Stonewall riots key step on road to equal rights

Fifty years ago this weekend, New York city witnessed a turning point in the history of gay rights. In the early hours of June 28th, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. Raids of gay bars were not unusual at the time, but the reaction was. Within minutes a crowd had gathered outside the bar, and violence ensued.

No one knows who threw the first brick, but the events of that night mushroomed, leading to five consecutive nights of protests and rioting, propelling the cause of gay rights to national prominence.

The 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots is being marked across the United States this weekend. New York City Opera has commissioned a special work; museums such as the Newseum in Washington and New York Public Library are hosting exhibitions. Official commemorations in New York will culminate on Sunday in a 3km march through Manhattan, beginning on Fifth Avenue and passing by the doors of the Stonewall Inn. Among those participating will be Minister for Children Katherine Zappone.

The 50-year anniversary of Stonewall has renewed focus on the establishment which gave its name to one of the most important moments in the gay rights movement.

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Like many of New York’s gay bars, the Stonewall was owned by the Mafia at the time. This unlikely alliance between the Mob and New York’s gay community was a defining feature of gay life in the 1960s.

Mafia bosses

New York law prohibited bars from serving alcohol to gay people. Open displays of homosexuality were also illegal. Local Mafia bosses spotted an opening, and began operating many gay bars in and around Greenwich Village – often bribing local police to turn a blind eye. They also allegedly operated as "bottle bars" which allowed customers to bring their own alcohol, as a way of side-stepping the liquor laws.

The Genovese family had controlled vast swathes of New York's nightclub scene since Prohibition. In 1966, Tony Lauria, or "fat Tony", a member of the family, purchased the Stonewall Inn, which was then a straight bar. Spying a business opportunity, he soon converted it into a gay establishment.

Though the Stonewall Inn closed a few years after the infamous riots, it has reopened in different forms over the decades, and was taken over by its present owners in 2006. The buildings at 51-53 Christopher Street are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Stonewall was added to the National Historic Register in 2011. Today the site remains a mecca for many who support the concept of equality and civil rights for all.

But the anniversary has also prompted debate in the United States about the true impact of Stonewall on LBGT rights.

The events of June 1969 continue to occupy an important role in the US cultural imagination

While the activism unleashed during that week helped inspire the gay rights movement, organisations such as the Gay Liberation Front (GFL) were dismantled within a few years. Despite the energy on display during the Stonewall riots, when New Yorkers – gay and straight – stood up to authorities, it took more than 40 more years for marriage equality to become a reality in the US.

Fittingly, it was New York that became the first state to legislate for same-sex marriage in 2011.

‘Dangerous to society’

Some point to the fact that there were other moments in American history that can claim to have contributed to immense social change and advanced gay rights. The New York Times highlighted some of those moments this week. These included a decision by a court in North Carolina in 1963 to overturn a conviction of a man who dressed as a woman.

“Are homosexuals twice as dangerous to society as second-degree murderers – as indicated by the maximum punishment for each offence?” the judge asked.

Public demonstrations also took place in Philadelphia and New York in 1966, while Gene Compton’s cafe in San Francisco was the site of militant action the same year. All in, many ways laid the ground for Stonewall.

Nonetheless the events of June 1969 continue to occupy an important role in the US cultural imagination. Today, Stonewall attracts thousands of visitors each year. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar took time to visit the site last year during his annual St Patrick's Day visit to the United States.

That the New York St Patrick’s Day parade prohibited gay people from marching until 2015 is a telling reminder of the barriers that remained until very recently. Sometimes it takes some years before the social change propelled by key moments in history can truly make a difference.