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2010-- HEADLINES)
As we bask in our post Pride glow, it’s probably
good to remember Storme DeLarverie . She will turn 90 this
upcoming December, suffers from dementia, and was on the front line of
the Stonewall riot. DeLarverie, also known as drag king performer M.C.,
missed this year’s parade as she sat in a nursing home room.
There
is some dispute if DeLarverie was the cross dressing lesbian attacked
by the police, the spark for the riot. However, all agree she was there
fighting along with everyone else when they had enough of police
mistreatment.
DeLarverie’s friends see her situation as doubly
tragic. There is her inability to take care of herself (this past March
she was found disoriented in her Chelsea Hotel room). Secondly no one
knows her, or why she is an important historical figure.
“The
young gays and lesbians today have never heard of her,” said Lisa
Cannistraci, a longtime friend, “and most of our activists are young.
They’re in their 20s and early 30s. The community that’s familiar with
her is dwindling.”
STONEWALL REBELLION CONTINUED
Escalation
The
Tactical Police Force (TPF) of the New York City Police Department arrived to free the police
trapped inside the Stonewall. One officer's eye was cut, and a few
others were bruised from being struck by flying debris. Bob Kohler, who
was walking his dog by the Stonewall that night, saw the TPF arrive: "I
had been in enough riots to know the fun was over.... The cops were
totally humiliated. This never, ever happened. They were angrier than I
guess they had ever been, because everybody else had rioted ... but the
fairies were not supposed to riot ... no group had ever forced cops to
retreat before, so the anger was just enormous. I mean, they wanted to
kill.With larger numbers, police detained anyone they could and put them
in patrol wagons to go to jail, though Inspector Pine recalled, "Fights
erupted with the transvestites, who wouldn't go into the patrol wagon".
His recollection was corroborated by another witness acrossthe street
who said, "All I could see about who was fighting was that it was
transvestites and they were fighting furiously"
The TPF formed a phalanx and attempted to clear the streets by marching slowly and pushing the
crowd back. The mob openly mocked the police. The crowd cheered, started
impromptu kick
lines , and sang to the tune of The Howdy Doody Show theme song: "We are the
Stonewall girls/ We wear our hair in curls/ We don't wear underwear/ We
show our pubic hairs". Lucian
Truscott reported in The Village Voice : "A stagnant
situation there brought on some gay tomfoolery in the form of a chorus
line facing the line ofhelmeted and club-carrying cops. Just as the line
got into a full kick routine, the TPF advanced again and cleared the
crowd of screaming gay power[-]ites down Christopher to Seventh Avenue."
One participant who had been in the Stonewall during the raid recalled,
"The police rushed us, and that's when I realized this is not a good
thing to do, because they got me in the back with a night stick".
Another account stated, "I just can't ever get that one sight out of my
mind. The cops with the [nightsticks] and the kick line on the other
side. It was the most amazing thing.... And all the sudden that kick
line, which I guess was a spoof on the machismo ... I think that's when I
felt rage. Because people were getting smashed with bats. And for what?
A kick line.
Christopher Park, where many of
the demonstrators met after the first night of rioting to talk about
what had happened, now features a sculpture of four white figures by George
Segal that commemorates the milestone.
Craig Rodwell ,
owner of the Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop reported watching police chase participants through the crooked
streets, only to find them appear around the next corner behind the
police. Members of the mob stopped cars, overturning one of them to
block Christopher Street. Jack
Nichols and Lige Clarke ,
in their column printed in Screw , declared that "massive crowds of angry protesters chased [the police]
for blocks screaming, 'Catch them!'
By 4:00 in the morning the streets had
nearly been cleared. Many people sat on stoops or gathered nearby in
Christopher Park throughout the morning, dazed in disbelief at what had
transpired. Many witnesses remembered the surreal and eerie quiet that
descended upon Christopher Street, though there continued to be
"electricity in the air".jukeboxes , and cigarette
machines were all smashed,possibly in the riot and possibly by the
police. One commented: "There was a certain beauty in
the aftermath of the riot.... It was obvious, at least to me, that a
lot of people really were gay and, you know, this was our street.
Thirteen people had been arrested. Some in the crowd were hospitalized,
and four police officers were injured. Almost everything in the
Stonewall Inn was broken. Inspector Pine had intended to close and
dismantle the Stonewall Inn that night. Pay telephones, toilets,
mirrors,
Open rebellion
During the siege of the
Stonewall, Craig Rodwell called The New
York Times , The New York Post , and The New York Daily News to inform them what
was happening. All three papers covered the riots; The New York
Daily News placed coverage on the front page. News of the riot
spread quickly throughout Greenwich Village, fueled by rumors that it
had been organized by the Students
for a Democratic Society , the Black Panthers , or triggered by "a homosexual
police officer whose roommate went dancing atthe Stonewall against the
officer's wishes". All day Saturday, June 28, people came to stare at
the burned and blackened Stonewall Inn. Graffiti appeared on the walls of the bar,
declaring "Drag power", "They invaded our rights", "Support gay power",
and "Legalize gay bars", along with accusations of police looting,
and—regarding the status of the bar—"We are open".
The next night, rioting again
surrounded Christopher Street; participants remember differently which
night was more frantic or violent. Many of the same people returned from
the previous evening—hustlers, street youths, and "queens"—but they
were joined by "police provocateurs", curious bystanders, and even
tourists.[ 81] Remarkable to many was the sudden exhibition
of homosexual affection in public, as described by one witness: "From
going to places where you had to knock on a door and speak to someone
through a peephole in order to get in. We were just out. We were in the
streets."
You know,
the guys there were so beautiful—they've lost that wounded look that
fags all had 10 years ago – Allen Ginsberg
Thousands
of people had gathered in front of the Stonewall, which had opened
again, choking Christopher Street until the crowd spilled into adjoining
blocks. The throng surrounded buses and cars, harassing the occupants
unless they either admitted they were gay or indicated their support for
the demonstrators. Sylvia Rivera saw a friend of hers jump on a
nearby car trying to drive through; the crowd rocked the car back and
forth, terrifying its occupants. Another of Rivera's friends, Marsha P.
Johnson , climbed a lamppost and dropped a heavy bag onto the hood
of a police car, shattering the windshield.
As on the previous evening, fires were started in garbage cans
throughout the neighborhood.More than a hundred police were present from
the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Precincts , but after 2:00 a.m. the TPF arrived again. Kick lines and police
chases waxed and waned; when police captured demonstrators, whom the
majority of witnesses described as "sissies" or "swishes", the crowd
surged to recapture themStreet battling ensued again until 4:00 a.m.
Beat poet and longtime Greenwich Village
resident Allen Ginsberg lived on Christopher Street, and happened upon the jubilant chaos.
After he learned of the riot that had occurred the previous evening, he
stated, "Gay power! Isn't that great!... It's about time we did
something to assert ourselves", and visited the open Stonewall Inn for
the first time. While walking home, he declared to Lucian Truscott, "You
know, the guys there were so beautiful—they've lost that wounded look
that fags all had 10 years ago"
TOMORROW PART 6 THE CONCLUSION--THE AFTERMATH