Why was Stonewall a pivotal moment in the history of LGBTQ rights?

Stonewall was a watershed moment in the gay rights movement, it was unparallel to any other protest
or riot before its time. The effects of Stonewall had significant short- and long-term effects on the fight
for the rights of the homosexual community. This event produced a great cohesion within the LGBTQ+
community and meant they put forward a united front against the repression they faced during the time
and transformed the lives of homosexuals compared to that of before the movement. In this essay I will
expand on the effects of Stonewall on the gay rights movement by isolating how things changed.
Stonewall was not like any other protest, it made great advances compared to the situation before the
event, it greatly affected homosexual people individually and as a minority group and had long term
impacts that are still relevant today.

Why do we remember Stonewall as a great leap in the gay rights movement? It is because of how it was
vastly different to other protests. David carter provides a clear and structured insight on why Stonewall
was so revolutionary. He firstly highlights how there were protests before Stonewall, but they did not
lead to a mass uprising like Stonewall 1. In 1967 there were riots in LA as a result of a police campaign
against gay bars. This example involved hundreds of people but did not lead to a widespread movement
uniting the social group, as there were not as many involved and it did not last long enough to solidify
itself as a significant event.2 So why was Stonewall different? Stonewall involved thousands of people, it
could not be ignored, this was enhanced by the fact that ‘America's world fair’ was happening in New
York at the time, sparking more police raids, meaning that the media attention was massively enhanced.
Additionally, the Stonewall riots lasted six days meaning that the fact that people were protesting was
hard to avoid and harder to be quickly disregarded as deviance. Moreover, Stonewall was the start of
something new, it created the idea and movement of ‘gay liberation’ as a militant organisation, this
increased its credibility and made it continuously harder to take no notice of. Instead of being a six-day
event that was significant but stood alone, Stonewall lead to the organisation of protest groups who
were given the opportunity to fights for their rights. Stonewall lead to the creation of groups such as the
GLF (Gay Liberation Front), this showed cohesion within the gay community, and had huge significance
in creating the idea of gay pride that we have today as one month after the GLF was formed the first
pride parade occurred, this shows how Stonewall had a huge effect on gay culture today. It is also worth
mentioning that the Stonewall Inn was located on Christopher Street in Greenwich village which was the
epicentre of the counterculture movement in the 1960’s, many members of the homosexual community
lived in the area this meant that when the riot broke out people were running down the streets shouting
for help and telling people what was happening leading to greater support in numbers. Stonewall was so
significant because it was not like every other rally, it brought out the masses, it led to cohesion and
organisation within the community. Stonewall was not significant because it built on other uprisings it
was significant because it had distinctive characteristics to the others.

1
David Carter, ‘What Made Stonewall Different’, The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, 16-4 (2009), 11–14

2
Boxall, Bettina. 2021. "Fight For Gay Rights Started Early In L.A.". Los Angeles Times.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-06-26-mn-8875-story.html.
It is crucial that we also realise what the social conditions were like for the LGBTQ+ community before
the Stonewall uprising. David carter does identify how many of us naturally accept the notion that the
further back you go the worse homophobia becomes, whereas, in reality, this is not the case. In the 19th
century there was a “pansy craze” 3 where drag queens and other members of the gay community
gained popularity. This popularity did not last and drag queens were viewed as outcasts in society in the
years directly before Stonewall. Additionally in the years of the Cold War many homosexuals were
arrested a lot more as they were accused of being spies for communist Russia, this meant more gay men
were punished and fired from jobs as 654 State Department dismissals or forced resignations on security
grounds, 402 were for homosexuality4. Nicola Field addresses what it was like for homosexuals before
Stonewall created a mass movement for gay rights, she quotes Mark Segal a gay rights activist saying: “if
you were found to be a homosexual, you were a sinner in religious circles; you were a criminal in legal
situations; you were insane in the psychiatric community; and you were unemployable by city, state and
federal governments.”5, showing how being gay affected every part of society and showed you in a
negative light regardless of the situation, and emphasises the extent to which the repression of the gay
community had an impact on the lives of those involved. Before Stonewall homosexuality was classed as
a mental disorder, this meant that people could be forcefully sent to mental institutions to be ‘cured’
this involved electric shock therapy, due to campaigning from STAR (Street Transvestites Action
Revolutionaries)6 three years after their formation homosexuality was taken off the list of mental
disorders in the US. The improvements in gay rights were catalysed by what happened at the Stonewall
Inn, by looking into conditions before Stonewall we can clearly identify why and how it was so pivotal for
the gay rights movement.

In order to really understand how significant, the Stonewall riots were we need to look at the events at
grassroot level, by exploring the experience of individuals we can put together a clear image of the evets
of the night and what occurred that made stonewall so significant. In an interview with Virginia Apuzzo a
gay rights activist really highlights what it was like in Greenwich village before, during and after
Stonewall. Apuzzo highlights how her childhood was difficult as she had to come to terms with her
sexuality and says “the word that comes to mind is dread”7 this shows how young gay people already
felt the pressures and fear of who they were. Apuzzo then continues to describe her everyday life before
Stonewall and how it all felt like a façade, “Before Stonewall there weren’t gay people, […] It was as if
you took off your clothes at the end of a day and could briefly be yourself. And then next morning you
put the lie back on and went out into the world. That’s not an authentic life, that’s not a life that from
3
David Carter, ‘What Made Stonewall Different’, The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review, 16-4 (2009), 11

4
Carlisle Humelsine, David Carter, ‘What Made Stonewall Different’, The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review,
16-4 (2009), 11–14

5
Segal, 2015: 26, Nicola Field, ‘They’ve lost that wounded look: Stonewall and the struggle for LGBT+ rights’,
Critical and Radical Social Work, 6-1 (2018) 35-50
6
Nicola Field, ‘They’ve lost that wounded look: Stonewall and the struggle for LGBT+ rights’, Critical and Radical
Social Work, 6-1 (2018) pg. 48
7
"Stonewall Uprising: Interview with Virginia Apuzzo." Interview by Kate Davis. Alexander Street.
2011. Accessed November 10, 2021. 2:45-2:50
https://video-alexanderstreet-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/watch/stonewall-uprising-interview-with-virginia-
apuzzo-part-1?context=channel:stonewall-riots-greenwich-village-ny-june-28-1969.
which you can get joy.”8, this highly in-depth description shows us the repression people like Apuzzo
were under meaning that they had to live a lie every day. Apuzzo directly refers to Stonewall in relation
to gay history: “That’s why this is such a critical moment in our history, because with that explosion and
that sense of outrage that we’ve just had enough came the permission, the permission that we gave to
one another was a whole new experience.” 9, this explains the reaction to Stonewall from a perspective
of someone who was part of the community. Bob Kohler a gay rights pioneer who was present on the
night described the reaction of the police saying that “The cops were totally humiliated. This never, ever
happened.”10, this shows how Stonewall was not an everyday occurrence. Stonewall was a grassroot
movement, it created social cohesion within the gay community and completely altered the gay rights
movement, as supported by Nicola Feild as she argues that “the power of the Stonewall rebellion lay in
its transformation of the collective consciousness of the oppressed.”. 11. we must emphasise that the
catalytic event that was Stonewall was not a result of a government campaign or movement, it was
driven by the gay community as “It was not the state that changed overnight, but the oppressed people,
who discovered their power to fight, hold back, outwit and defeat one of the most brutally homophobic
police forces in the world.”12.

We must also briefly look at the long-term effects of Stonewall. Stonewall lead to the organisation of
fronts and revolutionaries that campaigned to make change for the promotion of gay rights such as
Pride parades and legal aspects such as homosexuality no longer being classed as a mental disorder. This
allows for the gay community of the present to understand how crucial Stonewall was but to also realise
that they are capable of creating change for their community, but also gave them the rights to be able to
make those decisions. The gay rights movement still massively has a long way to go before the LGBTQ+
community are no longer repressed in any aspect of society across the world, especially when it comes
to trans lives of colour, but they have a foundation to be able to move forward to a more inclusive
future.

Stonewall was a pivotal moment in history because it transformed the gay rights movement at the
grassroots and created an opportunity to create change. Many people can argue that it was luck, that
people just felt like making a change. Change was always going to occur, there might have been a sense
of a random catalyst to the events that occurred but the people in Greenwich village on the night of the
raid and that joined the protests in the five days following knew they had an opportunity. This event

8
Bob Kohler, Nicola Field, ‘They’ve lost that wounded look: Stonewall and the struggle for LGBT+ rights’, Critical
and Radical Social Work, 6-1 (2018) pg. 46
9
"Stonewall Uprising: Interview with Virginia Apuzzo." Interview by Kate Davis. Alexander Street.
2011. Accessed November 10, 2021.
https://video-alexanderstreet-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/watch/stonewall-uprising-interview-with-virginia-
apuzzo-part-1?context=channel:stonewall-riots-greenwich-village-ny-june-28-1969.
10
"Stonewall Uprising: Interview with Virginia Apuzzo." Interview by Kate Davis. Alexander Street.
2011. Accessed November 10, 2021. 2:10-2:35
https://video-alexanderstreet-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/watch/stonewall-uprising-interview-with-virginia-
apuzzo-part-1?context=channel:stonewall-riots-greenwich-village-ny-june-28-1969.
11
Nicola Field, ‘They’ve lost that wounded look: Stonewall and the struggle for LGBT+ rights’, Critical and Radical
Social Work, 6-1 (2018) pg. 47
12
Nicola Field, ‘They’ve lost that wounded look: Stonewall and the struggle for LGBT+ rights’, Critical and Radical
Social Work, 6-1 (2018) 47
created significant change for the gay rights movement and lead to the formation of highly successful
groups and inspired activists and lead to changes in law and in the perception of the gay community.
This change was not instant, but it was significant and has developed through time to create a stable
foundation for the community. We must now move our attention to continuing the momentum of
Stonewall that still exists today in the activists for the rights of trans women of colour who are repressed
and attacked today.

Words: 1907

Bibliography

 Boxall, Bettina. 2021. "Fight For Gay Rights Started Early In L.A.". Los Angeles Times.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-06-26-mn-8875-story.html.
 Carter, David. "What Made Stonewall Different." The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review: A
Quarterly Journal of Arts, Letters, and Sciences 16, no. 4 (July-August 2009): 11+. Archives of
Sexuality and Gender (accessed December 13, 2021).
https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/apps/doc/MAGCZM341930407/AHSI?
u=ed_itw&sid=bookmark-AHSI&xid=43c5f423.
 Davis, Kate "Stonewall Uprising: Interview with Virginia Apuzzo." Interview by Kate Davis.
Alexander Street. 2011. Accessed November 10, 2021. https://video-alexanderstreet-
com.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/watch/stonewall-uprising-interview-with-virginia-apuzzo-part-1?
context=channel:stonewall-riots-greenwich-village-ny-june-28-1969.
 Field, Nicola. 2018. "'They've Lost That Wounded Look': Stonewall and the Struggle For LGBT+
Rights" Volume 6 (Number 1): 35-50.
doi:https://doi-org.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/10.1332/204986018X15199226335132.