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Stonewall riots were series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City; They are frequently cited as the first instance in American history when people in the homosexual community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities, & they have become defining event that marked the start of gay rights movement in United States & around the world.
American gays & lesbians in the 1950s & 1960s faced legal system more anti-homosexual than those of some Warsaw Pact countries. [note 1][2] Early homophile groups in the U. S. sought to prove that gay people could be assimilated into society, & they favored non-confrontational education for homo-sexuals & heterosexuals alike. the last years of the 1960s, however, were very contentious, as many social movements were active, including the African American Civil Rights Movement, the Counterculture of the 1960s, & antiwar demonstrations. These influences, along with liberal environment of Greenwich Village, served as catalysts for the Stonewall riots.
Very few establishments welcomed openly gay people in the 1950s & 1960s. Those that did were often bars, although bar owners & managers were rarely gay. the Stonewall Inn, at the time, was owned by the Mafia; [3][4] It catered to an assortment of patrons, but(!) it was known to be popular with the poorest & most marginalized people in the gay community: drag queens, representatives of a newly self-aware transgender community, effeminate young men, hustlers, & homeless youth. Police raids on gay bars were routine in 1960s, but(!) officers quickly lost control of situation at the Stonewall Inn, & attracted crowd that was incited to riot. Tensions between New York City police & gay residents of Greenwich Village erupted into more protests the next evening, & again several nights later. Within weeks, Village residents quickly organized into activist groups to concentrate efforts on establishing places for gays & lesbians to be open about their sexual orientation without fear of being arrested.
Throughout 1950s & 1960s, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) & police departments kept lists of known homosexuals, their favored establishments, & friends; the U. S; Post Office kept track of addresses where material pertaining to homosexuality was mailed; [9] State & local governments followed suit: bars catering to homo-sexuals were shut down, & their customers were arrested & exposed in newspapers. Cities performed `sweeps` to rid neighborhoods, parks, bars, & beaches of gays. They outlawed the wearing of opposite gender clothes, & universities expelled instructors suspected of being homosexual; [10] Thousands of gay men & women were publicly humiliated, physically harassed, fired, jailed, or institutionalized in mental hospitals; Many lived double lives, keeping their private lives secret from their professional ones.
In 1952, the American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality in the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual (DSM) as a sociopathic personality disturbance. a comprehensive study of homosexuality in 1962 justified inclusion of the disorder as a pathological hidden fear of opposite sex that was caused by traumatic parent-child relationships. This view was widely influential in the medical profession. [11] In 1956, however, Evelyn Hooker performed a study that compared the happiness & well-adjusted nature of self-identified homosexual men with hetero-sexual men & found no difference. [12] Her study stunned medical community & made her a hero to many gay men & lesbians,[13] but(!) homosexuality remained in the DSM until 1973;
[edit] Homophile activism & the Compton`s Cafeteria riots
In response to this trend, 2 organizations formed independently of each other to advance cause of homo-sexuals & provide social opportunities where gays & lesbians could socialize without fear of being arrested. Los Angeles area homo-sexuals created the Mattachine Society in 1950, in the home of communist activist Harry Hay. [14] Their objectives were to unify homosexuals, educate them, provide leadership, & assist `sexual deviants` with legal troubles; [15] Facing enormous opposition to It`s radical approach, in 1953 the Mattachine shifted their focus to assimilation & respectability. They reasoned that they would change more minds about homosexuality by proving that gays & lesbians were normal people, no different from heterosexuals. [16][17] Soon after, several women in San Francisco met in their living rooms to form the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) for lesbians. [18] Although the eight women who created the DOB initially came together to be able to have a safe place to dance, as DOB grew they developed similar goals to the Mattachine, & u
 Posted 747 days ago
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