Christopher Street Liberation Day, named to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the riots (this is why modern gay pride marches are held in June). The march was another one of the times when, galvanized by the successes of the events like Stonewall, the gay community proudly proclaimed that they existed, and they deserved respect, and they were not going to stand for being beaten down by the government and society any longer. But being that blatantly open about the participants’ homosexuality was still daunting-Fred Sargeant, who was friends with Rodwell and participated in the march, said, “This was long before anyone had heard of a ‘Gay Pride March.’ Back then, it took a new sense of audacity and courage to take that giant step into the streets of Midtown Manhattan.” In the beginning, the marches were politically motivated, but they would grow to become an unapologetically joyous annual parade for the LGBTQ+ community, spreading across the world to over 40 countries. The Stonewall riots inspired the biggest international celebration of the LGBTQ+ community in the
It was organized in New York City by Craig Rodwell, an American gay rights activist who participated in the riots. He proposed the idea to the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations and many of the other LGBTQ+ activist groups that were popping up across the USA agreed to hold similar marches in their cities. It was called Christopher Street Liberation Day, named to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the riots (this is why modern gay pride marches are held in June). The march was another one of the times when, galvanized by the successes of the events like Stonewall, the gay community proudly proclaimed that they existed, and they deserved respect, and they were not going to stand for being beaten down by the government and society any longer. But being that blatantly open about the participants’ homosexuality was still daunting-Fred Sargeant, who was friends with Rodwell and participated in the march, said, “This was long before anyone had heard of a ‘Gay Pride March.’ Back then, it took a new sense of audacity and courage to take that giant step into the streets of Midtown Manhattan.” In the beginning, the marches were politically motivated, but they would grow to become an unapologetically joyous annual parade for the LGBTQ+ community, spreading across the world to over 40 countries. The Stonewall riots inspired the biggest international celebration of the LGBTQ+ community in the