Stonewall Riots Research Paper

All over the world, including in the United States, people face discrimination, inequality, and violence based on who they are. In the short story “A Letter to Harvey Milk” by Lesléa Newman, readers encounter characters that advocate for the rights of minorities, particularly Harvey Milk. Though Harvey Milk didn’t participate in dialogue throughout the short story, he had an immense impact on not only the two main characters Harry and Barbara, but the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) community as well.

On Sunday March 6, 1988 the Board of Trustees at Gallaudet University released the next president via press release. This vote presidency was important because it was the first time there had been 2 deaf candidates. By this time the school had been around for 124 years and never had a deaf president. When the sole hearing candidate was chosen by the board the deaf community was outraged and confused. Since the Board decided not to announce the decision in front of the student body at the campus, many deaf people decide to march from Florida Avenue to the Mayflower Hotel, a few blocks away. When the crowd got to the hotel chaos broke loose and ultimately caused tensions to grow even greater. The next Monday is when the real protest started,

The Gay rights protest and the Vietnam War protests were both important during the 60s and 70s and the youth were against these events and decided it was important to express their opinion. Through the

The Stonewall riots are widely believed to be the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States. Considered by some to be the "Rosa Parks" moment of the gay rights movement in America, the riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid of the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York, in the early hours of June 28th, 1969. This single event has left a resounding impact on the fight for LGBT rights that can still be seen today.

James Bevel once said, “ I guess by ’63 we were pretty confident that we had developed a science that would allow us to eradicate segregation in that it was incongruent, you know with the basic tenant of our Constitution” (James Bio). Bevel was a civil rights activist who committed many acts of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is where protesters disobey the law. They are protesting something (Suber) to try to get the government to change a law that is unfair to a minority (Brownlee). James Bevel was a strong leader during the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s. His leadership and teaching of non-violence inspired people to do what was right but do it peacefully.

On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, on a bus, Rosa Parks said “no”. Parks was arrested because she refused to vacate her seat in the white section on the bus. Just like Parks, many blacks were arrested and even killed in response to civil rights. There were many bombings too. On October 12, 1958, fifty sticks of dynamite exploded in a church.Four young girls dead of the bombing. Also, the whites bombed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s house while he was at church, The Civil Rights Movement started in 1954 with the Brown versus the Board of Education and the Supreme Court decided that it was unconstitutional. In 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges changed America by walking up the the steps of a white only school to gain an Education. To survive this experience, Ruby had to rise above the prejudices, face her fears, and find strength in her faith.

From the mid 1910s to the early 1960s there were many riots that occured, because of racial tensions built up between the the whites and the blacks world wide. Coming from Will Brown being accused of rapping a young white girl, and to Eugene Williams having rocks thrown at him causing him to drown. Segregation at this time was unjustified due to racism still being heavily considered as the right thing to do. These riots caused the United States to be even more segregated, due to unequal rights and no laws being created at the time to help and protect African Americans. During these riots there were cases of police brutality and whites being able to do whatever they choose to do, because they felt as if it was a justified reason to stop the African Americans from rioting. The 1919 Race Riot

The mid-20th century was a time of sociopolitical defiance in America, with the Civil Rights Movement, the anti-Vietnam War protests, second-wave feminism, and gay rights groups at the forefront. In this era, any sexuality or gender identity outside of the societal norm was condemned as not only illegal but a mental defect as well. By fighting back against the police that night in July, the Stonewall rioters took a stand for their rights and their

Before Stonewall and the article of Chauncey are related because both share the same topic that is the homosexuality. Both explain the unleashing of the struggle for the rights of the homosexual minority of that time. This minority struggled to change the international perceptibility, to change the system and to get society to accept them because they were oppressed hiding their sexual preference. For example, they had different codes to hide their sexual preferences when they were in front of other people and they questioned from the inside because they were

Hommosexuaity was a concept that was well knwon throughout the country yet no one spoke of it because of the ideas that had been formed towards it. But in the 1960s those who identified as gay or lesbian were so inspired by all the civil rights movements happening around them that they also decided to stand up for their cause. Homosexuals were far more free in the late 1900s than they were at anytime of their lives but that didn’t stop the hate crimes that came their way even from police. An infamous night on June 27, 1969 was when police officers that belonged to a village in New York city raided a gay nightclub arresting people whom they believed were regulars, but these kinds of raids were far from unusual, because if police got a wiff

The book written by Masha Gessen is one that seems to fit into the continuing timeline of revolt against the government due to undesirable circumstances. It is quite evident as the book goes on that the members of Pussy Riot were not fond of Putin or the patriarchal system. There is an incredible amount of detail following these women and their lives before and after the arrest, even individually analyzing the three women that were arrested. The background stories of the women’s parents were intriguing because they had been raised by grandparents and it seemed that this was how they were also raising their own children. The incident in the Cathedral of Christ, however, was the performance that garnered national attention and widespread support.

Where a white gay man is the protagonist and leader of the protest. While the Gay Liberation Front (a group of gay men) had a large part in the protests, they were not the leaders of this momentous event. Hollywood purposely erased history to make a blockbuster.

John Rawls was a famous political and moral philosopher who believed strongly in civil disobedience. He once said, “Civil disobedience is essentially disobedience to law within fidelity to law rather than disobedience directed against the law itself” (Buttle 650). The women’s right activist group, Sister’s Uncut, staged a protest at the movie premiere of Suffragette in London. Suffragette was supposed to be a ground breaking feminist film about English women suffragists. During the 19th century the suffrage movement began. Women were protesting and trying to gain the right to vote and be able to run for office. This movie gave insight to what it would have been like trying to pursue these rights. Sister’s Uncut felt that it would be the perfect

An irish author Oscar Wilde claims that disobedience is a man’s original virtue and that through disobedience progress is made. Disobedience has been violent and unethical with an example that recently happened like the “Unite the Right” events that happened Charlottesville and others dating back from many years ago like the lynching in America. Although there are people who would say that this is an effective way get their way and point across clearly in a situation, there are other ways to get more people to follow your views in a more ethical and nonviolent way.

Less than twenty-four hours after the riots ended, the Stonewall was back in business. Although, there was no alcohol and there was little music, but people celebrated. They hugged and they kissed one another, reflecting on what had happened. Many people went out and spread the word of what had happened that night. (Bausum, Ann) Many people were waiting to see if there would be something public about it, or that everyone who was at Stonewall was going to be arrested, but there wasn’t. Many people didn’t know how to respond to the actions that had happened that night. Some went back to rioting. They began chanting their chants and raising havoc. They wanted to control Christopher Street and make it their own gay street. The Rioting police came again. Bottles were thrown, clubs swung, and fires were reset. This rioting, though, only went on for a few hours. Only little outbursts followed in the days after. A couple days after the Riots, a local newspaper put out their newest issue. Their words provoked another riot. This one wasn’t as bad. The newspaper made fun of the gays, saying that what they did was outrageous and uncalled for. (Bausum, Ann) Little riots continued after that. After the riots, people began to realize that gays actually do matter. That, the gay and homosexual community is capable of the same things as