Stonewall Rebellion

The Raid and Its Aftermath: Three Days of Violent Protest

On the night that spanned 27–28 June 1969, eight representatives of New York City's Alcoholic Beverage Control Board raided a mafia-run bottle club at 51–53 Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. The club, part of the Stonewall Inn, was a seedy watering hole frequented by a young, gay, male clientele largely comprising street hustlers (prostitutes) and, to [Page 1492]a lesser degree, transvestites. As such, it was a frequent target of urban police for raids, extortion, and bribery. On that particular evening, much of the clientele was in mourning for the actress and gay icon Judy Garland, who had died a few days earlier; that fact made the raid and ensuing abuse seem all the more intolerable. The undercover officers claimed to be investigating violations of the Alcohol Control Laws. They may also have been enforcing a Prohibition-era dancing ban that, by the late 1960s, was invoked almost exclusively at gay bars. As police began rounding up the staff and demanding identification from patrons, the patrons initially reacted with saucy but cavalier defiance. Many of the nearly two hundred patrons flippantly sashayed their way outside to have their IDs checked. In doing so, they taunted the police with exhibitionist posturing then recognized as stereotypically gay, while a growing crowd of onlookers cheered. The mood of the crowd, then nearing four hundred, changed dramatically when a drag queen named Tammy Novak resisted being shoved into the paddy wagon and struck the arresting officer. Posturing and flippancy turned to tense expectation after that first blow. When a policeman struck Stormé Delarverie, a cross-dressed lesbian charged with violating a New York statute prohibiting “wearing clothing inappropriate to one's gender” (Duberman 1993, 196), the enraged crowd began throwing cans and bottles.

Someone barricaded the inn door with a parking meter, locking many of the officers inside. The bar was nearly destroyed in their attempt to flee as fires were set ablaze. When backup police forces arrived, a full-scale riot engulfed Christopher Street and the adjacent Sheridan Square. At least twelve people were arrested, including a local folk singer, David Van Ronk. Like Van Ronk, many of the people arrested were local residents who, although not in the tavern during the raid, joined the fray when it spilled out into the streets. The next night, and again two nights later, crowds of angry protestors gathered amidst the rubble of the inn and confronted fresh waves of riot control officers. Rocks were thrown at cars and at police, fires were lit, protesters were assaulted and arrested, and anger smoldering for years blazed through the longoppressed local gay community.

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