The Stonewall Reader
A study guide of the New York Public Library’s 2019 book ‘The Stonewall Reader.’
Summary, part 5
“Interview with Eric Marcus” by Marsha P. Johnson and Randy Wicker
Stonewall initially prioritized itself as a bar for gay men. It initially did not allow women in, but eventually permitted them. Johnson talks about her presence at Stonewall and how she was viewed in that space. She credited herself to be one of the first drag queens to go to Stonewall. At the protest in front of Stonewall, Johnson was present and involved: “We just were saying, no more police brutality and, oh, we had enough of police harassment in the Village and other places” (pg. 255).
Wicker talks about the resistance to what happened at Stonewall within the LGBTQ+ community. For some people, Stonewall was perceived as a step back for gay rights: “I got up and said that I did not think that the way to win public acceptance was to go out and form chorus lines of drag queens kicking your feet up at the police ” (p. 259).
“Interview with Eric Marcus” by Sylvia Rivera
Contrary to popular belief, Stonewall wasn’t an inclusive space for all members of the LGBTQ+ community, especially for drag queens and trans women. Many drag queens and trans women had to face a selective process to gain entry into Stonewall. Additionally, some drag queens and trans women could only enter if the management knew them. Otherwise, drag queens and trans women would go to Washington Square Bar, which was a known drag queen bar. All of this begs the following question: how do exclusionary practices function in spaces of resistance to oppression?
In an attempt to create something good, Riviera founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with Marsha P. Johnson. STAR was an organization that helped trans youth and those experiencing homelessness. Together, they created the STAR house to house those who needed help.
“We wanted to protect them. To show them that there was a better life. You can’t throw people out on the street.” (p. 269)
Riviera and Johnson didn't have much support in creating this space. Just as drag queens and trans women were excluded from the Stonewall bar, the work done by drag queens and trans women in the greater community went unsupported.
“The community is always embarrassed by the drag queens.” (p. 270)
“Oral History Interview with Eric Marcus” by Martin Boyce
Boyce is a Stonewall veteran and did “scare drag”, a form of drag meant to “pluck at the nerves of straight people” (pg. 271). In Boyce’s recollection of Stonewall, it was a night of unity for those who went to Stonewall as well as the greater community. According to Boyce, the attitudes around the LGBTQ+ community shifted after Stonewall. It was a clear example of the community's resistance and pointed to the beginnings of a larger movement.
“Because we’re fighters. Now we start to realize, and I think that is the beginning of gay liberation. You know, now we realize what we can do. Now we realize to put together the powers we did have.” (p. 278)
“City Boy” by Edmund White
Bars were constantly raided in New York. When Stonewall happened, it wasn't the work of “crew necked white boys in the Hamptons ” but rather young Black people and transgender folks of color (pg. 281). Stonewall occurred in a whirlwind of activism and resistance to societal norms. What added to the fire of Stonewall: “Angry lesbians, angrier drag queens, excessive mourning, staggering heat, racial tensions, the examples of civil disobedience set by the women’s movement, the antiwar protesters, the Black Panthers—all the elements were present and only a single flame was needed to ignite the bonfire” (p. 282).
Stonewall shifted how many within the LGBT+ community thought about their queerness. For example, before Stonewall, homosexuality was defined as a medical term and made many in the gay community lack a sense of humanity. After the events at Stonewall, people began to realize that being gay meant being in a minority group, which in turn meant that the group had a culture and an agenda.
“A Low Life in High Heels” by Holly Woodlawn
Woodlawn was an actress and singer. As a trans woman, Woodlawn explained her experience at Stonewall as a bar and historical event. She, like many others, dealt with the bar's selective entry policy. When asked to think about the bar, Woodlawn associates it more with the police raids and the establishment's efforts to be careful.
As many have said, the patrons of Stonewall were a wide array of people: “The place attracted an eclectic bunch: butch guys, preppy boys, older men, a few lesbians, and a few so-called straight men sprinkled in between” (p. 288).
Woodlawn talks about how trans women navigated gender during the era of Stonewall. Many women were “unreadable,” meaning that no one could tell their true gender. They were able to seamlessly enter into the greater society without anyone questioning their gender. These dynamics within the LGBTQ+ community fostered cultural practices such as “reading.” It is a form of cutting someone down and putting them in their place.
The West Village
This neighborhood was the hubbub of liberated New York. It was referred to as an eclectic place that was home to Stonewall and its patrons.
“The Stonewall was frequented by a lot of unique people going through major gender changes. We flocked there because it was a place where we were fawned over. We were treated like women, and as far as we knew, we were women. ” (p. 295)
When the Stonewall uprising happened, Woodlawn saw Marsha P. Johnson at the center of it.
“These were the Stonewall riots, and Miss Marsha was the debutante! The media coverage brought the riots nationwide attention, making it the greatest single event in the history of gays” (p. 298)
“Man Enough to Be a Woman” by Jayne County
Up until Stonewall, gay bars were being constantly raided. People were fed up with the constant attacks on their spaces. It was also in tandem with other protests.
“The queens took the lead in the Stonewall Riots. They walked around in semi-drag with teased hair and false eyelashes on and they didn’t give a shit what anybody thought about them. What did they have to lose? Absolutely fucking nothing.” (p. 304)
For some Stonewall veterans, the event was only an extension of the work they had been doing to survive. It was a fight for survival and the right to exist. What Stonewall did do for many was provide a jumping-off point for looking at a political framework. Political terms started to form and that provided a foundation for this movement.
“New York City Trans Oral History Project Interview with Theodore Kerr and Abram J. Lewis” by Jay London Toole
The Stonewall uprising was not the product of a few people, but of a community. As a Stonewall veteran, Toole saw the event as the work of many people. While history only focuses on a few key figures, the image of who was there has become obscure and those who did the work have become unseen.
Whitewashing History
The record of who was at and contributed to Stonewall has become blurred. Toole asks that we don't whitewash this history and instead recognize those who were literally on the front lines of this moment.
“Don't let it be whitewashed that it was only these white people that did this, because I’d seen every shade, every color, every body image there that night. It was all of us together, you know?” (p. 309)
Activism
After Stonewall, activism within the LGBTQ+ community was rejuvenated. There was a new energy that could be felt across the community. The Mattachine Society engaged in activism and tried to recruit people to join. More and more organizations such as the Mattachine society popped up and grew their membership.
“New York City Trans Oral History Project Interview with Abram J. Lewis” by Miss Major Griffin-Gracy
Griffin-Gracy explores the dangers trans women faced in the 1960s. Some of that danger came from within the LGBTQ+ community. The way gay men treated trans women and drag queens was a problem. When drag queens shed their feminine attire the difference in their treatment was clear.
“When that drag queen is not in her female attire, they don’t do that shit to them. You know, so it’s this whole misogyny thing that they’re doing as guys that guys felt, even to this day, that they felt they could do as guys.” (p. 316)
“Alphabet soup”
The umbrella labels did not recognize the divisions felt among queer people. The experiences of people were being generalized and clumped together. There was no recognition of unique experiences and the particular oppression someone faces.
“Once AIDS came along and the government came up with this umbrella that they stuck everybody under, everybody under that umbrella didn’t necessarily belong there” (p. 320)
Griffin-Gracy explains that even after Stonewall, things for trans women didn't get better. Trans women were at the forefront of Stonewall but also the movement for equal rights. Their contributions have continued to go unnoticed and dampened. In the aftermath of Stonewall at the parades, many trans women and drag queens of color were not included.
“None of my girls! You know, Sylvia wasn’t—I didn’t see Sylvia there, in the front, where she should’ve been. And it’s not about me—I don’t give a shit whether they acknowledge or know about me—I mean, it has to do with, Sylvia and Marsha were trying to take care of the community before we really knew that we needed to be taken care of. They had a vision, they saw what was coming. And they did their best to protect us. To make us aware of it.” (p. 325)
“Why was everybody steppin’ on our shoulders and our backs and going, ‘We’re the ones that did this?’ Really? Where’s the respect? And I’m not asking for people to jump up and idolize and adore us; I’m just asking you to see the reality here.” (p. 322)
Stonewall was one of few places some people could go to. As a trans woman, Griffin-Gracy expressed the importance of Stonewall as a place for them. It was worth protecting at that point because it represented their right to exist. There were many bars that discriminated against trans women, asking them to leave the bar in favor of other customers.
“That’s transgender services. That’s fair and honest and caring treatment? No. No. So I do my best to fight and bitch about that shit and there’s no pleasant way to go about doing that. They just don’t see, they don’t feel, they don’t care.” (p. 323)