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Stonewall in Public Memory

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The Stonewall bar riots of June 1969 are commemorated yearly in gay pride parades

around the world. The Stonewall Inn, located on Christopher Street in New York, was a popular

queer bar highly frequented by homeless teens, drag queens, and those less privileged. 1 Police

raidings of queer spaces like bars were highly common, and the Stonewall Inn was no exception.

Police brutality against queer people was rampant as the police were used to getting their way

since queer people tended to not fight back against the police as their presence in itself was

considered a threat to society and therefore prosecutable. On June 28, 1969, at 1:20 a.m., the

Stonewall Inn was once again raided by the police. However, this raid was different since as the

police started seizing the liquor, checking identifications, and making arrests, the crowd did not

disperse as it was common in most bar raids. 2 As the crowd grew and started rioting by throwing

bricks and bottles, the police barricaded themselves until the riot police arrived. However, by

then, the rioters had blocked the street off and incoming traffic into the Inn. This first night of the

riots lasted until 3 in the morning. 3 Queer rioting against police brutality in these numbers was

unprecedented, especially as the riots continued on the following day as queer people staked

their claim on the neighborhood. This mass rioting was facilitated by the fact that Stonewall Inn

was located in Greenwich Village, "the heart of the city's gay life."4 Immediately after the riots,

activists organized and created the narrative that the Stonewall riots were the first time queer

people had fought back against the police. Hence, they were a turning point in the queer

liberation movement as they "sparked it." This claim marked Stonewall as something to be

commemorated. Due to the influence and precedent set by the Reminder Day protests, the

Reminder Day protests were annual protests prior to the pride parades becoming the prominent

1
Armstrong and Crage. “The Making of the Stonewall Myth.” (American Sociological Review, October 2006, no. 5)
2
Armstrong and Crage
3
Armstrong and Crage
4
Armstrong and Crage
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remembrance vehicle for queer struggle "held every July 4 in Philadelphia in front of

Independence Hall to remind the American public that gay people did not have their

constitutional rights"5, Stonewall was then successfully set into the collective memory through

the first Pride Parade.

Both Throughline's podcast episode "Before Stonewall" and the article "Movements and

Memory: The Making of the Stonewall Myth" inform on the history of the Stonewall riots and

their effects on the gay liberation movement along with the history of other similar encounters

and their effects on the public long term or lack thereof. There are three events referenced to be

similar to the Stonewall riots prior to it that did not reach the same level of press coverage and

hence were not commemorated: the New Year's Ball Raid in San Francisco on January 1965,

The Compton's Cafeteria Disturbance in San Francisco on August 1966, and The Black Cat Bar

Raid in Los Angeles on January 1967. 6Additionally, The Snake Pit Bar Raid in New York 8

months after Stonewall is also mentioned as it failed to gain traction as the narrative of "the first-

time gays fought back" had already been taken by the Stonewall movement7. Lastly, both

sources credit the organization of the Reminder Day protests as the model for the

commemoration of Stonewall. The podcast episode focuses on narrative stories of the events that

shaped Stonewall and their effect on the queer liberation movement and the queer people

participating in it8. In contrast to the podcast, the article "Movements and Memory: The Making

of the Stonewall Myth" by Elizabeth Armstrong and Suzanna highlights the differences between

previous queer altercations with police and focus on the reasons as to why Stonewall has become

5
Abdelfatah and Arablouei “Before Stonewall (2019).” (NPR, Throughline, 06-17-2021)
6
Armstrong and Crage. “The Making of the Stonewall Myth.” (American Sociological Review, October 2006, no. 5)
7
Armstrong and Crag
8
Abdelfatah and Arablouei “Before Stonewall (2019).” (NPR, Throughline, 06-17-2021)
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the prominent narrative when speaking of queer liberation, how the narrative came to be, and

why it was the one chosen to be commemorated worldwide.9

The "Before Stonewall" episode of Throughline opens up with an audio clip montage of

the thoughts of queer people surrounding the Stonewall riots and the gay liberation movement,

along with clips of prominent homophobic rhetoric of the time10. Through the audio clips of

queer people during the gay liberation movement of the 1970s, where they share their personal

stories, the podcast episode appeals to the listeners' emotions. The audio clips range from queer

people reflecting on what happened at Stonewall and its impact on uniting queer people and how

it inspired many to fight back against police brutality to the stories of those fired for being gay as

they were outed by being involved in protests. The audio clips and historical knowledge of the

podcast are presented by Eric Marcus, a journalist with a podcast named "Making Gay History"

who in 1988 left his job as a producer at the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) after being

told that an openly gay person would never be on camera for CBS National.11 After quitting his

job at NBC, Marcus dedicated the next two years to interviewing those who participated in the

gay liberation movement and then archived these recordings at the New York Public Library,

which were later digitized as "he set about creating a podcast that would feature the voices of

these little or unknown civil rights pioneers."12 Marcus' extensive research and work in the field

of queer history and preservation of first-hand accounts makes him a credible source for

information and hence validates the history in being presented to the public in the podcast

episode. The podcast is aimed at the general public, and its purpose is to educate them on queer

9
Armstrong and Crage. “The Making of the Stonewall Myth.” (American Sociological Review, October 2006, no. 5)
10
Abdelfatah and Arablouei “Before Stonewall (2019).” (NPR, Throughline, 06-17-2021)
11
Abdelfatah and Arablouei
12
Abdelfatah and Arablouei
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history. Therefore, the podcast is easily accessible to most as it is free on the National Public

Radio (NPR) website and audio streaming platforms like Spotify. The format of the podcast

itself as a medium of disseminating information and history also makes it highly accessible as a

person could play the episode whenever they have free time, whether it be on a car ride to work

or before sleep entertainment. Listeners also do not have to commit to the 43 minutes of the

podcast consecutively as it is on-demand and can be paused, restarted, and continued at the

listener's will. Additionally, the podcast is highly accessible as the episode tells a simple

narrative of the events at Stonewall and those prior that shaped it that could easily be understood

by most even without prior knowledge. Ultimately, the podcast tells a feelings-driven,

historically accurate account of the events leading up to Stonewall and their significance on the

gay liberation movement.

The article "Movements and Memory: The Making of the Stonewall Myth" is more geared

towards other academics instead of the general public as it is a "comparative-historical analysis

of Stonewall and four other events similar to it."13 The article is not formatted for the general

public like the podcast episode. Instead, the article is filled with research to be presented to

fellow academics to validate the authors’ claims in academic circles. It is not easily accessible to

most as it is a 28-page read filled with academic jargon like "mnemonic capacity" that others in

the field of Sociology would understand, but most people would not. The purpose of the article is

to analyze why, out of five encounters between the gay community of a major city (San

Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York) and the police, the Stonewall riots were commemorated

and engrained into public memory. Which through the comparisons between the New Year's Ball

Raid, The Compton's Cafeteria Disturbance, The Black Cat Bar Raid, and The Snake Pit Bar
13
Armstrong and Crage. “The Making of the Stonewall Myth.” (American Sociological Review, October 2006, no. 5)
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Raid to the Stonewall Inn riots, the articles sets the argument that Stonewall was the event

memorialized due to its access to press coverage, the influence of the New Left movement, and

the mythicization of the events at the riot.14 Through a chart comparing the events' memorability

and mnemonic capacity of these events, the authors appeal to the audience's logic as they

quantify the reasons why the other movements failed to be commemorated with gay pride

parades and queer history became divided into "before Stonewall" and "after Stonewall." The

article is published in the American Sociological Review, an academic peer-reviewed journal.

This publication presents greater validity to the arguments in the article as they have been

revised by other academics and have been given the green light to be presented as a possibility

and the research to be accurate. Ultimately, publishing the article in the Sociology journal

validates the authors’ argument of the importance of the mnemonic capacity for the successful

memorialization of historical events.

Both sources highlight the Stonewall as the event commonly associated with the rise of

the gay liberation movement and seek to clarify its role at the time and the influence it had.

While highly influential, Stonewall was not the only riot of its kind. While it did fuel the

movement without the precedent of other marches and other riots its commemoration would not

have been possible. The sources point to the mythicization of the Stonewall story as it gained

media traction and subsequently the watering down of Queer history as the general public has

since only been presented with this event and the AIDS epidemic when shown Queer history.

While they cover the same topic, ultimately, the sources differ in the extent to which they discuss

how the mythicization of Stonewall came to be and its effects. The "Before Stonewall" episode

of Throughline touches upon the precedent set by the Reminder Day protests and their influence

on the commemoration of Stonewall. Additionally, the podcast acknowledges that Stonewall was
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Armstrong and Crage
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not the only event of its kind. However, it still perpetuates the myth that it was “the first-time

gays fought back.”15 At the same time, the research article “Movements and Memory: The

Making of the Stonewall Myth" showcases several examples prior to Stonewall were Queer

people fought back to the police like the New Year's Ball Raid and the Compton's Cafeteria

Disturbance explaining that Stonewall was just the first time the riots were able to gain traction

and support through the media coverage.16 While educating on the same topic and

acknowledging the mythicization of Stonewall and its dominion on Queer historical narratives in

the public sphere the podcast and article demystify the event and reeducate to different extents as

for the podcast the narrative of the first time is as useful to gaining listeners as it was for

organizers of subsequent protests. For the article, however, said narrative is not of use as in

academia it is a highly contested label as it waters down Queer histories and rebellions to one

point in our contemporary history. Ultimately even though both sources give accurate histories

on the events before and after Stonewall and their effects on the gay liberation movement due to

their differing audiences, they focus on different aspects and narratives of the history. In

addition, they have different goals as to what they seek their audience to gain at the end, as the

article's authors sought for their audience to critique and engage with their research. In contrast,

the podcast authors sought to inform their audience of the importance of these historical events.

Thus, while both sources are aimed at different audiences, their authors commit historical

accuracy and bring to attention the necessity for the remembrance of these histories and the

issues with their oversimplifications.

15
Abdelfatah and Arablouei “Before Stonewall (2019).” (NPR, Throughline, 06-17-2021)
16
Armstrong and Crage. “The Making of the Stonewall Myth.” (American Sociological Review, October 2006, no. 5)
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Bibliography
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Abdelfatah, Rund and Arablouei, Ramtin. "Before Stonewall (2019)." Produced by NPR.

Throughline. June 17, 2021. Podcast, MP3 audio, 43:32:00.

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/14/1006306204/before-stonewall-2019

Armstrong, Elizabeth A, and Crage, Suzanna M. "Movements and Memory: The Making of the

Stonewall Myth." American Sociological Review 71, no. 5 (2006): 724–51.

https://doi.org/10.1177/000312240607100502.