That’s not a riot.” “It was just a loud and bawdy fun group of guys until it turned into a riot.” “It is called a riot, an uprising, a rebellion.” “I like the word rebellion. Was it a riot? “What we did is we were cheering and dancing in the street. Now here’s a fundamental question about Stonewall. It was a really in-your-face float.” Oh, wow. Gay Liberation Front is literally why we have everything we have today.” “They planned a march on the first anniversary of Stonewall.” “And people forget that there were three pride parades.
We had the Mattachine Society.” “There was the sip-in at Julius’s.” “And the movement in the world dates back to 1897 in Berlin, with the founding of Magnus Hirschfeld’s organization, which was the first gay rights group.” So if gay rights didn’t begin at Stonewall, why was Stonewall important? “Because it led to the creation of the gay liberation movement.” “Gay Liberation Front was born out of the ashes of Stonewall. “It didn’t begin at Stonewall.” “Before Stonewall, we had the Daughters of Bilitis. history and some contemporary queer writers to ask them, what’s wrong with this account of Stonewall? They helped me break it down, bit by bit. So, I gathered some people who were at Stonewall in 1969, some historians who had spent years studying L.G.B.T. It’s a beautiful story, but it’s not exactly true. The riot culminated in a Rockettes-style kickline of drag queens facing down tactical police in riot gear. The Stonewall Riot began when a drag queen, bereft by the death of Judy Garland, threw a brick at a police officer. The gay rights movement was born in 1969 at a beloved gay bar called the Stonewall Inn.
Fifty years after the police raided the Stonewall Inn and its patrons mounted a resistance on the street outside, I still didn’t know the answer to this question: Who threw the first brick at Stonewall? What I did know is that I had heard this story over and over again. elders, but also - “Jason Mraz threw the first brick at Stonewall? “Judy Garland threw the first brick.” “Scarlett Johansson.” It’s become an inside joke about queer icons and straight allyship. Johnson.” “Sylvia Rivera.” It’s a question that calls attention to overlooked L.G.B.T. Who threw the first brick at Stonewall? “Some say it was Stormé DeLarverie.” “Marsha P. “Who threw the first brick at Stonewall?” has become a rallying cry, a cliche and a queer inside joke on the internet - never mind the fact that it’s not clear whether bricks were ever thrown during the uprising at all. Transcript The Stonewall You Know Is a Myth.