Stonewall Riots Research Paper

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A few days before the Stonewall riots I was in the Stonewall Inn having some fun and having some laughs. The police here in New York were always raiding gay bars. Being gay or lesbian in the 1960s was hard. You could be put on a list by the FBI that says you are a sexual pervert or you could be arrested for just holding your partners hand. On the night of the Riots I was in the Stonewall Inn. The smell of booze was thick in the air and the colored lights were flashing all around everyone. It was so loud that you couldn’t hear yourself think. Everyone was having a great time and laughing. My partner and I were having fun with a few of our friends. We were talking about all the stupid rules that are in place here in New York and what we want

The Stonewall Riots
1946 Words | 4 Pages
Life for most homosexuals during the first half of the Twentieth century was one of hiding, being ever so careful to not give away their true feelings and predilections. Although the 1920s saw a brief moment of openness in American society, that was quickly destroyed with the progress of the Cold War, and by default, that of McCarthyism. The homosexuals of the 50s “felt the heavy weight of medical prejudice, police harassment and church condemnation … [and] were not able to challenge these authorities.” They were constantly battered, both physically and emotionally, by the society that surrounded them. The very mention or rumor of one’s homosexuality could lead to the loss of their family, their livelihood and, in some cases, their lives. Geanne Harwood, interviewed on an National Public Radio Broadcast commemorating the twentieth anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, said that “being gay before Stonewall was a very difficult proposition … we felt that in order to survive we had to try to look and act as rugged and as manly as possibly to get by in a society that was really very much against us.” The age of communist threats, and of Joseph McCarthy’s insistence that homosexuals were treacherous, gave credence to the feeling of most society members that homosexuality was a perversion, and that one inflicted was one to not be trusted.
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Stonewall Riots Research Paper
1479 Words | 3 Pages
The stonewall riots happened june 28, 1969. It took place in the the Stonewall inn which is located in Greenwich Village which is a neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. “The stonewall inn is widely known as the birthplace of the modern LGBT rights movement and holds a truly iconic place in history” (gaycitynews). This means that the Stonewall riots was the event that started the gay rights movement. This is saying that The Stonewall is where the gay rights movement started for gay people to have same rights has anyone else. It all started with A number of incidents that were happening simultaneously. “There was no one thing that happened or one person, there was just… a flash of group, of mass anger”(Wright). This means that everything was happening at once and a bunch of people were angry. People in the crowd started shouting “Gay Power!” “And as the word started to spread through Greenwich Village and across the city, hundreds of gay men and lesbians, black, white, Hispanic, and predominantly working class, converged on the Christopher Street area around the Stonewall Inn to join the fray”(Wright). So many gay and lesbian people were chanting “gay power” . “The street outside the bar where the rebellion lasted for several day and night in june”(gaycitynews). so the stonewall riot lasted many days and
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Historical Impact of The Stonewall Riots in Stonewall
1045 Words | 3 Pages
The Stonewall Riots were a series of riots that took place at a gay club, Stonewall Inn, in Greenwich Village, New York City, during a six-day span commencing on June 28, 1969. Generally speaking, the protesters were homosexual men and women fighting against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. At certain points during the riots, there were “between two hundred and three hundred police on the scene” and police officers chased down the protesters with nightsticks (Carter 193). Indeed, according to a news report cited by Carter, “young people, many of them queens, were lying on the sidewalk, bleeding from the head, face, mouth, and even th...
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1339 Words | 3 Pages
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The Stonewall Riots
1224 Words | 3 Pages
The media considers the1969 Stonewall Riots in New York City the spark of the modern gay rights movement. This occurred after the police raided the Stonewall bar, a popular gay bar in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village. Allyn argues that the new energy and militancy generated by the riot played a crucial role in creating the gay liberation movement. Arguably, the Stonewall Riots have come to resemble the pivotal moment in gay rights history largely because it provided ways for the gay community to resist the social norms. In fact, the riots increased public awareness of gay rights activism (Allyn 157). Gay life after the Stonewall riots, however, was just as varied and complex as it was before. In the following era, ho...
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The Watsonville Riots
1116 Words | 3 Pages
Over the course of time, any person who came to live in the United States faced every system of oppression. It is widely assumed that African Americans were the only race undergoing oppression, when in reality, it was all races who were not white. It is completely overshadowed that Filipinos also suffered racism. After the Spanish-American War, the United States took the Philippines as their own territory. Filipinos in the United States were not considered American citizens, therefore, they did not have the same rights as the average American citizen (Depression Era: 1930s: Watsonville Riots). Many Filipinos such as Carlos Bulosan and active participants in the Labor Union took a stand to gain their rights through forms of literature and peaceful
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Red River Rebellion Research Paper
995 Words | 2 Pages
The Red River Rebellion, lasting from 1869-1870, was a sequence of retaliations among the Metis and the Ontario settlers that led to the establishment of the provisional government by the Metis leader Louis Riel and his followers of the Red River Colony, in the modern day province of Manitoba. Many independent First Nations, Metis and Inuit peoples populated Rupert’s Land and the North-West Territory, but immediately impacted by the impending acquisition of Rupert’s Land was the settlement along the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. Pride and ignorance, the rebellion begins, mixed with physical and political battles with the goal of succession of the National Policy and the Metis long desired independent province.
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The Stonewall Riots Analysis
605 Words | 2 Pages
The Stonewall riots became a symbolic call to arms for many, it was gays and lesbians literally fighting back. After the riots many gay rights groups found new hope in gaining rights. New ideas, tactics, events and organizations were all a result of the riots.
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Martin Luther King Research Paper
1944 Words | 4 Pages
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. When most Americans hear that name the first thing that comes to mind is his “Dream”. But that is not all he was. His life was more than a fight against segregation, it was segregation. He lived it and overcame it to not only better himself but to prove it could be done and to better his fellow man.
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Stonewall Riots Essay
885 Words | 2 Pages
especially young gay people, had risen throughout the sixties, the events at the Stonewall Inn
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The Causes Of The Stonewall Riots
1014 Words | 3 Pages
In 1969, the US was preparing to land the first man on the moon, the first case of HIV/AIDS was confirmed, and members of the gay community were harshly discriminated against because of their sexuality. Family incomes had started to fluctuate and become unstable, and disputes with police were common among the population. On a mild Friday night in 1969, a riot broke out in Greenwich Village after a police raid that sparked rebellion. Police raids on bars that had patrons suspected of ...
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The Stonewall Riots
842 Words | 2 Pages
There were many laws in place that limited LGBT rights prior to the Stonewall Riots, with horrible consequences for those who broke them. The most infamous of these was a law present in every state except Illinois that made gay sex punishable by a prison sentence or a fine. This prison sentence could, on some occasions, be a life sentence, depending on the state and the severity of the crime. Additionally, gay sex could result castration in seven states. New York City had the strictest laws against sodomy in the country. Additionally, New York was home to the most homosexuals. This resulted in a high rate of arrest. In the year 1966, an estimated 100 or more men were imprisoned because of the NYPD’s anti-gay effort. New York City’s anti-sodomy laws included banning homosexual behavior in both civic and independent establishments. Oftentimes, bars were the only businesses to accept openly gay patrons. This was mostly the case in the 50’s and 60’s, the time period in which the Stonewall Riots took place. Although bars were the safest places for LGBT members to gather, they generally meant bad news for such bars. In 1969, it was against the law in New Y...
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The Gay Rights Movement
1050 Words | 3 Pages
The history of the gay rights movement goes as far back as the late 19th century. More accurately, the quest by gays to search out others like themselves and foster a feeling of identity has been around since then. It is an innovative movement that seeks to change existing norms and gain acceptance within our culture. By 1915, one gay person said that the gay world was a "community, distinctly organized" (Milestones 1991), but kept mostly out of view because of social hostility. According to the Milestones article, after World War II, around 1940, many cities saw their first gay bars open as many homosexuals began to start a networking system. However, their newfound visibility only backfired on them, as in the 1950's president Eisenhower banned gays from holding federal jobs and many state institutions did the same. The lead taken by the federal government encouraged local police forces to harass gay citizens. "Vice officers regularly raided gay bars, sometimes arresting dozens of men and women on a single night" (Milestones). In spite of the adversity, out of the 1950s also came the first organized groups of gays, including leaders. The movement was small at first, but grew exponentially in short periods of time. Spurred on by the civil rights movement in the 1960s, the "homophile" (Milestones) movement took on more visibility, picketing government agencies and discriminatory policies. By 1969, around 50 gay organizations existed in the United States. The most crucial moment in blowing the gay rights movement wide open was on the evening of July 27, 1969, when a group of police raided a gay bar in New York City. This act prompted three days of rioting in the area called the Stonewall Rio...
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Sylvia Rivera Stonewall Riot
1336 Words | 3 Pages
Stonewall Riots: June 28, 1969 is said to be the turning point in history for the LGBT community because
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97 Words | 1 Pages
How often do you think about “civil disobedience” by living in modern generation? Civil disobedience is committed for the purpose of attracting public to do some changes in legislation through a civilized form of protest action. In other words, civil disobedience is not causing damage to person or property, it is not revenge, beating or killing. Civil disobedience is primarily peaceful expression of people's disagreement with a particular law. When people decide to do changes in society, they must choose whether to use force to achieve their aims. Some of them use nonviolence to get some results.
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Stonewall Riots Research Paper

The Stonewall Riots