Before Stonewall
A Century of Quiet Organizing
- 7 chapters
- 56m
- LGBTQ+ History & Studies
- Free · no sign-up
The book covers the Lavender Scare of the 1950s, when gay men and women lost government jobs. It documents how activists organized underground networks. The chapters trace the evolution from secret meetings to public demonstrations. Each section includes specific names, dates, and locations of key events.
This audiobook offers a factual account of LGBTQ organizing before Stonewall. It shows how people built community despite persecution. Anyone interested in American social movements will find this essential listening.
Listen
-
Read this chapter
Overview
In 1950, Harry Hay, a Communist and labor activist, founded the Mattachine Society in Los Angeles with a group of male friends to improve the rights of gay men. The organization came after earlier groups like Chicago’s Society for Human Rights. By 1961, branches had spread to other cities, but the group had broken into regional factions. In 1965, inspired by reports of Cuban prison camps for homosexuals, the Mattachine Society organized protests at the United Nations and the White House.
Name
The Mattachine Society got its name from Harry Hay, who took the idea from James Gruber and studied the French medieval "Société Mattachine" while preparing a course on popular music history. In a 1976 interview, Hay explained these societies were lifelong secret fraternities of unmarried townsmen who performed masked dances during the Feast of Fools and at the Vernal Equinox, sometimes as peasant protests against oppression. Hay felt 1950s gays were also masked people, unknown and anonymous, fighting for change through struggle. The name came from Mattaccino, an Italian theater character—a court jester who spoke truth to power. The group used harlequin diamonds as their emblem, arranged in a larger diamond pattern.
Foundation
In 1948, Harry Hay formed the idea for a gay activist group after gathering men around a petition for Henry A. Wallace, then writing "The Call" which lost momentum until he developed his vision into an "international... fraternal order" named Bachelors Anonymous, inspired by Alcoholics Anonymous. In July 1950, he met Rudi Gernreich, who called the document "the most dangerous thing [he had] ever read," and became a key financial supporter. On November 11, 1950, Hay, Gernreich, Dale Jennings, Bob Hull, and Chuck Rowland held the first Mattachine Society meeting in Los Angeles, initially calling themselves the Society of Fools. James Gruber and Konrad Stevens joined in April 1951, officially recognized as original members. The group adopted the name Mattachine Society, chosen by Hay after medieval secret societies that used anonymity to criticize rulers. As it grew, Mattachine took on a structure like the Communist Party, with cells, oaths, and five membership levels. Hay later clashed with the CPUSA over his sexuality, resulting in his expulsion, though they honored him as a "Lifelong Friend of the People." Its goals included uniting isolated gays, educating both homosexuals and heterosexuals, and supporting those targeted by oppression. In February 1952, Dale Jennings' arrest brought national attention when Mattachine publicized the case under the name "Citizens Committee to Outlaw Entrapment," declaring a victory after a hung jury.
Affiliations
The Mattachine Society began as a national group with communist roots, but as the Red Scare intensified, leaders like Hay, a longtime CPUSA member, stepped down, shifting the organization toward more moderate ideals. Headquartered first in Los Angeles and later San Francisco, it had chapters in New York, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. By 1961, internal disagreements led to its disbanding, though separate groups retained the name, including MSNY and the Mattachine Society of Washington. In 1952, a split formed the group ONE, Inc., which admitted women and helped launch The Ladder with the Daughters of Bilitis. The Janus Society emerged from lesbian and gay activists in 1961, eventually becoming the Janus Society of America. East Coast Homophile Organizations (ECHO) was formed in 1962, including Mattachine chapters and the Daughters of Bilitis, and achieved a legal settlement in 1964. On New Year's Eve 1964, a fund-raising ball in San Francisco, supported by prominent lawyers, faced police interference, leading to arrests and a swift acquittal—an event some historians call "San Francisco's Stonewall."
Political shift
After the Jennings trial, Mattachine grew quickly, with California members reaching over 2,000 by May 1953, and discussion groups drawing as many as 100 people. The group became more diverse, including more women and people from different political views. But some members, like Hal Call from San Francisco and Ken Burns from Los Angeles, worried about the organization's radical left direction. They pushed for changes to clarify Mattachine's opposition to so-called "subversive elements" and to affirm loyalty to U.S. laws, which criminalized homosexuality. In response, Fifth Order members revealed their identities and resigned their leadership roles at the May 1953 convention. With the founders gone, Call, Burns, and others took over, officially adopting a non-confrontation policy. Some historians say this weakened Mattachine, leading to a drop in membership, while others argue it was still effective between 1953 and 1966, publishing a magazine, building alliances, and shaping public opinion.
Mattachine Review
The Mattachine Society published a magazine called the Mattachine Review from 1955 to 1966. Hall founded and edited the publication. While the Fifth Order operated in secrecy, the Mattachine Society, under the leadership of Call, focused on publishing and media outreach. The Review gained a national audience, selling more copies than the society’s membership at the time. Its peak circulation came in 1960, with 3,000 copies distributed that year. Regional branches also produced their own newsletters and periodicals, separate from the main magazine.
Decline
In the 1960s, the Mattachine Society in San Francisco and MSNY were at the forefront of the gay rights movement in the United States. But by the mid-1960s, they began to be seen as too traditional and unwilling to take on more aggressive tactics. After the Stonewall riots in 1969, a new wave of activists emerged who wanted the movement to address broader issues like the Vietnam War and the sexual revolution. Several groups calling themselves Mattachine lost support or fractured internally. In 1967, the Mattachine Society effectively disappeared. Then in 1973, Hal Call launched a venue called Cinemattachine, showing both Mattachine newsreels and adult films, presented jointly by The Mattachine Society and The Seven Committee. A year later, in 1976, another Cinemattachine opened in Los Angeles at the ONE. Mattachine co-founder Chuck Rowland said he did not think it was appropriate for Call to link that location with The Mattachine Society.
Legacy
The Mattachine Society left a lasting mark on LGBTQ+ history, remembered in everything from comic books to television. In the 1992 comic Up Against a Stonewall, it was mentioned alongside the Daughters of Bilitis as early organizers. The 1995 film Stonewall featured Mattachine members leafleting and picketing, though it shifted the timeline. In 2002, Mattachine Midwest was honored in the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame. A 2009 play, The Temperamentals, about its founders, won awards on Broadway. A new chapter formed in Washington, D.C. in 2011, focused on archival research. The 2011 TV series Playboy Club included a lesbian character from a Mattachine chapter. In 2012, the Mattachine Steps in Los Angeles were dedicated in memory of founder Harry Hay. A bar named Bar Mattachine opened in 2015. The podcast Making Gay History featured both Chuck Rowland and Harry Hay. Julius’ bar in Manhattan hosts a monthly “Mattachine” party. In 2018, the TV series The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco referenced the group in its storyline.
-
Read this chapter
Overview
The Stonewall riots were spontaneous protests beginning June 28, 1969, when police raided the Stonewall Inn in Lower Manhattan's Greenwich Village. Though not the first LGBTQ resistance, these events marked a turning point for the gay rights movement. In the 1950s and 1960s, American gays and lesbians faced harsh legal discrimination while early homophile groups promoted assimilation through quiet education rather than confrontation. By the late 1960s, civil rights activism and antiwar protests helped fuel change. The Stonewall Inn, popular among marginalized LGBTQ members, was raided unusually late on a Friday night when crowds were large. This time, police lost control quickly, sparking riots spreading to the next evening and following nights. Within weeks, residents organized into activist groups, launching publications and creating safe spaces. The first anniversary saw peaceful marches in several cities, evolving into pride parades. In 2016, the site became the Stonewall National Monument. Pride events now occur worldwide each June to commemorate the uprising.
Homosexuality in 20th-century United States
After World War II, a drive to return to prewar social norms fueled widespread fear of change, with Senator Joseph McCarthy leading anti-communist investigations that targeted supposed subversives. The U.S. State Department included gay men and lesbians in this list, calling them security risks. In 1950, a Senate report chaired by Clyde R. Hoey claimed those who engaged in homosexuality lacked emotional stability and said all government intelligence agencies agreed such people posed threats. That same year, the American Psychiatric Association listed homosexuality in the DSM as a mental disorder. A large-scale study from 1962 supported this view, but psychologist Evelyn Hooker’s 1956 comparison of homosexual and heterosexual men found no differences in adjustment or happiness. Homosexuality remained classified as a disorder until 1974.
Homophile activism
In 1950, homosexuals in the Los Angeles area formed the Mattachine Society in the home of activist Harry Hay, with goals of unifying and educating gay people and helping them with legal issues. Facing resistance, the group shifted toward assimilation by 1953, arguing that proving gays were normal would change public opinion. Soon after, women in San Francisco started the Daughters of Bilitis, initially meeting in living rooms to dance and later pursuing similar aims. One early challenge came in 1953 when the magazine ONE, Inc. was blocked from mailing its August issue by the Post Office, which called it obscene; the case reached the Supreme Court in 1958, which ruled in their favor. Frank Kameny founded the Mattachine of Washington, D.C., after being fired from the U.S. Army Map Service for being gay and unsuccessfully suing to be reinstated. In 1965, protests were organized by Mattachine New York and D.C. against Cuba's prison camps for homosexuals and U.S. employment discrimination, shocking many and upsetting some leaders of the movement.
Earlier resistance and riots
In the 1950s and early 1960s, people who didn't conform to traditional gender roles were visible in small gay communities—effeminate men, masculine women, and others who lived or dressed differently than their assigned sex. At the time, they were labeled transvestites, and their presence contradicted the image promoted by groups like the Mattachine Society and DOB, which tried to show homosexuality as compatible with mainstream society. In 1959, a confrontation at the Cooper Do-nuts café in Los Angeles led to a riot after police targeted these individuals. A year later, in San Francisco, a similar incident unfolded at Compton's Cafeteria when officers attempted to arrest people assigned male at birth but presenting femininely. The crowd responded by throwing cups and plates, smashing windows. Professor Susan Stryker described this as an act of anti-transgender discrimination, connecting it to issues of gender, race, and class that homophile organizations largely ignored. That uprising marked the beginning of transgender activism in San Francisco.
Greenwich Village
After World War I, gay and lesbian people settled in Greenwich Village and Harlem, drawn by city opportunities. By the 1920s, a distinct community formed with speakeasies serving as gathering places, though police raids often shut them down. In the 1950s, repression grew, but poets like Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, both living in Greenwich Village, wrote openly about homosexuality and attracted broader audiences. By the early 1960s, Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. ordered crackdowns on gay bars using entrapment tactics that often led to arrests. The Mattachine Society pushed for ending these raids, but the New York State Liquor Authority still held power over licenses. In 1966, the Mattachine staged a "sip-in" at Julius bar to protest discrimination. When Mayor John Lindsay ran for re-election in 1969, police enforcement intensified. A week before the riots, the Checkerboard bar was raided. Most gay bars were owned by organized crime, which also paid off police to avoid regular raids.
Stonewall Inn
The Stonewall Inn was a gay bar on Christopher Street, owned by the Genovese crime family, where three Mafia members invested $3,500 in 1966 to turn it into a club after it had been a restaurant and nightclub for heterosexuals. It had no liquor license, so police collected weekly payoffs called "gayola." The bar lacked running water, fire exits, and often overflowed toilets. Dancing was allowed there, which made it popular; it was the only place in New York where gay men could dance. Visitors were checked through a peephole, and to avoid undercover officers known as "Lily Law," "Alice Blue Gown," or "Betty Badge," people had to be known or appear gay. The bar was a private "bottle club," so patrons signed names in a book, usually not their real ones. It had two dance floors, black-painted walls, and pulsing lights. If police were spotted, white lights signaled everyone to stop dancing. In the back was a smaller room for "queens"—effeminate men who wore makeup and teased hair. Only a few in full drag were allowed in. The clientele was mostly male, with some lesbians, young homeless teens, and a mix of white and Black or Hispanic patrons. On June 28, 1969, the night before the riots, there had already been raids at the Stonewall Inn and other local bars, including the Checkerboard and Tele-Star, which had closed.
Police raid
At 1:20 a.m. on Saturday, June 28, 1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn. Four plainclothes officers in dark suits, two uniformed patrol officers, Detective Charles Smythe, and Deputy Inspector Seymour Pine arrived and announced, "Police! We're taking the place!" Two undercover policewomen and two undercover policemen had entered the bar earlier that evening to gather visual evidence, while the Public Morals Squad waited outside for the signal. The raid did not go as planned. Standard procedure was to line up patrons, check identification, and separate suspected trans women or drag queens for sex verification. But the women refused to go with officers and men in line refused to produce identification. Police decided to take everyone present to the station, separating those suspected of cross-dressing in a back room. A sense of discomfort spread quickly, beginning with police who assaulted some lesbians inappropriately while frisking them. The police were to transport the bar’s alcohol in patrol wagons, but since they hadn’t arrived yet, patrons waited about 15 minutes. Those not arrested were released from the front door, but instead of leaving, they stopped outside and a crowd began to grow. Within minutes, between 100 and 150 people had gathered. Some who were released performed for the crowd by posing and saluting the police in an exaggerated fashion. The crowd’s applause encouraged them further. When the first patrol wagon arrived, Inspector Pine recalled that the crowd—most of whom were assumed to be homosexual—had grown to at least ten times the number of people arrested and they all became very quiet. Confusion over radio communication delayed a second wagon. Police began escorting Mafia members into the first wagon, to the cheers of bystanders. Next, regular employees were loaded. A bystander shouted, “Gay power!” someone began singing “We Shall Overcome” and the crowd reacted with amusement and general good humor mixed with growing hostility. An officer shoved a person in drag, who responded by hitting him on the head with her purse. The cop clubbed her over the head, as the crowd began to boo. Author Edmund White, who had been passing by, recalled, “Everyone's restless, angry, and high-spirited. No one has a slogan, no one even has an attitude, but something's brewing.” Pennies, then beer bottles, were thrown at the wagon as a rumor spread that patrons still inside the bar were being beaten. A scuffle broke out when a woman in handcuffs was escorted several times from the bar to the waiting police wagon. She escaped repeatedly and fought with four officers for about ten minutes. Described as “a typical New York butch” and “a dyke–stone butch,” she had been hit on the head by an officer with a baton for complaining that her handcuffs were too tight. Bystanders recalled that the woman, whose identity remains unknown, sparked the crowd to fight when she looked at bystanders and shouted, “Why don't you guys do something?” After an officer picked her up and heaved her into the back of the wagon, the crowd became violent.
Violence breaks out
The police tried to control the crowd, knocking people down and sparking more anger. Some handcuffed individuals escaped when officers left them unattended, and as the mob overturned the police wagon, two cars with slashed tires sped off, prompting Inspector Pine to urge their return. More people gathered, some shouting that the bar had been raided because “they didn’t pay off the cops,” while others yelled, “Let’s pay them off!” Coins flew through the air as the crowd shouted “Pigs!” and “Faggot cops!” Beer cans were thrown, and police responded by dispersing the crowd, who then found bricks near a construction site. Activist folk singer Dave Van Ronk, attracted from a nearby bar, was arrested along with others, including Howard Smith. Multiple accounts say the demonstration was spontaneous, with no prior organization. The only known photograph from that first night shows homeless gay youth scuffling with police in Christopher Park. The Mattachine Society later explained the riots were fueled by the Stonewall’s role as a gathering place for outcasts and the lack of alternatives. Garbage cans, bottles, rocks, and bricks were hurled at the building, breaking windows. Witnesses say “flame queens,” hustlers, and street kids were the first to throw projectiles, including uprooting a parking meter to batter the doors. The mob lit garbage on fire and stuffed it through broken windows as police grabbed a fire hose with no water pressure, which only encouraged them. Marsha P. Johnson later said the police had started the fire. When windows broke—covered by plywood to prevent raids—the police inside drew pistols, pointing at the crowd. Howard Smith took a wrench from the bar, unsure if he might face the mob or the police. Someone squirted lighter fluid into the bar; as it was lit and police took aim, sirens were heard and fire trucks arrived. The violence lasted 45 minutes. Women and transmasculine people held at The Women's House of Detention joined in by chanting and setting fire to their belongings, tossing them into the street below. Historian Hugh Ryan says people told him that night, “we looked to the prison because we saw the women rioting and chanting, ‘Gay rights, gay rights, gay rights.’”
-
Read this chapter
Overview
Marsha P. Johnson was an American LGBTQ activist, sex worker, and performer who played a key role in the Stonewall riots of 1969 and later helped found the organization STAR, which provided shelter and support for transgender youth. Born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1945, she moved to Manhattan as a young woman, where she worked in Times Square and became known for her bold fashion choices. She was active in groups like the Gay Activists Alliance and the Gay Liberation Front, and after STAR disbanded in 1973, she continued performing with theatrical troupes. During the AIDS crisis beginning in 1980, she cared for friends who were dying and engaged in activism. Johnson disappeared in 1992 and was found dead in the Hudson River; her death remains controversial, with many believing she was murdered.
Early life
Marsha P. Johnson was born Malcolm Michaels Jr. on August 24, 1945, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Her mother, Alberta Claiborne, was a housekeeper; her father, Malcolm Michaels Sr., worked at a General Motors plant during the Second Great Migration. They separated when Marsha was three, but her father stayed involved in her life. Growing up in a segregated city with early civil rights activism, she lived on Washington Avenue and first wore women's clothes at five, despite her mother's disapproval and local hostility. After being raped by a boy her age, she stopped for a time. She saw movies at the Little Theater, was inspired by Billie Burke, and attended the Mount Teman AME Church, where she sang in Christmas programs and was deeply religious. Her mother sometimes went to drag shows at Billy's Tavern. Marsha attended Edison High School, played drums in the band, and in 1962, at seventeen, enlisted in the Navy but was discharged after punching a man who assaulted her. That same year, she saw her first drag ball in New York City and began waiting tables to save money for a move to Manhattan, which she made after graduating.
Early years in New York
Marsha P. Johnson moved to New York in 1963 with "$15 and a bag of clothes," working at Childs Restaurant and surviving through begging and sex work while often getting arrested. She met Sylvia Rivera on 42nd Street, taking her out to eat after earning money from begging. Randy Wicker remembered her as "the most generous person [he] ever knew," recalling how she stole bread to feed someone unhoused. She also met Agosto Machado, with whom she collaborated on artistic projects. Without stable housing, she slept in friends' apartments, hotels, adult movie theaters, and gay bathhouses. Initially going by "Black Marsha," she later adopted the name Marsha P. Johnson. Tourmaline said the name came from a nickname, "Mikey," and the surname from Howard Johnson's Hotel in Elizabeth. When asked about the middle initial "P," Johnson said it sometimes meant "pay it no mind" and at other times stood for "Piola." She wore dresses, high heels, wigs, and robes, often improvising with artificial fruits, Christmas lights, and flower crowns. By 1969, she was wearing women's clothing full-time, and in a 1970 interview, she said her goal was to eventually have gender-affirming surgery.
Stonewall riots
Marsha P. Johnson was one of the most debated figures in the Stonewall riots, which began in the early hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village. She claimed to have been there, though some accounts say she arrived after the riots had started, around 2 a.m., while others suggest she was among the first to fight back. Historian Martin Duberman notes that Johnson may have gone to the riots after a party she organized didn't go as planned. Some say she threw a shot glass at a mirror and shouted, "I got my civil rights!"—a moment remembered by the Gay Activists Alliance as "the shot glass that was heard around the world." Others recall her throwing rocks at police, climbing a lamppost to drop a heavy bag on a police car, or helping tend to wounds after being beaten. While some historians question whether she was present at the beginning, others argue her role was crucial and that her story reflects both trauma and the broader struggle for transgender rights.
After Stonewall
After Stonewall, Marsha P. Johnson worked with the GAA and Gay Liberation Front, helping push for a nondiscrimination bill and getting arrested during a petition in Bryant Park while protesting the Vietnam War. The city dropped charges after public pressure. She marched in the first Christopher Street Liberation Day rally on June 28, 1970. In September 1970, Johnson joined an occupation at NYU's Weinstein Hall to protest cancellation of gay dances, sleeping in basement and helping with cooking and fundraising. During this time, she suggested forming STAR organization for transgender people, possibly inspired by a Julianne album. The occupation ended after five days when police broke it up, leading to march through Greenwich Village. Later, Johnson and Sylvia Rivera organized protests at NYU's Loeb Student Center and Bellevue Hospital, demanding gay community center, open enrollment and end to psychiatric abuse. Around this time, they also ran shelter for unhoused transgender youths out of truck, supporting it through begging and sex work. One youth was accidentally taken to California when drivers tried to reclaim trailer.
STAR activism
In late 1970, Marsha P. Johnson helped form STAR with Sylvia Rivera, holding their first meeting after an incident with truck drivers. Rivera nominated Johnson for president, but she declined, becoming vice president instead. They planned STAR House, opening November 1970 at 213 East 2nd Street, where Johnson and Rivera acted as "house mothers." Johnson did domestic work like sewing banners and engaged in sex work to support residents. She met Thomas Gerald Davis, known as Candy, at a dance; they had a romantic relationship and held a wedding ceremony, though not legally. Davis was killed in 1971 after trying to rob an off-duty officer, deeply affecting Johnson and leading to her hospitalization. After STAR House was evicted in July 1971, the group moved around Manhattan, focusing on the New York City Gay Rights Bill. Johnson supported it strongly, saying, "I have no intention of getting a job as long as this country discriminates against homosexuals." By 1972, STAR meetings stopped, and by 1973, after being excluded from the Christopher Street Liberation Day rally, Rivera, heartbroken, slit her wrists. Johnson rushed to help her.
Performance work
After STAR disbanded, Marsha P. Johnson performed with the Angels of Light and later joined the Hot Peaches founded by Jimmy Camicia, whom she'd known since high school. She starred in productions from 1972-1973 including Sabled Sables and Alice and the Great American Sideshow, continuing with the group until 1990. Johnson also appeared in Angels shows like Gossamer Wings and Camicia's film Dragula, and starred in Caprice by Charles Ludlam. In 1975, she played Gypsie Trash in The Divas of Sheridan Square and modeled for Andy Warhol's Ladies and Gentlemen series, earning $50. During this time, she was arrested after smashing a car window during a confrontation, leading to a stay at Bellevue and treatment with Thorazine, which affected her ability to perform. By 1979, she was unhoused again, sleeping in bathhouses and friends' homes. In 1980, she began living with Randy Wicker in Hoboken, where she stayed for twelve years. That same year, she was shot in the back by a taxi driver while working sex work. The bullet remained embedded, causing her pain and sleep issues. She also had a romantic relationship in the early 1980s with Joseph Ratanski and, with Wicker's help, traveled to places like Puerto Rico and Los Angeles during the 1984 Olympics.
AIDS activism
In 1980, cases of what would later be called AIDS began appearing in New York City, and by mid-1984,五千 Americans were infected. That year, Marsha P. Johnson started visiting AIDS patients in hospitals, praying for them and lighting candles. She helped organize the first AIDS Walk in Los Angeles in July 1985 and participated in dance-a-thons in New York. When a friend became terminally ill, she cared for him until his death and held a vigil. She also cared for David Combs, Wicker's ex-husband, acting as his nurse while Wicker worked. At some point, the strain of the pandemic led to a mental breakdown, during which Johnson damaged Wicker's apartment before being hospitalized. In 1987, she participated in ACT UP activities, including marches and meetings, though she wasn't an active member. That year, she starred as master of ceremonies in the musical Heat and in the play Chrysis Heels. The deaths of Combs and Bill Rafford, along with her own HIV diagnosis, triggered another breakdown, leading to another hospitalization. At the 1990 Pride rally, she marched with the People with AIDS Coalition, carrying a banner for Combs.
-
Read this chapter
Overview
The Stonewall Inn was a gay bar at 53 Christopher Street in Lower Manhattan where 1969 riots began after a police raid. Originally built as horse stables in the 1840s, it operated as a speakeasy from 1930, moved to Christopher Street in 1934, and functioned as a restaurant until 1966. In 1967, four men linked to the Genovese crime family bought it and turned it into a gay bar, though it couldn't obtain a liquor license and operated as a private club despite frequent police raids. The riots occurred in June and July 1969 following another raid. The bar closed shortly after, with buildings later leased to different businesses. In 1990, Jimmy Pisano reopened it as Stonewall, later run by Thomas Garguilo, Dominic DeSimone, and Bob Gurecki. It closed again in 2006 but reopened in 2007. The building at 51 Christopher Street became a visitor center for the Stonewall National Monument in the 2020s. The Stonewall Inn was the first LGBTQ cultural site designated a National Historic Landmark and is part of the first U.S. National Monument dedicated to the LGBTQ rights movement.
Background and early history
The Stonewall Inn buildings at 51–53 Christopher Street were built as horse stables in the 1840s. The older building, 51 Christopher Street, was constructed in 1843 by A. Voorhis and later expanded to three stories in 1898. The second structure, 53 Christopher Street, was built in 1846 and was originally used by Mark Spencer before becoming a bakery run by Baptiste Ycre in 1914. In 1930, Henry J. Harper hired architect William Bayard to redesign the buildings in the Arts & Crafts style. Vincent Bonavia opened Bonnie's Stone Wall at 91 Seventh Avenue South in 1930, possibly named after Mary Casal's The Stone Wall. It served as a secret speakeasy during Prohibition and was raided in December 1930. After Prohibition ended, Bonavia relocated to 51–53 Christopher Street in 1934. Architect Harry Yarish added a large vertical sign and a columned entrance at 53 Christopher Street. The interior was designed like a hunting lodge. By the 1940s, it had become Bonnie's Stonewall Inn, and by the 1950s or 1960s, the Stonewall Inn Restaurant. A fire destroyed the restaurant in the 1960s, and the buildings were sold in March 1965. The restaurant closed by 1966, leaving the buildings vacant.
Renovation and conversion
In the 1960s, Greenwich Village became a center for LGBTQ life, with people moving west along Christopher Street. In 1966, four men linked to the Genovese crime family bought the Stonewall Inn for $3,500, converting it from a restaurant into a gay bar. "Fat Tony" Lauria led the group, paying $2,000 while three others each paid $500. Matty Ianniello, another mobster, managed profits from the bar. The owners didn't get a liquor license because New York state law barred LGBTQ people from being served in bars at the time. To avoid raids, they blacked out windows, reinforced doors with steel, and added locks and peepholes. They also placed 2×4s behind windows to prevent police from entering easily. The interior was painted black to hide burn marks, and the old restaurant name was kept, though "restaurant" was officially dropped from the sign. At the time, most gay bars looked run-down on purpose, to discourage straight patrons.
Operation
Stonewall Inn was a small gay bar that began operating on March 18, 1967. The club featured two dance floors, a long bar, jukebox, tables, and seating booths. Its exterior gave no hint of what lay inside—only a tiny sign identified it as a private, members-only establishment. At the time of its opening, the LGBTQ newspaper Gay News described it as “a small gay bar just like any other.” Edward Francis “Skull” Murphy managed the place; he was known for remaining motionless at the bar, observing those who entered.
Clientele
The Stonewall Inn was a gay bar in New York City where bouncers screened patrons by checking IDs through peepholes, admitting those who "looked gay" or had visited before, often letting in people under the legal drinking age. Visitors signed logbooks using pseudonyms like Donald Duck or Elizabeth Taylor, and if they left and returned the same night, their hands were stamped. Admission was $3 on weekends and $1 on weekdays, with most patrons young gay men in their teens or early twenties, though some in their late twenties and early thirties also gathered around the bar. The clientele included women, transsexuals, and transvestites, with one observer saying almost all of the lesbians at Stonewall were butch. The bar was known for allowing open dancing, being on a busy road, and being cheaper than other gay bars, described by a 1968 guidebook as "one of the most active spots in town currently; very crowded on weekends." Artist Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt recalled it as one of the few places where couples could slow dance together. Historian Martin Duberman described it as frequented by a "non-vanilla mix of people," including drag queens, street hustlers, and nonwhites. The New York Daily News called it a "mecca" for the LGBT community in the neighborhood. One patron said it was accepting of "anyone who was in the margins of gay society," though that gave the bar a "trashy, low, and tawdry" feel. Homeless youth and drag queens often visited by 1969, as it was one of the few places where they were socially accepted. The admission fee meant additional drinks didn't require a tab. Some LGBTQ patrons shunned Stonewall because of its mob ownership and the presence of drag queens.
Ambiance and activities
The Stonewall Inn was a private club where customers received tickets for drinks, not money, and owners pressured patrons to buy overpriced, often illegal, watered-down beverages. Despite poor conditions—dim lighting, clogged toilets, no running water, and lack of emergency exits—it remained popular. Dancing was allowed there, unlike other gay bars, drawing crowds who came to socialize, cruise, and enjoy music from jukeboxes. The main room played mainstream rock and was called the "white room," while the back room, called the "black room" or "Puerto Rican room," played soul music and attracted a more diverse crowd. Craig Rodwell described it as one of the more financially successful Mafia-owned gay bars in Manhattan. In 1969, the Mattachine Society warned patrons not to share personal information with employees, and there were reports of drug sales and possible prostitution. Six months before the riots, a hepatitis outbreak was linked to the bar. Still, it held its appeal as a place for gay men to gather and dance, even as conditions remained unsanitary and dangerous.
Bribes and raids
The Stonewall Inn had no license, making it a target for police raids, so owners paid bribes to the NYPD's 6th Precinct—around $1,200 monthly according to a magazine article from five months after the bar opened. Activist Craig Rodwell criticized the payoffs as corrupt. Still, the bar was raided about once a month on average, more often before elections or when residents complained. Police inspector Seymour Pine, who later led the raid that sparked the riots, said his team raided gay bars because LGBTQ people didn't resist arrest. He recalled wealthy patrons arrived on Saturday nights in limousines, so he tried to avoid raiding then. The bar's management usually knew about raids ahead of time, and they happened early enough for business to resume. There were white floodlights inside, and extra liquor was kept nearby. During a typical raid, lights were turned on, customers were lined up, and their IDs checked. Those without identification or who didn't wear at least three gender-conforming pieces were often arrested. Staff weren't worried about being arrested since people were usually released within hours. By June 1969, mayoral campaigning had increased raids in local bars, including one at Stonewall less than a week before the riots. The raids targeted not only gay bars but also straight ones frequented by minorities. Several clubs in Greenwich Village closed. Craig Rodwell and novelist Edmund White said the new captain of the 6th Precinct ordered the raids. In 1987, Robert Amsel wrote in The Advocate that many LGBTQ people supported the raids because they didn't want the mafia running the bars. According to Amsel, these critics failed to see that "without the mafia's money, there might not have been any gay bars to legitimize."
Uprising
The Stonewall riots began in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, when police raided the Stonewall Inn in New York City. According to a Daily News article from the time, the NYPD had obtained a warrant to raid the bar because it was illegally serving liquor; later accounts said the raid was sparked by an anonymous tip that the Mafia was trading stolen bonds. Murphy was allegedly involved with the bonds from a gay sex-trafficking scheme. In any case, it was the first time the NYPD did not give the managers advance notice of a raid. Around 1:20 a.m., a team of eight undercover officers, led by Pine, raided the bar. As was customary, the police began to check patrons' identification. The routine raid did not go as planned, as patrol wagons for the arrested patrons took longer to arrive than expected. A scuffle broke out when a butch lesbian in handcuffs was escorted from the door of the bar to the waiting police wagon several times. The police tried to restrain some of the crowd and knocked a few people down, which incited bystanders even more. Eventually, the police were barricaded inside; the crowd was not cleared until 4:00 a.m. Almost everything in the Stonewall Inn was broken in the riots, and what little liquor remained was given away for free afterward. Stonewall's windows were covered with boards the night of the riots, and graffitied messages in support of LGBT rights and gay bars appeared on the bar's facade the day afterward. The riot was covered in the city's major media outlets, including in radio and newspapers. Another demonstration took place on June 29; it attracted hundreds of protesters of all sexualities. Activity in Greenwich Village was sporadic over the next two days due to inclement weather, but another riot took place on July 2. The riots ultimately ended on July 3, when the NYPD dispersed the protests. Allen Ginsberg, a beat poet who witnessed the riots, said that "the guys there were so beautiful—they've lost that wounded look that fags all had 10 years ago."
-
Read this chapter
Overview
Before Stonewall: The Making of a Gay and Lesbian Community is a 1984 documentary exploring the LGBT community before the 1969 Stonewall riots. Narrated by Rita Mae Brown, directed by Greta Schiller and co-directed by Robert Rosenberg, it was co-produced by John Scagliotti and Rosenberg, Schiller. Premiering at the 1984 Toronto International Film Festival, it released in the United States on June 27, 1985. In 1999, Scagliotti directed follow-up film After Stonewall. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Teddy Awards, the film was shown at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival in February 2016. June 2019 saw its restoration and re-release by First Run Features to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots. Later that year, it was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Awards
Before Stonewall was recognized with major honors throughout the 1980s, earning a Grand Jury Prize nomination at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival. It went on to win the Best Film Award at the Houston International Film Festival, as well as the Best Documentary Feature at Filmex. The film also received First Place at the National Educational Film Festival and an Honorable Mention at the Global Village Documentary Festival. In 1987, it was awarded Emmy Awards for Best Historical/Cultural Program and Best Research. Then in 1989, it took home the Festival's Plate at the Torino International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival.
-
Read this chapter
Overview
LGBTQ history reaches back to ancient times, reflecting the long-standing presence of same-sex love and diverse gender identities across cultures. For centuries, these stories were hidden due to persecution, shame, and secrecy. It wasn’t until more recent decades that such experiences began appearing in mainstream historical accounts. In 1994, LGBTQ History Month started in the United States, observed each October, including National Coming Out Day on October 11. The UK began observing it in February starting in 2005, after Section 28 was repealed in England and Wales in 2003 and in Scotland in 2000. A major milestone came when Queen Beatrix signed a law making the Netherlands the first country to legalize same-sex marriage in 2001.
China and Taiwan
In China, male homosexuality was acknowledged from ancient times and appears in famous literary works. The story of Mizi Xia and Duke Ling of Wei, from the Spring and Autumn Era, tells of a man sharing a peach with his lover. Another tale involves Emperor Ai and Dong Xian, where Ai cut his sleeve to avoid waking his sleeping partner. Scholar Pan Guangdan concluded many Han emperors had male lovers, though these men also lived heterosexual lives. With the Tang dynasty, foreign influences changed attitudes, and by the Song dynasty, male companions were seen as less legitimate than wives. The Ming dynasty mentions a homosexual relationship between the Zhengde Emperor and a Muslim leader named Sayyid Husain. In the Qing dynasty, the first law against consensual same-sex relationships was passed, though it carried light punishment. A shrine for Tu'er Shen was rebuilt in Taiwan in 2006, centuries after the original was destroyed by the Chinese government in the 17th century.
Pre-Meiji Japan
In ancient Japan, men who have sex with men were recorded, becoming most apparent to scholars during the Edo period. This practice is often called wakashudō, meaning "way of the wakashū," or nanshoku, meaning "male colors." The institution of wakashudō was similar to pederasty in ancient Greece, where older men engaged in romantic and sexual relationships with younger men, usually in their teens. In the Heian Era, The Tale of Genji describes men moved by the beauty of young boys; one scene shows the hero sleeping with a lady's young brother, "Genji pulled the boy down beside him ... Genji, for his part, or so one is informed, found the boy more attractive than his chilly sister." Some references mention emperors involved in homosexual relationships and "handsome boys retained for sexual purposes" by emperors. Other works include what Leupp calls "problems of gender identity," such as a youth attracted to someone believed to be a woman but who was actually a cross-dressing man. Japanese shunga are erotic pictures that include same-sex and opposite-sex love.
Post-Meiji Japan
As Japan began modernizing during the Meiji era, it also adopted homophobia from Western countries, and attitudes toward same-sex behavior grew more hostile. In 1873, the Ministry of Justice introduced the keikan code, a law that made homosexual acts illegal.
North Asia
Early Russian ethnographers recorded that in Siberia, Chukchi shamans were sometimes said to be called by mystical forces to take part in ritualized homosexual relations with men. These rituals often included a gender transformation—a religious ceremony believed to change their genitalia into those of a female. After the change, they might dress in women's clothing and act in feminine ways. It was thought that during this time, they would "lose" masculine traits like hunting skill and instead adopt "feminine" ones, such as healing and nurturing. Homosexual relations outside of this specialized role were reportedly not tolerated. Some shamans took male lovers and could even marry other men, with the shaman taking on a "wifely" role. They would sometimes publicly complain about the spirits "forcing" them into these relations, though it remains unknown how they truly felt.
Southeast Asia and the Pacific
In Thailand, same-sex relationships were documented as early as the Ayutthaya period (1351-1767), with temple murals showing men and women together. Records from the 14th century show homosexuality in Vietnam, while in the Philippines, same-sex marriage was normalized by the 1500s according to the Boxer Codex. Gender non-conforming people called babaylan held powerful roles in pre-colonial society. In Indonesia, the Serat Centhini describes bisexuality and homosexuality in Javanese culture, and various indigenous groups had specific terms for gender non-conformity. Under British colonial rule, Section 377 was imposed across many Asian territories, leaving a lasting anti-LGBTQ legacy. Cambodia's monarchy supports same-sex marriage, and East Timor has seen political and religious backing for LGBTQ rights since 2017. In Papua New Guinea and Samoa, same-sex relationships were part of the culture until the mid-20th century. Māori in New Zealand refer to queer people as takatāpui, and in Hawaii, māhū were widely accepted before colonization. British colonialism and Christianity brought stigma to these regions.
South Asia
The earliest signs of homophobia in South Asia appear in Zoroastrian texts from around 250 BC. During the Parthian Empire, which included what is now Pakistan, the Zoroastrian Vendidad was written. It laid out sexual codes that interpreted same-sex acts as sinful and suggested penalties including death for those caught, without priestly approval. These ideas influenced later religious practices as Buddhism spread through Central Asia and were eventually replaced by Islamic rule and Sharia law. Homophobic laws reached the region that is now India mainly through British colonialism, though Islam introduced such concepts too. Notably, parts of South India and Sri Lanka only saw these laws during the colonial period, not before.
India
In ancient Hindu and Vedic texts, there are numerous descriptions of saints, demigods, and even the Supreme Lord who transcend traditional gender roles, appearing in various combinations of sex and gender. The epics feature same-sex depictions and unions among gods and goddesses, and stories of love between kings and queens are common. The Kamasutra, an ancient Hindu text on love, includes references to same-sex feelings. Hindu temple carvings, like those at Khajuraho, portray same-sex sexual acts. One of the earliest known references to homosexuality in South Asia appears in a Hindu medical journal from 600 BCE in Varanasi, discussing the topic neutrally. In modern times, the Hijra in South Asia represent a third gender caste—some born male, others intersex, and some originally female—who live feminine roles.
-
Read this chapter
Overview
LGBTQ literature in the United States includes works by LGBTQ writers or those focused on queer experiences, spanning fiction like novels and poetry, as well as non-fiction such as history and criticism. Because there was little open discussion about LGBTQ sexuality historically, people debate whether terms like “homosexuality” apply to earlier writers. Some scholars argue the concept didn’t exist before the twentieth century, leading to questions about labeling authors like Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, or Herman Melville. Early queer-coded novels include Ormond: or the Secret Witness from 1799 and Ethel's Love Life from 1859. The first explicit LGBTQ novel is disputed but sometimes attributed to A Marriage Below Zero in 1889. In the mid-1900s, more open queer writing emerged after Stonewall and the sexual revolution, with pioneers such as James Baldwin, Allen Ginsberg, and Djuna Barnes contributing before that pivotal moment.
Early history
Despite global histories stretching far back, very little writing by LGBTQ people in North America exists before the eighteenth century due to Indigenous oral traditions and harsh European colonial judgment toward same-sex relationships. Much early American literature was religious, and colonial laws strictly forbade sodomy. Still, many secondhand accounts exist—like reports by Spanish conquistadors on Native American two-spirits or court records of sodomy cases from the colonial period. Firsthand stories are less common but appear, such as Puritan minister Michael Wigglesworth's 1653 diary entry about his attraction to male students: "...and such filthy lust also flowing from my fond affection to my pupils whiles in their presence on the third day after noon that I confess myself an object of God's loathing as my sin is of my own and pray God make it so more to me."
Queer-coded works
In the early American republic, discussions of LGBTQ identity or sexuality were rare and mostly confined to condemnation. Fictional works often hinted at queer themes rather than stating them outright. Relationships between real and fictional figures of the same sex were sometimes labeled as romantic friendships—such as the homoerotic letters exchanged between John Laurens and Alexander Hamilton, or the lives of women like Abigail Smith and Sarah Pierce who lived together in the late 18th century. Historian Sal Nicolazzo identifies a “transmasculine” genre from that era, where women took on male roles. These appeared both in newspaper biographies of “warrior women” and in works like Female Quixotism by Tabitha Terney (1801) and The History of Constantius and Pulchera (1789). Though not explicitly transgender, these stories featured female characters as soldiers or even sailors.
Mid-20th century
During the 1940s and 1950s, more books written by and about LGBTQ people began to appear, though many were censored. Among them were Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin and The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith. These works were significant because they showed LGBTQ people as full, complex characters, moving away from the harmful stereotypes that had long defined their portrayal in literature.
Read
Free to download, keep and share. For general information only — not professional medical, legal or financial advice. Please consult a qualified professional.