RE: This is gonna be the thread where we talk about stuff
02-27-2013, 06:06 AM
My knowledge of Stonewall is limited to "Stonewall was a significant event related to the gay rights movement". I only just now realized I never looked into what actually happened there. Time to do that.
One visit to Wikipedia later...
Wow. So, short version for people who don't want to look at that for themselves: the Stonewall Inn was an establishment run by the Mafia. A lot of their customers were gay or transvestites. There was a police raid, and the customers fought back, and actually chased off the police.
It was a turning point, in large part because it changed the way gay activists operated. Before this, their main advocacy groups used obscure names and were generally very subdued - they didn't even allow members to hold hands at demonstrations.
Stonewall, however, was a major and visible event. It was, essentially, a stark revelation that gay people actually existed. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be gay back then, and hear about this in the news, and realize that there were other people just like you, and they were fighting back.
That completely changed culture. Obviously there were still people in the closet, and there still are; but Stonewall was essentially a signal that they didn't have to stay there.
Just four years after Stonewall, homosexuality was removed as a disorder from the DSM-V. That obviously wasn't anywhere near the end of the fight, but again, the feeling is something I can only imagine; psychologists effectively declaring that they were wrong all this time, these attractions you feel towards other men or other women aren't a sign that you're crazy.
Oh, and this is what really surprised me. Gay pride marches are commemorating Stonewall specifically - they're held around the end of June, the anniversary of the raid. I never knew that; I always more or less assumed it was just a generalized pro-gay demonstration. I guess I'd never given much thought to how they started, or to their specific meaning to the participants.
It's a little humbling, even embarrassing. A movement I support has been holding an annual event in city after city, and I just kind of mentally dismissed it as "a good thing in a vague way" without ever learning more about it. I didn't even realize it was annual until now.
Anyhow, ramblings aside, I'm glad I looked that up. I didn't just learn about Stonewall, I learned a lot about the gay rights movement that I'd never given much thought to before. Wheat and SF, thanks for pointing me in that direction, however unintentional it may have been.
One visit to Wikipedia later...
Wow. So, short version for people who don't want to look at that for themselves: the Stonewall Inn was an establishment run by the Mafia. A lot of their customers were gay or transvestites. There was a police raid, and the customers fought back, and actually chased off the police.
It was a turning point, in large part because it changed the way gay activists operated. Before this, their main advocacy groups used obscure names and were generally very subdued - they didn't even allow members to hold hands at demonstrations.
Stonewall, however, was a major and visible event. It was, essentially, a stark revelation that gay people actually existed. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be gay back then, and hear about this in the news, and realize that there were other people just like you, and they were fighting back.
That completely changed culture. Obviously there were still people in the closet, and there still are; but Stonewall was essentially a signal that they didn't have to stay there.
Just four years after Stonewall, homosexuality was removed as a disorder from the DSM-V. That obviously wasn't anywhere near the end of the fight, but again, the feeling is something I can only imagine; psychologists effectively declaring that they were wrong all this time, these attractions you feel towards other men or other women aren't a sign that you're crazy.
Oh, and this is what really surprised me. Gay pride marches are commemorating Stonewall specifically - they're held around the end of June, the anniversary of the raid. I never knew that; I always more or less assumed it was just a generalized pro-gay demonstration. I guess I'd never given much thought to how they started, or to their specific meaning to the participants.
It's a little humbling, even embarrassing. A movement I support has been holding an annual event in city after city, and I just kind of mentally dismissed it as "a good thing in a vague way" without ever learning more about it. I didn't even realize it was annual until now.
Anyhow, ramblings aside, I'm glad I looked that up. I didn't just learn about Stonewall, I learned a lot about the gay rights movement that I'd never given much thought to before. Wheat and SF, thanks for pointing me in that direction, however unintentional it may have been.