1969 – The Stonewall Riots and the Birth of Pride
In the early hours of the morning of Saturday June 28th 1969, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons rioted following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City. Further riots and protests took place on the following nights Although these demonstrations were not the first time that American LGBT+ community members had fought back against police harassment, the Stonewall riots catalysed the gay rights movement. The anniversary of the riots is remembered every year in Pride marches in America and around the world. The UK’s first Pride march was held in London on July 1st 1972.
A younger generation of LGBTQ+ people may think that this pivotal moment in the history of LGBT rights would be remembered by everyone who is old enough to have been alive on the day that the riots happened. But the world was a very different place in 1969, our exposure to global news events is nothing like it is today. Speaking for myself, I was born in 1962 and am now an ageing sixty something gay man. At the time of the Stonewall Riots I was six years old. Our family had just moved out of an old terraced house that had an outside toilet in the back yard. In our modern new home we had a small black and white TV that offered a choice of three channels – BBC1, BBC2 and ITV. News broadcasts were brief and mostly about UK affairs.
The first time I heard about the Stonewall Riots was when I joined the Birmingham University Gaysoc (later called the Lesbian and Gay Society). I was 23 years old and it was my first experience of talking openly to other gay men.
As someone interested in LGBT history I have recently looked back through newspaper archives to see how the Stonewall Riots were reported in the year that they happened. I was surprised to find that there were no newspaper reports of the riots in any of the UK newspapers that I searched. In the world as it was then the news and subsequent impact of the Stonewall Riots travelled more slowly than we might expect today.
So when we look back on the Stonewall Riots we need to remember that this event is important not simply because of what happened on that day. It is the fact that it was remembered and commemorated that made it the defining moment that it has become. The following selection of news reports gives us some idea of how the Stonewall Riots were a spark that lit a fire that became the Pride movement.
Gay Liberation Front (GLF) groups appeared around the UK in the years that followed the Stonewall Riots signalling a more militant approach to gay rights.
1969 – Report of the Riots in an American Newspaper
This report appeared in an American Newspaper called The Daily News on July 6th 1969. I have not so far found any reports of the riot in British Newspapers. It seems likely that at the time the riots happened it was not considered important enough to be reported internationally.
1970 – The Stonewall Riots are Remembered
On June 29th 1970 The New York Times reported a march that commemorated the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. This was also reported in national newspapers here in the UK, the following article is from the Guardian published 30th June 1970.
1971 – Gay Liberation Front Groups in the UK
On 28th August 1971, The Times reported on the emergence of Gay Liberation Front groups across the UK.
This new militancy within the gay rights movement met with considerable challenges. In 1972 Staffordshire police targeted the Keele Gay Lib Soc as part of a wider campaign against gay men in the Potteries. Read more here…
Copyright Notice
The newspaper cuttings featured here have been compiled from online archives by this post’s author, Andrew Colclough, as part of his personal research into local LGBT+ history. Copyright belongs to the newspapers that published the articles. The news cuttings have been shared here by Andrew Colclough on the basis of fair personal/non commercial use.
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