The Truth about the Stonewall Riots

                                                              +AMDG+

I've often wondered why out of all the months out of the year, June is the one chosen for so-called gay "pride" month. After doing some research, I found out the reason is because June is the month that an event called the Stonewall Riots happened.

What are the Stonewall Riots?

The Stonewall Riots refer to a series of violent protests against an event that happened at the The Stonewall Inn located in Greewich Village in New York City. Before more details can be given about it, there are several things to keep in mind concerning the event:

1. It took place in the 1960's, a time of upheval and protests against the "establishment".
2. The riots themselves are considered the cataylist for the modern so-called "gay rights" movement.
3. The Stonewall Inn itself at the time was owned by the Mafia.
4. The Inn often catered to people considered to be on the fringe of society, so it was not unusual before the raid for people like drag queens to go to the Inn.
5. Police raids on gay bars in the 1960's did happen quite often, but for some reason, something went wrong on this raid, which we'll get to shortly.
 6. The Inn itself was an anomaly even if one factors out their clientele: the bar area did not have an official liquor license but the owners arranged for people to buy drinks anyway. Like many other areas controlled by the Mafia, the owners were often tipped off when a raid was about to happen and the time for the raid was per-arranged so the bar wouldn't lose that much business. 

Now, keep all of this in mind while you read the story.

The raid that sparked the riots happened on June 29, 1969. Members of the NYPD were called to the scene at 1:20 am. Standard procedure was to line up the patrons, check their identification, and have female police officers take customers dressed as women to the bathroom to verify their sex, upon which any men dressed as women would be arrested. Those dressed as women that night refused to go with the officers. Men in line began to refuse to produce their identification. As if the refusal by the patrons wasn't bad enough, the patrol car used to hall the liquor (which by the way, the Inn couldn't serve anyway since they didn't have a license) wouldn't get there for another fifteen minutes. Those who were cleared by the cops were allowed to leave but instead of going back home (or the nearby park, as a good number of youth who frequented the bar were homeless) started forming a crowd outside. The cops on the scene called in for another wagon but it was delayed because of a communication error.

It was around this time the growing crowd starting believing any and all rumors that anyone started. One person claimed the police raided the place because the Mob didn't pay them off so the crowd started throwing coins at the officers. Another person said people inside the bar were being beaten by police, even though a follow-up investigation found no evidence of police brutality. Yet another rumor spread that the Inn was targeted because the patrons were gay, even though that was not the reason why police were called in the first place.

But when people who have lost their minds long ago gather in a big group and believe whatever they're told as long as it suits their viewpoint, they turn violent and that is exactly what happened over the next few days. While the weather did slow some altercations, overall the street Stonewall faced was flooded with people and people living in the Village, whether gay or not, cheered the violence and in some cases participated in it.

The next year marked the first gay "pride" parade in remembrance of the event and national attention to the groups Daughters of Bilitis, Mattachine Society, and the Gay Activists Alliance; one of these thought it was a good idea to form libraries with lesbian porn, one was founded by a man who would later create NAMBLA and the other got the idea to interrupt press conferences for no reason.


And there you have it: the truth behind the gay "pride" parades. Notice I keep putting "pride" in quotation marks? That's because gays have nothing to have pride in. Would you be proud if you learned your movement was created on false pretenses and marked by blind violence?