What were the Stonewall Riots?
PhD, English Literature (Lancaster University)
Date Published: 18.06.2024,
Last Updated: 18.06.2024
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Who threw the first brick at Stonewall? Was it Marsha P. Johnson? Stormé DeLarverie? Sylvia Rivera? Or was a brick even thrown at all? These questions have been asked time and time again, in turn contributing to the mythologizing of the Stonewall riots. Historians, and even activists who were present, cannot seem to agree on the details of the riots:
[...] most holistic Stonewall narratives are actually cobbled together from the firsthand accounts of police and rebels, newspaper coverage of the event and its aftermath, and well-repeated stories among New York locals. These sources are layered and contradictory, and some parts of the most widely disseminated oral testimonies are now heavily questioned. (Meredith Heller, Queering Drag, 2020)
Meredith Heller
[...] most holistic Stonewall narratives are actually cobbled together from the firsthand accounts of police and rebels, newspaper coverage of the event and its aftermath, and well-repeated stories among New York locals. These sources are layered and contradictory, and some parts of the most widely disseminated oral testimonies are now heavily questioned. (Meredith Heller, Queering Drag, 2020)
So, let’s focus on what we do know: The Stonewall riots were a landmark event in the history of LGBTQ+ rights. In the early hours of June 28 1969, the police raided a New York gay bar, the Stonewall Inn, sparking riots around the area that lasted for six days.
In the 1960s, gay bars were subjected to police harassment and the Stonewall Inn, Christopher Street was no exception. The police raid was the third raid on Greenwich Village gay bars that week:
The Stonewall Inn was a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village with a diverse racial mix. The bar was regularly raided by the police, and female patrons would be arrested for not wearing at least three items of “feminine clothing” and males for dressing in drag. In June 1969, police raided the Inn, but this time patrons fought back. (Queens of the Neighbourhood, Revolutionary Women, 2010)
Queens of the Neighbourhood
The Stonewall Inn was a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village with a diverse racial mix. The bar was regularly raided by the police, and female patrons would be arrested for not wearing at least three items of “feminine clothing” and males for dressing in drag. In June 1969, police raided the Inn, but this time patrons fought back. (Queens of the Neighbourhood, Revolutionary Women, 2010)
In this study guide, we will explore the causes of the Stonewall Riots, key events and figures, and the legacy of the Stonewall Riots as seen in Pride celebrations.
Causes of the riots
The LGBT community had long been the target of harassment from law enforcement, so what was it about this specific night at the Stonewall Inn that turned into days of rioting? To understand this, we need to comprehend what was happening with the gay liberation movement at the time, as well as the conditions on the night of the police raid.
The gay rights movement did not start with Stonewall. As John D’Emilio explains,
Pure and simple, Stonewall did not start everything. For almost twenty years before, some gay men and lesbians were organizing for freedom. By 1969, when the Stonewall Riot occurred, their efforts had contributed to changing the context in which gays and lesbians lived. For instance, through sustained lobbying, activists had won the support of the American Civil Liberties Union for sodomy law repeal, equal employment policies, and due process. (The World Turned, 2002)
John D’Emilio
Pure and simple, Stonewall did not start everything. For almost twenty years before, some gay men and lesbians were organizing for freedom. By 1969, when the Stonewall Riot occurred, their efforts had contributed to changing the context in which gays and lesbians lived. For instance, through sustained lobbying, activists had won the support of the American Civil Liberties Union for sodomy law repeal, equal employment policies, and due process. (The World Turned, 2002)
As D’Emilio goes on to explain, the work of these activists had significantly improved life for the gay community; for example, the Supreme Court declared in 1958 that homosexuality was no longer considered an obscenity, and by the 1960s “images of gay life were beginning to proliferate in mainstream media and culture” (2002). The gay rights movement saw the rise of activist groups picketing in places such as the White House and the Pentagon, the launching of the LGBTQ+ magazine the Advocate (1967), and the founding of the Metropolitan Community Church (1968) by Reverand Troy Perry, a gay pastor.
Despite these significant strides made towards liberation, there were still obstacles faced by the LGBTQ+ community: they faced harassment by the public and the police, were marginalized within society, and were subjected to discriminatory laws. For example, in 1969 same-sex activities were illegal in all states except Illinois and homosexuality was still regarded as a mental illness by the American Psychiatric Association (this would remain the case until 1973).
Paul Behrens and Sean Becker write that,
[...] in spite of all these difficulties, an LGBT culture did exist – there were, at least in the larger American cities, bars that welcomed LGBT patrons and even some LGBT organisations had been created – the Mattachine Societies, the Janus Society, the Daughters of Bilitis among others. There were early instances of organised lobbying efforts and even examples of resistance to police harassment. (“From Stonewall to the World,” Justice After Stonewall, 2023)
Edited by Paul Behrens and Sean Becker
[...] in spite of all these difficulties, an LGBT culture did exist – there were, at least in the larger American cities, bars that welcomed LGBT patrons and even some LGBT organisations had been created – the Mattachine Societies, the Janus Society, the Daughters of Bilitis among others. There were early instances of organised lobbying efforts and even examples of resistance to police harassment. (“From Stonewall to the World,” Justice After Stonewall, 2023)
A large part of LGBTQ+ culture was the bar scene. Queer bars were a space where individuals in the LGBTQ+ community could express their sexuality and connect with one another. These bars, as Stein explains, were diverse; while many were predominantly frequented by white men, others attracted women or people of color, drag queens, and trans men and women. As Marc Stein goes on to explain, however,
In the 1960s, gay bars, bathhouses, clubs, and restaurants faced numerous challenges. Straight men targeted them with acts of hate and harassment. Local police conducted raids, demanded payoffs, and engaged in sexual entrapment practices (in which undercover officers enticed men to commit sex crimes and then arrested them). Organized crime owned, operated, and exploited many gay bars. State liquor regulators acted against businesses that served “homosexuals” or permitted “disorderly,” “indecent,” or “lewd” behavior on their premises. (The Stonewall Riots, 2019)
Marc Stein
In the 1960s, gay bars, bathhouses, clubs, and restaurants faced numerous challenges. Straight men targeted them with acts of hate and harassment. Local police conducted raids, demanded payoffs, and engaged in sexual entrapment practices (in which undercover officers enticed men to commit sex crimes and then arrested them). Organized crime owned, operated, and exploited many gay bars. State liquor regulators acted against businesses that served “homosexuals” or permitted “disorderly,” “indecent,” or “lewd” behavior on their premises. (The Stonewall Riots, 2019)
Police protests had occurred in establishments such as Cooper Donuts in LA (1959), Dewey’s in Philadelphia (1965), and Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco (1966). The intensification of these police raids can be linked to the upcoming mayoral election:
A mayoral election was looming, never a good time for New York gays, and incorruptible Lieutenant Seymour Pine had been transferred to the Manhattan vice squad with orders to clean up the Mafia bars in Greenwich Village. The police had raided five gay bars in three weeks and closed several for good. Four days before, on June 23, they had raided the Stonewall. Stonewall’s mob owners mouthed off to Pine that night and Pine was spoiling for a rematch. (Linda Hirshman, Victory, 2012)
Linda Hirshman
A mayoral election was looming, never a good time for New York gays, and incorruptible Lieutenant Seymour Pine had been transferred to the Manhattan vice squad with orders to clean up the Mafia bars in Greenwich Village. The police had raided five gay bars in three weeks and closed several for good. Four days before, on June 23, they had raided the Stonewall. Stonewall’s mob owners mouthed off to Pine that night and Pine was spoiling for a rematch. (Linda Hirshman, Victory, 2012)
There are, of course, alternative accounts as to why Stonewall was targeted:
Some accounts suggest that the police targeted the bar because it was unlicensed, unsanitary, and suspected of violating liquor laws. Others claim that the main cause was a breakdown in the system whereby the owners paid off the police (approximately $1,200 per month) to minimize raids and closures. Still others point to official or unofficial investigations into police corruption, male prostitution, and blackmailing rings that targeted men who had sex with men. (Stein, 2019)
The diversification of patrons at the Stonewall Inn was also a factor that contributed to the rioting. The admission of drag queens into the club had resulted in “increasingly violent and invasive forms of policing” (Derek. P. Siegel and Madeline C. Stump, “Feminism,” The SAGE Encyclopedia of Trans Studies, 2010).
As for the more immediate causes, the crowd gathered around Stonewall was uncharacteristically large:
By one a.m., there were hundreds of patrons in the bar dancing, drinking, and socializing. Local residents, many of whom were gay, were on the street and hanging out on the stoops because it was Friday night and because it was so hot. The kids were in the park. If things had gone as usual, the police would have lined up the patrons, taken some IDs, arrested some of the employees, loaded the cars with booze, and driven to the precinct house. (Hirshman, 2012)
Timeline and key events
As previously mentioned, we do not know exactly how the events of Stonewall unfolded, due to conflicting accounts by protestors:
The events at the Stonewall Inn in the early morning of June 28, 1969, are the most contested hours in gay history. People who were there dispute each other’s accounts and people even dispute who was there at all. [...] Only a couple of reporters, from the Village Voice, down the street, were present, and their stories were so inflammatory they ignited an additional day of rioting when they were published on July 3. (Hirshman, 2012)
The narrative of how the riot began, with a police raid, however, is generally accepted as follows: Four undercover police officers, accompanied by an inspector from the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, entered Stonewall shortly after midnight on June 28 1969 with a warrant for searching the premises for evidence of illegal alcohol sales.
As Stein explains, at around 1.20 am, five policeman from outside the bar entered the building and began examining identification cards. Everyone who talked back, did not have identification, those violating laws on non-gender conforming clothing, were detained. Everyone who left, instead of going home as usual, congregated on the street outside. Hirshman writes that,
From the moment the police entered the bar, the atmosphere was different. People gave them lip when asked for their IDs. The transvestites refused to be taken to the bathroom to be “examined.” The police began hauling the reluctant cross-dressers to jail. But the patrons they had let out earlier didn’t leave, as gays in a raid always had. They hung around to see what was happening to their friends, swelling the crowd outside. As the police wrestled the transvestites and other unlucky prisoners into the paddy wagon, the crowd cheered and jeered, and the exiting homosexuals started camping it up. Gay onlookers went to the pay phones in the neighborhood and called their friends. (2012)
(Please note, while Hirshman and others use “transvestite” as per the language used at the time, the preferred term now is “cross-dresser”.)
When the police violently forced a woman into a police car, the crowd began to throw objects, starting with pennies before moving on to cans and bottles. The police eventually took refuge inside the bar:
Someone uprooted a parking meter and used it as a battering ram on the boarded-up front window; then someone tossed a firebomb through the opening, which was greeted with shouts of “cook the pigs.” The police were trapped inside, and the bar—like many gay dives—did not have fire exits. The queens stomped on both civilian and police cars. The ruckus attracted onlookers and joiners-in who converged via the West Village’s angled streets, avenues, and subways. Estimates of the crowd the first night vary between two hundred and a thousand. (Lucas Hilderbrand, The Bars Are Ours, 2023)
Lucas Hilderbrand
Someone uprooted a parking meter and used it as a battering ram on the boarded-up front window; then someone tossed a firebomb through the opening, which was greeted with shouts of “cook the pigs.” The police were trapped inside, and the bar—like many gay dives—did not have fire exits. The queens stomped on both civilian and police cars. The ruckus attracted onlookers and joiners-in who converged via the West Village’s angled streets, avenues, and subways. Estimates of the crowd the first night vary between two hundred and a thousand. (Lucas Hilderbrand, The Bars Are Ours, 2023)
As the police radio was broken, they were unable to call for backup. The police eventually escaped the bar through a vent in the roof, through which one of the female officers exited to find help. When tactical units arrived and lined up to clear the street “the gay street kids lined up opposite them in Rockette formation performing high kicks and singing mocking songs: “We are the Stonewall girls, we wear our hair in curls.” (Hirshman, 2012)
The next night, members of the LGBTQ+ community gathered on Christopher Street in anticipation of another altercation with the police. Despite pre-empting this, the police were vastly outnumbered and needed to call in the riot squad:
The gay demonstrators, who had now come deliberately to protest against the way they were treated, hit on the stratagem of “taking” Christopher Street, blocking it off and only letting through who they wanted. Instead of peeking down a block to see whether they would be safe, the gay crowd forced other people to get permission from them. Hours later, the crowd dissipated and the police left. (Hirshman, 2012)
From July 1, members of the LGBTQ+ community continued to gather outside of the Stonewall Inn.
A further incident occurred when reporter Lucian K. Truscott published an inflammatory article in the Village Voice. Truscott referred to the “forces of f*ggotry” and “limp wrists” which, as Erin Siodmak argues, “ignored the fight many of the rioters had put up, as well as the large presence of many traditionally masculine men” (“Homosexuals Are Revolting,” Revolting New York, 2018). As a result, a crowd formed outside of the office of the Village Voice and tried to set it on fire. Siodmak states that
Angry queers were joined by a growing number of straight radicals looking for a fight with the police. As the night wore on, trash fires were lit, eventually provoking the TPF [Tactical Patrol Force]. The streets exploded again [...] and the cops were ready to exact revenge. The fighting was intense, with street queens taking the lead. [...] Dozens of people were injured (including one cop), and five people were arrested. But this time the rioting only lasted an hour or so, not all night. (2018)
Edited by Neil Smith and Don Mitchell
Angry queers were joined by a growing number of straight radicals looking for a fight with the police. As the night wore on, trash fires were lit, eventually provoking the TPF [Tactical Patrol Force]. The streets exploded again [...] and the cops were ready to exact revenge. The fighting was intense, with street queens taking the lead. [...] Dozens of people were injured (including one cop), and five people were arrested. But this time the rioting only lasted an hour or so, not all night. (2018)
The violence from the previous nights gradually began to de-escalate.
Though the rioting ended after six days, the movement did not stop. Instead, incensed by what had happened at Stonewall, LGBTQ+ activists began to organize:
They moved from spontaneity to planned, intentional activity. Rather than wait for the police to come to them and provoke another outburst of anger, they formed organizations in order to engage in sustained activism. (D’Emilio, 2002)
The first New York group to form after Stonewall was the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) in 1970. The GLF was a far cry from the Mattachine Society’s apologist approach (Ben Shepard, Queer Political Performance and Protest, 2009). In that same year, they held a Liberation Day March to commemorate Stonewall and thus Pride Month was established.
Key figures
Stormé DeLarverie, Marsha P. Johnson, and Sylvia Rivera are some of the most influential figures associated with the Stonewall riots and continued to have a significant impact as gay rights activists beyond the riots. So who were these women and how did they contribute to the LGBTQ+ equal rights movement?
Stormé DeLarverie was a biracial gay rights activist and drag performer who dressed in typically masculine attire, wearing suits and bow ties. DeLarverie was well-known within the Village through her volunteer work as a street patroller; she was even known as “the guardian of the lesbians in the Village.”
African American trans activist Marsha P. Johnson is often cited as one of the most influential figures in the Stonewall movement and LGBTQ+ rights more broadly. Johnson used she/her pronouns and described herself as gay, a drag queen, and a transvestite. Though Johnson never self-identified as transgender (the term was not broadly used during her lifetime), she has since been described as “transgender” following her death.
Marsha P. Johnson had long been involved in LGBTQ+ activism, particularly advocating for homeless gay and trans youth, and those affected by HIV and AIDs. Johnson moved to New York when she was seventeen, getting by through panhandling (using her catchphrase “Spare change for a dying queen”) and sex work.
When Marsha was seventeen she met Sylvia Rivera, an eleven-year-old Latina, who would later become a drag queen (then go on to identify as trans), and iconic activist:
Rivera, a young drag queen who took part in the Stonewall riots, was among the most audacious of the street youth associated with Stonewall and the movements for sexual freedom that followed. Years after the riots, Rivera was established as a leader or “mother” of queer street youth in the 1990s. (Shepard, 2009)
Benjamin Shepard
Rivera, a young drag queen who took part in the Stonewall riots, was among the most audacious of the street youth associated with Stonewall and the movements for sexual freedom that followed. Years after the riots, Rivera was established as a leader or “mother” of queer street youth in the 1990s. (Shepard, 2009)
The individual roles of the three women in the riots are difficult to pinpoint, due to the accounts of the night being disparate. As mentioned at the start of this guide, it is often debated as to which of the three threw the first brick at Stonewall. Though it is clear it was not Johnson who did not arrive until 2 am when the riots were underway; Rivera has also denied that she started the riot.
Though she arrived late, Johnson is cited as being on the frontlines of the riots, noted for dropping a heavy handbag from a lamppost onto a police car, smashing the windshield.
As for DeLarverie, we get similar conflicting stories. Heller writes that DeLaverie resisted arrest, but it is unclear whether the cause of the arrest was due to her dressing in men’s clothes, or not moving along quickly enough when asked to leave the area as she was assisting someone who had been injured:
Both stories end the same way: the police officer assaulted DeLarverie, and DeLarverie fought back by punching the police officer. The already agitated bar crowd exploded around DeLarverie’s action, the situation escalated, and a large-scale rebellion began.[...] But other Stonewall narratives attribute this escalation to Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson, or unknown transwomen who either escaped arrest or threw objects and yelled at police. Some narratives connect this moment to a White-identified but otherwise unknown butch lesbian. And, as is clear from my two DeLarverie accounts above, even among stories that directly name DeLarverie as the instigator, there are significant differences. (Queering Drag, 2020)
After the riots, Rivera went on to form the Gay Activist Alliance in 1969 and, with Johson, set up STAR (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) and STAR House (a shelter for homeless trans youth). STAR was formed as a result of the sidelining of trans people from the broader gay rights movement, despite trans people being pivotal in the riots and the activism surrounding the events on Christopher Street (Shephard, Queer Political Performance and Protest, 2009). As Emma K. Russell writes, "Dominant representations also frequently obfuscate the centrality of trans women of colour in leading this resistance" (Queer Histories and the Politics of Policing, 2019).
For more on the work of Johnson and Rivera, see Revolutionary Women, 2010.
Legacy and current challenges
Stonewall sparked a global movement towards equality and justice and its importance cannot be understated. This final section will explore the legacy of the riots, whilst acknowledging the continued challenges the LGBTQ+ movement faces.
Jeremiah J. Garretson argues the influence of the riots comes from the sense of community they created:
These riots are not significant for any material changes that occurred directly in the social and political lives of LGBTQ people. Rather, because the riots roughly divide a period in time when a large mass of LGBTQ people in urban areas thought of themselves as a distinct social group from a prior time when they did not, they have a pivotal role and a symbolic importance in the development of this consciousness as the LGBTQ subculture was solidifying.The rioters, who identified as lesbians and gays and who demanded an end to the police harassment of LGBTQ people, could not have done so without having a collective positive identity and a sense that it was shared by a massive number of individuals. (The Path to Gay Rights, 2018)
Jeremiah J. Garretson
These riots are not significant for any material changes that occurred directly in the social and political lives of LGBTQ people. Rather, because the riots roughly divide a period in time when a large mass of LGBTQ people in urban areas thought of themselves as a distinct social group from a prior time when they did not, they have a pivotal role and a symbolic importance in the development of this consciousness as the LGBTQ subculture was solidifying.The rioters, who identified as lesbians and gays and who demanded an end to the police harassment of LGBTQ people, could not have done so without having a collective positive identity and a sense that it was shared by a massive number of individuals. (The Path to Gay Rights, 2018)
David Carter, in his book Stonewall (2010) identified four main reasons as to why Stonewall had, and continues to have, such an impact: it was a “sustained uprising,” the number of activists involved, the media coverage, and the emergence of a new political ideology of “gay liberation.”
The importance of Stonewall is still felt every June with Pride parades around the world. June was also declared by President Barack Obama as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month.”
Despite the significant wins for the LGBTQ+ community, challenges remain. For example, in some parts of the world, such as Iran, Uganda, and Saudi Arabia, citizens can still be executed on the grounds of homosexuality. Even in countries where same-sex marriage has been legalized, those in the LGBTQ+ community still encounter discrimination, harassment, and violence, as seen in the tragic Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando in 2016.
In addition to outside threats, trans people also must contend with being ostracized by some members, or branches of, the queer community, namely trans-exclusive radical feminists (TERFs). For more on this, see our study guide “Waves of Feminism - First to Fourth Wave Timeline.”
While there is still a long way to go for the LGBTQ+ community to achieve complete emancipation and equal rights, there is no denying Stonewall marked a turning point in the campaign for LGBTQ+ rights. We can see this in continued activism and the rise of queer theory in academic circles, providing a space for scholars to challenge heterosexist conventions and outdated, and often inaccurate, ideologies on gender and sexuality.
To finish on the words of John D’Emilio,
As the years separating us from the riot grow, so does its power. In the biggest cities, the whole month of June has become a cornucopia of gay and lesbian delights, with theater productions, film festivals, political forums, museum exhibitions, and other events giving substance to our community’s pride and strength and culminating in a massive outpouring on gay freedom day. (2002)
John D’Emilio
As the years separating us from the riot grow, so does its power. In the biggest cities, the whole month of June has become a cornucopia of gay and lesbian delights, with theater productions, film festivals, political forums, museum exhibitions, and other events giving substance to our community’s pride and strength and culminating in a massive outpouring on gay freedom day. (2002)
Further reading on Perlego
Bad Gays: A Homosexual History (2022) by Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller
Departing from Deviance: A History of Homosexual Rights and Emancipatory Science in America (2010) by Henry L. Minton
Documents of the LGBT Movement (2018) by Chuck Stewart
The Gay Liberation Youth Movement in New York: 'An Army of Lovers Cannot Fail' (2007) by Stephan Cohen
PRIDE: Fifty Years of Parades and Protests (2019) by the Photo Archives of the New York Times
What were the Stonewall riots in simple terms?
Who were some of the key figures of the Stonewall riots?
Who threw the first brick at Stonewall?
What were the causes of the Stonewall riots?
Bibliography
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https://www.perlego.com/book/3842176/justice-after-stonewall-lgbt-life-between-challenge-and-change
D’Emilio, J. (2002) The World Turned: Essays on Gay History, Politics, and Culture. Duke University Press Books. Available at:
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PhD, English Literature (Lancaster University)
Sophie Raine has a PhD from Lancaster University. Her work focuses on penny dreadfuls and urban spaces. Her previous publications have been featured in VPFA (2019; 2022) and the Palgrave Handbook for Steam Age Gothic (2021) and her co-edited collection Penny Dreadfuls and the Gothic was released in 2023 with University of Wales Press.