Jimena Carrasco

CMN 220
October 5, 2016

Synthesis Paper #2

Citations for 4 sources: The Stonewall riots of 1969

Picano, Felice. "The Remains of the Night." Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, vol. 22, no. 4,
Jul/Aug2015, pp. 29-31. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=103526388.

Rivera, Sylvia. "Sylvia Rivera's Talk at LGMNY, June 2001 Lesbian and Gay Community
Services Center, New York City." Centro Journal, vol. 19, no. 1, Spring2007, pp. 116-123.
EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=25930226.

Bonauto, Mary L. and Evan Wolfson. "Advancing the Freedom to Marry in America." Human
Rights, vol. 36, no. 3, Summer2009, pp. 11-14. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=44747449.

"I'm Not Just from Cloyne, Not Just from Cork, Not Just a Hurler. Not Just a Gay Man." Vital
Speeches of the Day, vol. 78, no. 10, Oct. 2012, pp. 308-310. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=asn&AN=80825634.

Annotations

Sylvia Rivera’s Talk at LGMNY, June 2001 Lesbian and gay Community Services Center,
New York City

This article was a speech given by Sylvia Rivera, a transgender woman from New York who
talks about her experiences participating in the Stonewall riots of 1969 and fighting for the rights
of other transgender people. She starts off her speech by recalling the events of the night that the
Stonewall riots started; police officers entered the bar and started arresting people, while the
people inside the bar and part of the community decided that it was time to fight back. The Gay
Rights Bill was passed in New York in 1986, but Rivera hoped that it wouldn’t pass and stay in
revision because it did not include the transgender community. While gay/lesbian activist were
fighting for their rights, they silenced the transgender community which got Sylvia Rivera
working and becoming an activist for that community. Rivera’s main point is to talk about the
impact that the Stonewall riots of 1969 had on the transgender community and how they were
not taken into consideration by the gay activists. Rivera talks about “normal homosexuals” in her
speech. She describes this as homosexuals fitting into the gender binary that goes with their sex,
gay men were wearing suits and ties while lesbian women were wearing dresses and heels. This
speech helps us understand this social movement better because sometimes social movements do
not fill all the needs of the people involved in the social movement. They might be silenced or
overshadowed by other social groups.
I’m Not Just from Cloyne, Not Just from Cork, Not Just a Hurler. Not Just a Gay Man

This source was a speech given by Dónal Óg Cusack, a hurling team player at the Foyle Pride
Festival in Derry, Ireland. He talks about his experiences growing up in a small town of Ireland
and how the Stonewall riots of 1969 impacted the United Kingdom’s and Ireland’s actions
towards the LGBTQ community. His main claim talks about the struggles Irish and English
people have endured to keep their identities quiet so that they would not get mistreated, the
Stonewall riots in America helped people in the LGBTQ community realize that they were also
allowed to fight for their rights. To better understand this speech, it is good to know a little bit of
Ireland’s history when Cusack was growing up. He grew up in Cloyne, Ireland which was a
small town with no gay scene. It was hard to connect with people who shared the same identity.
In America, the LGBTQ community and its allies were standing up for their rights to be treated
as equal to the rest of the country. The citizens of the UK and Ireland took their ideas into
consideration and fought for equal treatment as well. This helps us understand social movements
more fully because it shows the impact that it has on other parts of the world. The Stonewall riots
of 1969 helped people gain confidence and representation in their governments.

Questions

1. How does your social movement area relate to our understanding of the public sphere?
The night the Stonewall Inn bar was raided by the police and firefighters, people from the
LGBTQ community were fed up with the treatment they were receiving and decided to fight
back. Many people were arrested which led to more riots close to 6th Avenue in New York.
Every day, they would protest until they got equal rights. People got together to plan the riots,
protests, and plans of actions to bring up to the government.

2. For what policies or perspectives does your social movement advocate?

The social movement that I researched about advocates for the LGBTQ community who at the
beginning of the Stonewall riots of 1969 only wanted to be left alone by officials but then later
wanted the same rights as heterosexual people in America. The Gay Rights Bill in New York of
1986, every other LGBTQ bill in each state, same-sex marriage bill passed by President Barack
Obama, sex gender surgeries, and pride festivals are all policies that were created because of the
Stonewall riots. It has made the community a minority and helped them get recognized by the
states of the United States.

3. As an instance of “bottom up” communication, how is a social movement similar or

different from the way Barberio and Stone talk about public policy more broadly?
Barberio describes public policy as a decision making by the people who want change, with
public policy also comes disagreements. Stone describes public policy as communities that are
trying to achieve things as communities. Social movements are about people coming together to
achieve a common goal that will lead to social change for a specific group. Social movements
and public policy are similar because they are the beginning of social change for certain groups.
They make sure that the concerns of the people are heard and present future improvements
within the government. They are different because social movements are about physically going
out and making the voice of the people heard and willing to get your hands dirty while public
policy focuses more on the legal aspects of social change and creating policies.