Just as not all our National Parks are known for their natural scenic beauty – not all revolutions begin on battlefields. So in celebration of the Centennial of our National Park Service this year, a week ago today Pres. Obama made The Stonewall Inn and adjoining Christopher Park the latest addition to our treasure of National Monuments.
Located in Greenwich Village, The Stonewall Inn gives its iconic name to the legendary uprising that broke out in the early-morning hours of June 28, 1969 when, for the first time, the gay community stood up to police harassment.
“There was no out, there was just in.”
Let’s listen to the historical story from eyewitness recounting by Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt and the words of Pres. Obama from his proclamation and video announcement making the 7.7 acres America’s newest National Monument.
Pres. Obama:
"Raids like these were nothing new, but this time the patrons had had enough. So they stood up and spoke out. The riots became protests. The protests became a movement. The movement ultimately became an integral part of America."
Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt, a veteran of the Stonewall Uprising who was there on June 28, 1969, shares some of his memories when the NYCPD sent its Public Morals Squad (yeah, it actually existed) to raid the bar. Such raids were commonplace back then when it was illegal to be gay.
“We grew up in an era when everything was totally repressed. Liberals thought we should be thrown in mental asylums and conservatives thought we should be thrown in jail.”
An unidentified group of young people celebrate outside the boarded-up Stonewall Inn (53 Christopher Street) after riots over the weekend of June 27, 1969. The bar and surrounding area were the site of a series of demonstrations and riots that led to the formation of the modern gay rights movement in the United States.
Pres. Obama from his Proclamation:
As part of a crackdown on LGBT bars in June 1969, the Public Morals squad of Manhattan's First Police Division raided the Stonewall Inn on June 24, 1969, confiscated its liquor, and arrested its employees. The Stonewall Inn reopened the next day. Having made only minimal impact with this raid, the police decided to plan a surprise raid for the following Friday night or Saturday morning, when the bar would be crowded.
On June 28, 1969, undercover police officers raided the Stonewall Inn around 1:15 a.m., after one of them witnessed the illegal sale of alcohol. Customers resisted the police by refusing to show identification or go into a bathroom so that a police officer could verify their sex. As police officers began making arrests, the remaining customers gathered outside instead of dispersing as they had in the past.
They cheered when friends emerged from the bar under police escort, and they shouted "Gay Power!" and "We Want Freedom!". As word spread, the gathering grew in size and a riot ultimately ensued. Around 3:00 a.m., the City's riot-control force appeared, and started to push the crowd away from the Stonewall Inn. But the crowd refused to disperse.
A scene during the 1969 Stonewall riots, as seen in Kate Davis and David Heilbroner’s documentary STONEWALL UPRISING. A First Run Features Release. Photo by Bettye Lane.
Groups of demonstrators retreated to nearby streets, only to cut back and regroup near the Stonewall Inn and Christopher Park.
The riot finally abated about 4:30 a.m., but during the next week several more protests formed, and in some cases, led to new riots and confrontations with the police.
Crowds gathered on the evening of Wednesday, July 2, 1969, five nights after a raid on the Stonewall Inn, a nightclub on Christopher Street popular among gay men and lesbians, which touched off disturbances. The Stonewall uprising has come to be seen as a defining event in the development of the gay rights movement.
Lanigan-Schmidt: “We fought back because we were humanized in there. That night everything changed.” And so the Stonewall riots became the flashpoint that launched what would become the gay rights movement.
Pres. Obama puts these historical protests in perspective in his proclamation read at the unveiling of the plaque:
“Viewed from Christopher Park's central location, this historic landscape — the park itself, the Stonewall Inn, the streets and sidewalks of the surrounding neighborhood — reveals the story of the Stonewall Uprising, a watershed moment for LGBT civil rights and a transformative event in the Nation's civil rights movement on par with the 1848 Women's Rights Convention at Seneca Falls and the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery March for voting rights in its role in energizing a broader community to demand equal rights.”
A number of icons of the LGBT civil rights movement were present for the unveiling of the Stonewall National Monument Plaque, including Edith Windsor (on the Left) of United States v Windsor SCOTUS fame that struck down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 2013.
Let’s close with a small tour of The Stonewall Inn and Christopher Park as they currently appear:
And let's be thankful we have a President in the White House who is dedicated to not only protecting, but also celebrating the diversity that makes America strong.
RESOURCES
https://www.nps.gov/ston/index.htm
http://www.npr.org/2016/06/24/483385747/obama-names-lgbt-landmark-as-national-monument
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-stonewall-lgbt-monument-20160627-snap-story.html
http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/24/travel/stonewall-inn-first-lgbt-national-monument/
11 Responses to “Friday Fun – Let’s Meet the Newest National Park”
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Cross posted to Care2 at
http://www.care2.com/news/member/101612212/3996109
Nameless, thank you so much for this illuminating history, which so many are not aware of. And, Thanks, Obama (NOT snark).
Thanks for honoring this momentous occasion Nameless!
Didn’t think it was appropriate to include in the post, and I don’t think it was the Stonewall Inn, but one of the classic graffiti of all time was from a gay bar in Greenwich Village back in the 1960s. It’s just too good not to share.
Someone had lamented on the bar’s bathroom wall:
And below, someone gifted in repartee replied:
Isn't this wonderful? I will have to send this (if he hasn't seen it already)…to a beloved family member!
Kudos Mr. President!
Thank you Nameless, for this, and Joanne for cross posting.
Great article Nameless! I'm proud of the way Obama has matured over the years on this issue.
Very good article, sharing it with good friends. Thanks, Nameless.
Thanks, Nameless, for a great report and tribute on the history of the Stonewall Inn history, the LGBT community standing up for their civil rights and Obama's decision to declare the area a National Monument.The monument is a slap-down of the rising hate and discrimination, an acknowledgement of the LGBT civil rights movement's fight for equality and freedom to be who they are and a statement that no one will be allowed to take America back to those time of repression.
This is fantastic! Obama has created one heck of a legacy with this!
"Freedom means nothing left to loose," however is not from Bob Dylan, it is from Janis Joplin.
When the American Psychiatric Society removed homosexuality from the concept of disease, in, I think, DSM4, it created a salutary ripple effect!!
Damn it, we are all ONE!!
Song title "Me and Bobby McGee," sung by Janis, written by Kris Kristofferson.
http://performingsongwriter.com/kris-kristofferson-bobby-mcgee/
I was expecting to find a Bob Dylan title with the same line, and I still wouldn't be surprised if there is one, but I couldn't find it.
Great piece Nameless!
We are not there yet, but Stonewall was analagous to the great leap forward!